In February Offutt Air Force Base approved “Offutt Humanists” to operate as a private organization:

I’ve been attending the base chaplain’s Bible study for over a year,” says Offutt Humanist founder, Tom Gray, “and he agreed with me that the needs of the non-religious would be better met outside of a religious context.”

“I appreciated his support as I went through the process to create Offutt Humanists,” Gray added.

Some atheists have claimed for years that they are “denied” access to military base or post facilities. As has been discussed many times in response to these assertions, those non-religious atheists were frequently trying to get recognition through religious military chapel program. Once they did what every other non-religious group did — apply as a private organization — they realized they had nothing to complain about.

It seems the Humanists at Offutt AFB figured this out and were successful in establishing themselves as a group — though Jason Torpy of the MAAF still considers this “second class status.” “Second class” to whom he doesn’t say, but he apparently believes non-religious atheists should be granted direct non-religious support within the military’s religious chapel support system.

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