Religion and The Military

RELIGION AND THE MILITARY

I have been following the story of the young man who just dropped out of West Point six months prior to graduating, citing intolerable persecution because of his atheism.  And I am in a personal quandary as to how to react to the situation.  As an atheist, I would like to be able to support a fellow non-believer.  I recognize that we atheists are among the most hated minority groups in our country.  All you have to do is read the hate filled comments coming from those who claim to belong to a religion that loves their brothers to see the truth of that.  But I am just not sure that I trust his motives and/or perceptions. 

Not having been there with him, the only thing I have to go by is my own personal experiences in the military, both on the enlisted and officer sides of the house.  Was I ever forced to attend religious services?  Depends on what you mean by forced.  First, everyone had to state a religious preference when entering boot camp.  At that time, late 60’s, your choices were catholic, protestant, or Jewish; maybe it was called other.  I’m not real sure.  And you either went to chapel or you cleaned the barracks.  That could have been considered a de-facto forcing to attend services.  It didn’t bother me.  I could sleep in church services and couldn’t while cleaning the barracks. 

In OCS I just don’t remember the subject of religious services even coming up.  I’m sure there were services for those who wanted to go, but if anyone did they kept their faith private.  The rest of my career was pretty much religion neutral.  Sure, there were change of command ceremonies and such where a chaplain would pray.  But I never listened to the chaplain any more than I listened to the farewell speech from the commander leaving or the introductory speech from the newly arriving commander.  It was all words for the sake of words and taking my liberty time. 

Occasionally, someone would ask me if I’d like to attend church or otherwise approach me about religion.  If they were polite about it, I’d politely say no.  If they were what I felt was overly aggressive, I’d tell them I had no intention of associating with a group of barbarians who advocated human sacrifice and cannibalism.  (The death of a perfect person-Jesus- on the cross to save the sins of the believers is no different in my eyes from tossing a perfect person-virgin-over a cliff or into the sea for the same reasons.  And if you believe the preachers that the wine and wafer of communion actually transmute to the blood and body of Christ, what else is that but cannibalism?)  So this young man’s being called a heathen doesn’t impress me as being overly abusive. 

What I have seen over the last few decades is actually a more open military, religiously.  The government has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to pagans, whose religious freedoms were trampled for centuries.  Now, wiccans and other pagans can openly worship, and know that their supervisors can be court-martialed and reduced in rank if they try to persecute them for such worship.  Yes, there are some too dumb to understand that freedom of worship applies to all, not just them.  But they are easy to put in their place.  Their careers are the ones at risk, not yours.

Which brings us to the present case.  I could understand the young man’s dropping out of West Point after the first year or two if he felt that he was being mistreated.  I can understand a person of strong convictions STAYING IN and still bringing suit for what he perceived as persecution.  But to wait until he is told that his clinical depression will keep him from receiving a commission (which it should!), strikes me as being sour grapes. 

I am not proud to call this young man a brother atheist.  He brings shame to the rest of us.