Atheist Soldier Claims Harassment

[spideyboy_1111]

I'm sorry, could you clarify that for me? It appears to me that you just said suing is dumb. What, in any context? The law is what keeps this country anything close to honest, anything close to a democracy! Judicial review and the independent courts and the rule of law are the last chance we have.

well typically when people sue the US gov, esp something like this, there reasoning gets lost with the money, and the people who feel against him tend to be more fueled by his message then actually learning from it. And many would probably be ignorant and consider him unpatriotic for the lawsuit

 

[bullets]

This is hilarious irony . There were probably a bunch of politically incorrect speaking , womanizing , alchoholic guys saying to him " What's your problem ?" "You don't believe in god" , "What are you gay or something"

 

[C.F. Kane]

^ that's what angers Atheists the most. The erroneous assumption that their moral fiber will collapse in the absence of a dogma.

 

[Spade]

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.
"I said, 'No, but I believe in Plexiglas,"' Hall said.

I shouldn't laugh about a near-death experience, but...his response was classic.

 

[The Senator]

This isn't much of a surprise to me. Atheists continuously get the shaft by the American government. Hell, even George H.W. Bush said that atheists aren't true patriots. This is just another incident in a much longer list of prejudices against atheists in the United States.

 

[Superhobo]

This isn't much of a surprise to me. Atheists continuously get the shaft by the American government. Hell, even George H.W. Bush said that atheists aren't true patriots. This is just another incident in a much longer list of prejudices against atheists in the United States.

Actually, he said we shouldn't be considered citizens. But, yeah - I agree.

 

[C.F. Kane]

I shouldn't laugh about a near-death experience, but...his response was classic.

Hell yeah! It's like something Joss Whedon would write.

"Zoë: Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killin'?
Book: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."

 

[The Senator]

Actually, he said we shouldn't be considered citizens. But, yeah - I agree.

Well, I believe this was the actual quote:

No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God.

 

[Superhobo]

So, we're both right. Cool.

 

[Prison Mike]

edit

 

[bullets]

I'd rather be an athiest than a hypocrite.

 

[gkokujin]

i'd rather EVERYONE on BOTH SIDE quit whining about getting their feelings hurt and take care of our freaking country.

 

[The Senator]

i'd rather EVERYONE on BOTH SIDE quit whining about getting their feelings hurt and take care of our freaking country.

I'd rather the government keep religion out of the armed forces as it should every other aspect of American government.

However, since that is not the case as this instance obviously shows us, this is an issue which needs to be thoroughly debated in this country. Atheists should not be treated as second-class citizens, especially when they are sacrificing their lives to protect this country from harm abroad.

 

[ferret]

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight.

This sounds like he was gay and was forced to come out of the closet. So you need a coming out now when you're an atheist? **** man, then the gay atheists need, like, 2.

This saddens me as much as some comments here, which imply that EVEN THOUGH people are atheists, they can be "good" people (cue all the "I know atheists, they're really nice" comments), as if we'd throw all our morals over board once we decided we didn't want to believe in "god" anymore.

And I believe in plexiglas, too, religiously, amost.

 

[moraldeficiency]

I'm not sure about this story, it's kinda fuzzy about how he was harrassed or why he wasn't allowed to form a super athiests' club while in a combat zone. If he was harrassed that's messed up but it could equally be true he's just whining because he feels slighted in some way. Maybe just maybe there was a legitimate reason he was denied the formation of the group (probably because of improper paperwork and failure to obtain proper permission).

I've been in the service and religion never came up except as a punch line. I doubt there were a bunch of these religious types following the guy around all the time. You get messed with in the service, it toughens you up, this isn't daycamp people. A drill sergent finds what's important to you and takes every moment he can to rip that down. It's part of training to find discipline when you're put out.

I saw a lot of messed up things while in like blatant racism and sexism but religious harrassment was definatly not something I saw as mattering (unless they were a muslim).

I'm not saying he wasn't necessarily harrassed but it seems like everyone here just assumes he's in the right without much of an actual story. I mean an unarmed guy gets shot like 50 times by four cops and people are jumping all over each other to explain how the cops might have been in the right but some guy makes vague claims of nonphysical harrassment and he's suddenly rosa parks not giving up her bus seat.

 

[Docker2.0]

This sounds like the setup to a joke.

