{"id":24905,"date":"2013-08-08T01:20:15","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T04:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=24905"},"modified":"2016-11-26T01:05:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T04:05:06","slug":"atheist-nco-belittles-idea-of-humanist-chaplain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/08\/atheist-nco-belittles-idea-of-humanist-chaplain\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist NCO Belittles Idea of Humanist Chaplain"},"content":{"rendered":"

A self-described atheist US military NCO writing at Ranger Up<\/a> became only the latest non-theist to criticize the crusade to appoint a non-theist military chaplain<\/a> — though he may be one of the first currently serving in the US military<\/em> to do so:<\/p>\n

[The humanist] claim is that Humanism fills the same role for atheists that Christianity fills for Christians, or Islam fills for Muslims. Here is where I (as an atheist and Humanist) come to my first objection. \u00a0 Christians are Christians because they believe in Christianity. One need not believe in Humanism to be an atheist. This is a false equivalency. Yes, many atheists tend to follow Humanist beliefs, but it is not a requirement or a standard.<\/p>\n

Atheism is, again, simply a lack of belief in a god or gods. That is the sole universal unifying factor amongst non-believers. They come from a vast ocean of cultures and backgrounds and to attempt to shoehorn them all under an umbrella, no matter how many are already under it, is dishonest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The NCO then makes an interesting point:\u00a0 It is his<\/em> job to address the secular needs of his troops.\u00a0 If they need prayer or some ‘religious stuff’, then they go to the chaplain.\u00a0 Thus, a “humanist” chaplain would be redundant with the military chain of command:<\/p>\n

As an NCO, a primary facet of my job is to look out for the welfare of my Soldiers. I do this regardless of the Soldier\u2019s religious beliefs and if they happen to be religious and want to pray or something, they have chaplains available for that. What would a Humanist chaplain do for a Soldier that I could not?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He makes the greater point that remains:\u00a0 If non-theists cannot be “shoehorn[ed]…under an umbrella,” to combine metaphors, how can the military possibly legitimize a single representative faith system for them?<\/p>\n

They’d have better luck commissioning a chaplain under the faith of “Other” with a question mark as his chaplain’s badge.<\/p>\n

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