{"id":12700,"date":"2011-08-30T02:30:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T07:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=12700"},"modified":"2011-09-16T20:33:08","modified_gmt":"2011-09-17T01:33:08","slug":"military-atheists-miss-the-mark-with-chaplain-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/30\/military-atheists-miss-the-mark-with-chaplain-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Atheists Miss the Mark with Chaplain “Humor”"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Army Sergeant Justin Griffith has recently been named the “military director” of American Atheists<\/a>, the group founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair (the famous atheist who tried to take on NASA<\/a>).<\/p>\n

He proudly announced<\/a> that his “first act” was to arm his “fellow foxhole atheists” with “humor” to fight the “condescending theist” statement “there are no atheists in foxholes.” To wit (formatting original):<\/p>\n

Technically, there really are no Chaplains in foxholes<\/em> <\/strong>(in the US military.) They are designated \u2018non combatants\u2019, are not assigned a weapon, and are not supposed to be on the front lines of a battlefield. If they somehow stumbled into a foxhole, it would cease being a fighting position. It would simply be a hole…<\/p>\n

In the hopes of this becoming a meme that eventually kills the offensive statement altogether, I pass it on to you. I encourage all of my fellow service members to use it. Use it respectfully, but fearlessly. You are right. They are wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, Griffith <\/em>is wrong, and his attempt at\u00a0wit falls flat.\u00a0 A foxhole\u00a0is not defined by whether or not a Chaplain is in it\u00a0any more than a war is defined by the location of its front lines.\u00a0 (Ask the Soldiers in Humvees and MRAPs with Chaplains<\/a> onboard if they think their vehicle is still\u00a0for “fighting.”)\u00a0 He ignores the fact the US military does <\/em>“[assign] a weapon” to Chaplains — it’s in the hands of the Chaplain’s assistant<\/a>, standing right next to him, charged with protecting the Chaplain with lethal force.<\/p>\n

Griffith\u00a0also grossly misstates facts when he says Chaplains “are not supposed to be on the frontlines.”\u00a0 Not only is there no such law of war or policy on where Chaplains are “supposed to be,” Chaplains have been “on the front lines” in the US military for centuries, serving US troops’ spiritual needs and protecting their rights to free exercise — wherever <\/em>they go.<\/p>\n

As an organization’s new “military director,” Griffith could avoid such basic errors by\u00a0doing some reading before making similar pronouncements in the future.\u00a0 As it stands, instead of a witty repartee about opinions and claimed beliefs<\/em>, Griffith ends up “offending” a group of\u00a0Soldiers solely by virtue of the military positions <\/em>in which they serve.<\/p>\n

As noted previously, the phrase “there are no atheists in foxholes” addresses a legitimate, if controversial, discussion on belief<\/em>.\u00a0 It is no more offensive than “there are no Christians in foxholes<\/a>”\u00a0—\u00a0a phrase\u00a0Griffith essentially promotes<\/a> when he said it was “so true<\/a>” that<\/p>\n

maybe there are only <\/em>atheists in foxholes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While military atheists and military Christians have certainly fought — and died — for their country, it is also not uncommon for stories to be told about men and women in the US military “finding<\/a>” or “losing<\/a>” God due to their experiences in combat.\u00a0 Likewise, just as people have questioned how a person could face their own mortality and not acknowledge God, others have questioned how one who did<\/em> acknowledge God could fight in a war.\u00a0 Thus, the conversation is valid.<\/p>\n

Griffith, however, ends up not questioning\u00a0troops’\u00a0beliefs<\/em>, but their\u00a0decision to\u00a0serve their country in a specific military position<\/em>.\u00a0 He could just have easily said there “are no doctors in foxholes,” because medical\u00a0professionals are also non-combatants.<\/p>\n

Such a statement would no doubt be offensive to those doctors who have died in\u00a0combat<\/a>, despite the fact they weren’t combatants<\/a>.\u00a0 It is offensive because the criticism has nothing to do with their chosen ideology or opinion<\/em>; it disparages them for the means <\/em>by which they’ve chosen to serve their country.<\/p>\n

Likewise, despite Griffith’s attempted humor, Chaplains who choose to serve in a position without a weapon are not any less in “combat” than the surgeon or Soldier standing next to them “in the foxhole.”\u00a0 Just as it is offensive to doctors who have served and died in combat, the same is true for Chaplains who have given their lives<\/a> in “foxholes” and on the “frontlines,” precisely where they’re supposed to be.\u00a0 In fact, more than a dozen Chaplains have received the Medal of Honor<\/a>\u00a0and many more the Purple Heart<\/a>.\u00a0 When someone pointed this out to him, Griffith said those Chaplains were “in the distant past:”<\/p>\n

Chaplains are NON-COMBATANTS these days. They are specifically banned from firing weapons, going in foxholes, being on the frontlines, etc. What you are talking about is from the distant past, and does not represent any current chaplains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The family of Chaplain Dale Goetz<\/a> is one of several who would likely disagree.<\/p>\n

American Atheist military director Griffith would do well to share\u00a0where one can find the “specific ban”\u00a0preventing Chaplains from “going in foxholes, being on the frontlines, etc.”\u00a0— especially in an era of warfare in which there are no clear frontlines.\u00a0 As this site frequently notes, it seems US military Chaplains “violate<\/a>” his “specific ban” every day<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 While some degree of ignorance or naivet\u00e9 is understandable, Griffith is still emphatic<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0as if\u00a0he thinks belittling <\/em>the Chaplains’ service gains atheists some form of credibility.<\/p>\n

(For perspective, consider the World War II US Army video with “Chaplain” Ronald Reagan<\/a>.\u00a0 The fictional Chaplain occupies a “foxhole” with Soldiers and ultimately sacrifices himself…on the frontlines.)<\/p>\n

Just as military Christians can respond without irrational offense when someone asks “I thought Christians were supposed to turn the other cheek…?” military atheists can likewise use the opportunity to share their beliefs.\u00a0 As the American Atheists’ new “military director,” Griffith does not improve the situation by trying to make it\u00a0“us” vs “them” — and it is certainly not an atheist vs Chaplain <\/em>issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Griffith’s “first act” as the “military director” of the atheist group was a flop, but it’s early yet.\u00a0 There have been some prior positive happenings<\/a>, so hopefully he’ll learn (read the regs) and improve, moving beyond\u00a0clich\u00e9s.\u00a0 Maybe his second act will be something that celebrates “reason” and provides support for his fellow atheists — without having to denigrate religion, Chaplains, or Christians in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Army Sergeant Justin Griffith has recently been named the “military director” of American Atheists, the group founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair (the famous atheist who tried to take on NASA). He proudly announced that his “first act” was to arm his “fellow foxhole atheists” with “humor” to fight the “condescending theist” statement “there are no atheists in foxholes.” To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20,5284,1055,2,1945,10,171],"class_list":["post-12700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-atheism","tag-chaplain","tag-justin-griffith","tag-military","tag-no-atheists-in-foxholes","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}