"What did the atheist soldier say to the Iraqi soldier?"

Agreed!

But honestly, I don't believe this entire story at all. I'm sure dude is leaving a lot of stuff out. People always say that christians shove things down there throat but atheist do the same thing. There is more to the story than dude is telling.

 

[sithgoblin]

Agreed!

But honestly, I don't believe this entire story at all. I'm sure dude is leaving a lot of stuff out. People always say that christians shove things down there throat but atheist do the same thing. There is more to the story than dude is telling.

You know atheists are the most reviled group of people in America, don't you? Even more so than Muslims post 9/11.

 

[SuperFerret]

You know atheists are the most reviled group of people in America, don't you? Even more so than Muslims post 9/11.

Really? Because honestly, I never hear anything bad being said about them. I hear about the blacks, the jews, the muslims, the asians, the russians, the hispanics, and the whites as being bad people, but atheists are a non-entity when it comes to predjudice around my parts.

 

[Addendum]

We're the untouchables and unmentionables. One would think the caste system was solely the realm of India

 

[The Senator]

Really? Because honestly, I never hear anything bad being said about them. I hear about the blacks, the jews, the muslims, the asians, the russians, the hispanics, and the whites as being bad people, but atheists are a non-entity when it comes to predjudice around my parts.

Considering the former President of the United States condemned atheists as non-citizens, I think there's considerable prejudice against atheism in this country. Do you remember the whole uproar over removing "under God" from the pledge? Commentators acted as if atheists are soulless, maniacal manipulators who want to completely uproot all religion and throw it in the trash. Regardless of whether you agreed with that case or not, the fact is, that family was treated as if it was downright un-American.

Moreover, there are few people in this world who are willing to say things like "I honestly don't see how Hispanics can enjoy life" or "it must feel really dull to be an Asian." Few people make outlandish statements like that because they are simply outrageous. Yet people go around, even on this forum, saying things like "It must be dull to be an atheist" or "I don't see how an atheist can enjoy life" (both of which are paraphrased from another thread). And my personal favorite is the belief that atheists don't have morals, which is what Sen. Tom Coburn said during his 2004 re-election campaign, and what has been repeated by one of my favorite posters on this forum.

While I'm not an atheist, I understand the kind of bull **** these people go through. And it does not surprise me one bit that the United States military, which continues to discriminate against homosexuals and once discriminated against members of the Wiccan faith, is acting this way towards an atheist who decided to put his life on the line to serve and defend this country overseas.

 

[Superhobo]

We're like the Jews.


Waitaminute...




:wink:

 

[sithgoblin]

"A Gallup poll taken in 1999 asked Americans whether they would vote for an otherwise well qualified person who was a woman (95 per cent would), a Catholic (94 per cent would), a Jew (92 per cent), black (92 per cent), Mormon (79 per cent), homosexual (79 per cent) or atheist (49 per cent)."

From The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins.

 

[Mister Sinister]

America is messed up when belief in fairy tales is equated with patriotism.

 

[moraldeficiency]

"A Gallup poll taken in 1999 asked Americans whether they would vote for an otherwise well qualified person who was a woman (95 per cent would), a Catholic (94 per cent would), a Jew (92 per cent), black (92 per cent), Mormon (79 per cent), homosexual (79 per cent) or atheist (49 per cent)."

From The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins.

I'm not sure that shows what you think it does. I believe people tend to vote for the politicians they see as mirroring their own beliefs. If most of the country believes in a higher power then they'd be more likely to vote for a politician that does as well. Maybe I'm wrong but that poll is all over the place. Being a woman, black or homosexual isn't a choice but religion is. If that poll took those out and asked about every major religion on earth including muslims, buddists, hindus, etc then it might be slightly more credible than something that seems to have been formulated at the least arbitrarily or at the most designed to cause uproar.

But to say this means that say blacks are less presecuted than atheists is just silly. Next time you see atheists getting lynched then let's talk until then to have a few people disagree with you and say you're belief is stupid just means you've joined the ranks of any other religious group. Congrats, you now get the same level of **** as most other religions.

Simply put people aren't killed for being athiests or denied same wages or barred from being citizens. When the chinese gov. begins purifing athiests before the next olympics then maybe they can have some say in who's the most persecuted.

 

[Darthphere]

When someone states that it's not about the money, it's usually about the money.