[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Chilling...

Now, call me crazy, but whenever I read something like this, and considering that I personally find the idea of a floating, enigmatic sky-fairy to be a little odd, antiquated and utterly pointless, a weird feeling grips my spine and chills me with a fear that shreds whatever hope I may have once had for America:

Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: April 26, 2008

FORT RILEY, Kan. — When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.

But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Specialist Hall and another soldier about atheism, Specialist Hall wrote in a sworn statement. “People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!” Major Welborn said, according to the statement.

Major Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, according to the statement.
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I believe it. After all, I get boatloads of death threats in my email from these self-described "kind, morally superior, and compassionate Christians." Seriously. When they tell me they want to see me die in a fire, I'm sure it's a perfectly accurate display of Christian love.

On the plus side, since I am an atheist, I now see no reason whatsoever to think about enlisting or even supporting our bigoted Christian military.

It's astounding that these zealots will wail and blubber about how persecuted they are in this nation simply because we are a nation of religious freedom, and since they are too god-soaked and brainwashed to ever understand what, exactly, religious freedom entails, they will never end their relentless pursuit to persecute others as a result of their silly fears in a feeble and confused fumbling quest for supremacy.

Christians are the majority faith in this nation, yet they don't seem to understand just how completely irrelevant that is when it comes to the rights of everyone to believe as he or she wishes. Inevitably, Christians will push and marginalize those who do not share their beliefs, and sadly, they will rewrite the once-proud history of America's founding so as to remove the stigma of bigotry and prejudice in order to justify their petty hatred and fear and to which the actions their fear and hatred will inevitably lead .

Personally, I think we should give this nation over to those who wish to inflict their mythology upon everyone. The free minded should leave, and from the safety of the far side of whatever ponds we cross, we can watch the inevitable decline of this once great nation. And, for those who believe this won't happen, perhaps it's best to look at the Middle East. That is the same direction this nation is headed. The Middle East was one of the most prolific areas in the studies of science, mathematics, medicine, and other intellectual pursuits. However, cultish theocracies began sprouting up to replace rational thought, and now, the unfortunate people trapped in that limbo between reality and mythology can barely manage to feed themselves.

If we continue along this path, that hellish life between what is real and what isn't will take root here and this nation will subsequently crumble into the same poverty, ignorance, jealousy and fear we see there.

So, please. Tell me why Major Freddy Welborn believes he is actually doing America the slightest bit of good with his service in our nation's military so long as he makes such worthless demands? Major Welborn, like all soldiers, took an oath, and with every breath, he violates that oath and proves he is wholly unfit for duty.

On the other hand, so long as bigoted U.S. Military leaders are acting to subvert the service of those who do not share their Christian beliefs, I whole-heartedly believe that there is no way America can put her best and brightest in danger. I understand that that is a disturbing and elitist frame of mind, but I would rather live beneath the peaceful rule of rational minds than be forced to bow to the simple, twisted mythology of gun-toting zealots.

Unfortunately, when these freaks gain greater control, realists and free-thinkers will be the first to find their so-called "heathen" backs against the wall as the good and godly firing squad rains their blasphemy and hypocrisy upon them for the simple fact that, what I believe, is indeed a crime in those eyes which have been blinded by the incomprehensible number of planks in them.

So, yeah... It looks like another week will go by where I can not respect the Christian faith. It simply deserves none. I will never respect any religion until the day comes in this nation where all religions accept the cruel reality that they are completely equal to one another.

Nonetheless, if you are a Christian reading this, and you would turn a blind eye to the treason, the bigotry, the hatred and the crimes of your faith, then you are not the solution or element of peace and tolerance your belief's founder wished you to be. In other words, you have failed.

Glad I got that off my chest.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 4/26/2008 03:07:00 PM