Found a very interesting article from the Associated Press
titled: ARMY ATHEISTS SEEKING ACCEPTANCE SPREAD MESSAGE AT BASE CARNIVAL.
I actually have been following this trend for some time now.
In the past, no one in the military admitted to not being religious and just
played along with the rest. We had chaplains of each faith as officers serving
in the military and one could go to a religious service on Sundays, if they
were available where you were stationed.
In recent times, military chaplains were caught in
“aggressive proselytizing” which means these chaplains who were also “officers”
were pushing or ordering regular GIs who are not officers, into religions and
religious practices they did not want. The military has since then made rules
against pushing soldiers into religion; most officers that were accused of
doing so were mostly fundamentalist Christians.
Military bases also, from time to time, allowed religious
groups to hold picnics and other events specifically for religious purposes and
in some cases, soldiers were commanded to attend whether they wanted to or not.
Recently, that practice was challenged on legal and ethical
grounds by various groups representing secularism and humanism and one in
particular that I belong to called: AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH
AND STATE which is actually headed by a Protestant minister, Barry Lynn.
This group of religious and non religious people acts
against violations of the Constitutional mandate to keep religion and
government separate and because the US military is a branch of our
government, it should have nothing to do with religious proselytizing or
forcing religion on soldiers under their command.
The fact that army atheists were allowed to have their own
staged event on an army base (in this case Ft. Bragg, NC) is historic and long
over due. The event ROCK BEYOND BELIEF was a carnival with normal carnival fare
with information booths about secular groups and performers that sang about
secularism, etc.
This was historic because for the first time ever the
military recognized soldiers that are atheist, secularists or just don’t
consider themselves religious, as a distinct faith group like religious groups
are.
This is a giant step for our civilization and our specific
culture and I hope it will serve as an example around the world that you don’t
have to belong to a specific religious group to be recognized as an individual
and as a member of society in good standing.
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