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I believe the bottom line of the OP's post is that the Army should not have ordained Religious teachers amongst its rank and payroll. In a way I can see the point, it is the US afterall - Separation of Church and State right ? Right. Its along the same lines as crying about Christmas trees at Schools and all. Surely the idea of a Chaplain or Priest in the army would tick off "devout" Athiests...
But here is the difference between the Army and any other field someone can work in in the US.
Army = You put your life on the line. One day you might be the guy who's job is to watch the Gates at your base. Chances are nothing will happen doing that. Sure thats fine.
Next day you are asked to do a field combat or patrol mission. You could step on a land mine and die, be shot, kidnapped, nailed with shrapnel from a grenade etc.
Its life and death. Allowing Religious figures in the army only helps the people there who already have death on their mind as a possibility. And it is respectful to our Soldiers to since they are risking their life, and have a right to receive last rites etc. Motivation and Morale is also heavily boosted for Religious soldiers if a Religious figure is on base [this is proven]. Id like to see any Atheist tell a Soldier in combat duties, that you want his Priest/Rabbi/Pastor fired since it "offends me" and we have "seperation of Church and State"... Go for it. You would be called a coward at the least.
If you [OP] are a Atheist in the army [I highly doubt it] then thats fine to. There is only a problem when Atheists try to force their views on non-Atheists.
This nails it! If atheists need counseling for their fears and/or other problems, there are secular counselors available. To elevate the post of an "atheist/secular counselor" to the position of "chaplain" is an insult to all people of faith. But, hey, maybe that's what the atheists have in mind.
No...I am saying you are completely missing the point behind the creation story. Because it wasn't simply to say 'God made man'. Genesis 1 is a proclamation of the nature of God.
It defines how God takes what is chaotic and without meaning and first makes order from the chaos and then fills the emptiness with meaning. In one sentence, that is the point of the creation story. So we don't go off topic, PM me and I can explain how that happens in detail, if you care to learn.
Genesis is a re-written story about a fallen king. It was originally in the middle of the bible.
correct..atheists (a religion) BELIEVE that we were an accident and just happened, and will be come food for the worm gods when we die
atheism IS a religion
YOU can call it anything you want, I do NOT belong to a religion.
AGAIN, for the SLOW: An atheist is one who does not believe in a god or gods....THAT IS ALL THAT IS IT. Why is that so difficult for you to understand.?????
(ever crack a DICTIONARY??? Use English???)
S O M E athiests M A Y believe we were
"an accident" that we will be worm food
YOU can call it anything you want, I do NOT belong to a religion.
AGAIN, for the SLOW: An atheist is one who does not believe in a god or gods....THAT IS ALL THAT IS IT. Why is that so difficult for you to understand.?????
(ever crack a DICTIONARY??? Use English???)
S O M E athiests M A Y believe we were
"an accident" that we will be worm food
Atheism is merely disbelief in a God or Gods. There is no specific guiding principles to being an atheist. Technically many Buddhists are atheists and the term spans a wide variety of belief systems, many of them radically different.
Also, I fail to see why an atheist would want to be a chaplain nor seek one. I always thought one of the main advantages of being an atheist was avoiding that type of nonsense to begin with.
"""""In the military, there are more than 3,000 chaplains who minister to the spiritual and emotional needs of active duty troops, ...
Atheist leaders acknowledge the seeming contradiction ............. But they say they believe the imprimatur of the chaplaincy will embolden atheists who worry about being ostracized for their worldviews.
Defense Department statistics show that about 9,400 of the nation’s 1.4 million active-duty military personnel identify themselves as atheists or agnostics, making them a larger subpopulation than Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists in the military. """
Who cares? Oh, maybe those who think supporting our troops is the right thing to do.
WHY would anyone be against having a chaplain or counselor for ANYONE who is fighting for Americans, who is in battle, risking their lives,
FOR CITIZENS OF ALL RELIGIONS ???
There are already counselors in the military which would cover the non-religious counseling.
They want chaplains though..not counselors which already exist to "comfort" them.
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