I have a friend down in Texas; an old, blind, Atheist, chromatic harmonica player named Dan Woods. Dan is a character. Whenever we get together we have deep philosophical discussions. He once told me this; “Atheism is the Rodney Dangerfield of belief systems-no respect.” He went on to say that it was likely that I knew a lot of Atheists that I was unaware of. That, a lot of Atheists just keep quiet about it to avoid hassle and backlash. This conversation took place several years ago and, since then, Dan and I have talked about a growing trend which I call, “Look At Me Atheism”.
Here is a CNN story about Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, who was raised as a Baptist and later became an Atheist and, who is suing the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates because he claims that rights to religious freedom under the First Amendment were violated and suggests that the United States military has become a Christian organization.
He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.
Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.
Now, Hall isn’t going after money here, he is suing for the “guarantee of religious freedom in the military”.
The article does actually cite a couple of things that are part of Hall’s case that his right to religious freedom has been violated.
Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, “Do you believe in Jesus now?”…
He also said he missed out on promotions because he is an atheist.
“I was told because I can’t put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn’t make a good leader,” Hall said.
O.K. The military is all about protocol. If some type of violation happens, you go through the proper procedure to rectify the situation.
If you feel discriminated against because you refused to pray, file a complaint.
If another soldier asks you, “Do you believe in Jesus now?”, well…I’m not sure how that’s a violation of right to religious freedom.
If you were passed over on a promotion because you are an Atheist. Prove it.
If you were told; “because I can’t put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn’t make a good leader,” who told you that?
All of these thing point to individuals not, Army policy. But, here’s the part I don’t get; if you no longer believe in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural, what would stop you from acting like you are praying at Thanksgiving dinner? I mean, it’s no skin off your ass. You aren’t going to hell for it. You don’t believe in any of that. It’s just going along to get along. The military is all about going along to get along. You could advance your career by being quiet about your non-belief and you wouldn’t be compromising your non-belief by playing the game.
In other words, your right to not believe will not be violated until you make a public display of your non-belief. Nobody is going to know.
Pride knows no boundaries, I guess and, non-believers want to be recognized for their non-belief.
Michael Weinstein, a retired senior Air Force officer and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is suing along with Hall. Weinstein said he’s been contacted by more than 8,000 members of the military, almost all of them complaining of pressure to embrace evangelical Christianity.
“Our Pentagon, our Pentacostalgon, is refusing to realize that when you put the uniform on, there’s only one religious faith: patriotism,” Weinstein said.
Now we are getting to the crux. This guy Hall, isn’t acting on his own here. He is suing the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates because he claims that his right to religious freedom has been violated along with an organization; the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
From the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s lengthy mission statement.
No member of the military may be compelled to endure unwanted religious proselytization, evangelization or persuasion of any sort in a military setting and/or by a military superior or civilian employee of the military.
The full exercise of religious freedom includes the right not to subscribe to any particular religion or religious philosophy. The so-called “unchurched” cede no Constitutional rights by want of their separation from organized faith.
Weinstein cites two other groups, the Christian Embassy and the Officer’s Christian Fellowship. He is torqued off because these groups proselytize.
Atheists don’t like proselytizing.
proselytize. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
pros-e-ly-tize
v. pros-e-ly-tized, pros-e-ly-tiz-ing, pros-e-ly-tiz-esv. intr.
1. To induce someone to convert to one’s own religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one’s own political party or to espouse one’s doctrine.v. tr.
To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another.
I’m not a fan of proselytizing either. I don’t like it when somebody assumes that I need to hear their version of Spirituality. I don’t like it when somebody assumes that my Faith isn’t in order and that it needs to match theirs. I find that to be condescending.
When someone engages in proselytizing, they usually don’t start with “you need to convert to my Faith”. It’s a sales pitch and, like any sales pitch it is delivered in phases. You don’t start the pitch with the close. This type of sales pitch starts with; “Look At Me”. It starts with, “this is what I believe” and progresses to, “you need to convert to my Faith”.
In essence people that proselytize are saying, “you are wrong and I am right”. I have never run into a Jewish person who did this or, a Muslim, or a Buddhist. No, the only members of a religious denomination, that have proselytized to me are Christians particularly Evangelical Christians. And, oh yeah, there is another group of people who taken the time to go out of their way and tell me, “you are wrong and I am right” and, that would be Atheists.
When this happens, when somebody feels the need to proselytize, I don’t sweat it. I don’t argue with them and say, “no, you are wrong and I am right” because, I don’t think that way. If I’m in a hurry, I will try to cut it short and move on. I don’t get bent out of shape about it.
But, some people do get bent out of shape about it and it occurs to me that, those people are also saying “Look At Me”, “I am this”. The ones that are upset about the proselytizing are often proselytizing themselves.
And, that’s what’s going on with this bogus lawsuit between Jeremy Hall, Michael Weinstein, the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The DOD’s policy is already one of religious freedom, if that is being violated, you go through the normal channels. This lawsuit is about publicity. It’s all about “Look At Me”.
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