A 2011 graduate of the US Air Force Academy is apparently making his mark as a “cockpit atheist” US Air Force officer (and, presumably, an eventual Air Force pilot).

The cockpit atheist is a “militant” atheist, in his own words, and apparently has a famous umbrella.

As noted previously, some people seem to think the Air Force, or the US military, is overrun by Christians.  A few think military officers aren’t allowed to speak out about their religious beliefs.

It seems the cockpit atheist undermines the former point and disagrees with the latter.  The Lieutenant has taken not only to the internet with his religious beliefs and his status as an Air Force officer, but also to a small variety of atheist events from Rock Beyond Belief to college events.  It seems he doesn’t care for Christianity that much:

I would much rather have an atheist in a foxhole than a religious person in a foxhole because when push comes to shove — when bullets are flying — I don’t want my wingman to take his eyes off the target to bow his head and pray.  I don’t want to have to save his [redacted] because he felt it was more important to ask his magic sky father for help than to turn to me and shout hey check your six.

It’s been noted here before that some atheists feel they can’t “exercise” their religious beliefs without the ability to denigrate religion — or peers who are religious.  In fact, the Lieutenant was the leader of the USAFA Freethinkers group when Jason Torpy made a push to get the ‘freedom to denigrate’ enshrined in USAFA policy. 

It seems the LT carried that philosophy into active duty.

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