Army group 'coming out of the atheist closet'

[cal04]

Nonbelievers at Fort Bragg launch effort to get recognition, equal treatment on base
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42391558/ns/us_news-military/

The cliche notwithstanding, there are atheists in foxholes.

In fact, atheists, agnostics, humanists and other assorted skeptics from the Army's Fort Bragg have formed an organization in a pioneering effort to win recognition and ensure fair treatment for nonbelievers in the overwhelmingly Christian U.S. military.

"We exist, we're here, we're normal," said Sgt. Justin Griffith, chief organizer of Military Atheists and Secular Humanists, or MASH. "We're also in foxholes. That's a big one, right there."

For now, the group meets regularly in homes and bars outside of Fort Bragg, one of the biggest military bases in the country. But it is going through the long bureaucratic process to win official recognition from the Army as a distinct "faith" group.

[FLPanhandle]

1. Announcing you are an atheist is tough in some places

Especially the Bible Belt.

Good luck guys.

[MineralMan]

7. In 1965, I was told that I was the first basic airman at

Lackland AFB to get dogtags that said "Atheist" on the religion line. It took a Jewish chaplain to help me get past the refusal to classify me as such. I went through almost all of basic training with no dogtags because I politely refused any that did not say that. Oddly, I didn't suffer any repercussions for my position. Eventually, I got my dogtags, properly embossed.

Now, I may not have been the first USAF enlisted person with that on my dogtags, but nobody could remember any other instance.

[FLPanhandle]

8. You are cool and have my respect for that.

Great story.

[MineralMan]

9. At the time, as a 19 year old, I didn't think it was that big a deal.

I just stuck to my guns, and got what I wanted. It was only later...much later...that I realized that I had done something unusual.

[Ezlivin]

2. The reason there aren't any atheists in foxholes

is because they are out fighting while the Xians are in the foxholes praying.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Good.

Good for them.

[devils chaplain]

4. A ton of guts to "come out" as an atheist in a conservative organization.

Those who say there are no atheists in foxholes are disrespecting the courage of these brave men and women.

[MineralMan]

6. Those who say there are no atheists in foxholes are morons.

It is that simple.

[jwirr]

5. This is far better than being forced to set in on some religious ceremony

that you do not believe in. Glad to hear it - should have happened long ago.