Aphorism: On Atheism and Religion in the Military

By Madison S. Hughes (08.13.2011)

On innumerable occasions during my twenty-three year career as a U.S. Army Officer I found myself a captive audience member of Staff meetings that began with prayer. While deployed I vividly recall one instance where a Mississippi Redneck Chief of Staff, Colonel Massey, asked before a mandatory Staff meeting if anyone objected to the Chaplain opening the mandatory Staff meeting with a prayer. When I voiced my objection, I was told that I was welcomed to leave the room during the prayer. The U.S. Army, especially the Officer corps, is highly right-wing, and religious. It never ceases to amaze me that I, a lifelong Atheist, was able to serve twenty-three years in such an overtly religious organization.

Blog Post: “Why Obama and Democrats are Less Trustworthy than Bush and Republicans”

[…] Republicans can generally be trusted more than Democrats to do what they say they are going to do. He won the Presidency by a healthy margin and had overwhelming popular support. He had the backing of 60 Democrats in the Senate and a similarly strong contingent in the Congress. Furthermore, he had the people and the facts on his side on so many fronts.

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Blog Post: “Statement by “V for Vendetta” author Alan Moore in Support of PFC Bradley Manning”

When the persecution of an individual who has exposed an evil is pursued so ruthlessly and yet the evil itself is studiedly ignored, all of us know that there is something very wrong with the way that our society is conducting itself. And if we do not protest in the strongest terms about what is being done in our name, then we become complicit.

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Video: “Religion and the US military: The internal battle over the religious soul of the US military,” Part II

The United States is a deeply religious country. More than 90 per cent of the population say they believe in god and while 80 per cent profess to believe in miracles. For the US military, dealing with its’ own religious identity has become an internal battle. Growing evidence points towards a rising influence of evangelical Christianity, and with two wars still raging in Muslim countries with significant religious overtones, there could be serious consequences for the US mission. Pentagon officials say incidents are isolated, aberrations occur, but others closely tied to the military and its’ religious leadership say a transformation is taking place with dire costs.

Video: “Religion and the US military: The internal battle over the religious soul of the US military,” Part I

The United States is a deeply religious country. More than 90 per cent of the population say they believe in god and while 80 per cent profess to believe in miracles. For the US military, dealing with its’ own religious identity has become an internal battle. Growing evidence points towards a rising influence of evangelical Christianity, and with two wars still raging in Muslim countries with significant religious overtones, there could be serious consequences for the US mission. Pentagon officials say incidents are isolated, aberrations occur, but others closely tied to the military and its’ religious leadership say a transformation is taking place with dire costs.

Article: “The Biggest Religious Movement You Never Heard of: Nine Things You Need to Know About Rick Perry’s Prayer Event”

“Perry’s endorsers are not just a random group of radical evangelists making outrageous statements,” researcher Rachel Tabachnick subsequently wrote at Alternet.org. “These are the apostles and prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the biggest international religious movement you never heard of.” Almost simultaneously, investigative reporter Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer published an extensive article on Perry’s prayer event and his endorsers, “Rick Perry’s Army of God.”

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Quote: J. Anderson Thomson

J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, Staff and Forensic Psychiatrist, Author

Maybe there are only atheists in foxholes. If the faithful truly and fully believe in a protective deity, why would they dive into a foxhole to protect themselves from the bullets whizzing by? A part of their brain knows damn well that if they do not protect themselves, the bullets will hardly discriminate between those who claim faith and those who reject it.