Tag Archives: atheism

Billy Graham on Serving God and Foxhole Atheists

The Rev. Billy Graham has a syndicated daily newspaper column called “My Answer.”  He recently addressed a question from a US servicemember in Afghanistan reconsidering their calling in life:

DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Right now, I’m in the military deployed in Afghanistan, and I’ve really grown closer to God during my time here. Do you think God wants me to be a pastor or something like that when I get out? How can I know? — M. M.

Graham thanked the servicemember for their service and noted the Read more

Military Atheists Respond: Dustin Chalker and the Facts

It seems the prior article on the White House petition to “end discrimination” against military atheists struck a chord, most notably with its creator, Dustin Chalker.

Chalker posted a response to the article with his MRFF ally Chris Rodda as an independent blog.  Not all of the assumptions Rodda and Chalker made were necessarily accurate, but the response here, as some have seen, has been interesting.  Most who have commented failed to actually read the story behind any of Chalker’s accusations, making such deep and thoughtful statements as “You’re a coward” easy, if logically unsupported, diatribes to make in their passionate support of Chalker.

Though he never indicated so himself, Rodda claims Dustin Chalker – who sued the Department of Defense as an Army Sergeant – is now the civilian “Mr.” Chalker, though she contradictorily uses his rank in the present tense.

Both Rodda’s and Chalker’s comments contained factual errors, though accuracy has never been Rodda’s strong suit.  Some of the more salient points of Chalker’s comment are below:

Chalker said it was “lying” to say his lawsuit  Read more

The Patriotic God-Gap in America

CNN’s religion blog highlighted research by Christianity Today suggesting evangelical Christians may be statistically more “patriotic” than other Americans:

Among those surveyed, evangelicals were the most likely to think the United States is No. 1.

“Other Christian traditions were less enthusiastic about America’s position in the world, but they still saw the U.S. as one of the best on the planet. About 40% of other Christians said the U.S. stands alone as the greatest country; around 55% said it and some other countries were equally great.

Those “without religious beliefs” held a “much less favorable view” Read more

Army Atheists Get it Wrong on Chaplains. Again.

The “military director” of American Atheists and coordinator for “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg, Justin Griffith, previously misstepped when he tried to ‘humorously’ make the point “there are no chaplains in foxholes.’  (Even some who support him have asked him not to demean the service of chaplains who died in the line of duty or received such accolades as the Medal of Honor.)

Griffith was also so offended by an answer BrigGen Rhonda Cornum gave in a media interview that he misquoted her and allowed another military atheist, Dustin Chalker, to rail on about her misquoted statement.

Now, he’s done it again.

This time Griffith targeted Read more

MRFF Petition Garners Signatures for White House

Dustin Chalker, an Army Sergeant and MRFF “client,” publicly announced that he started a petition on the whitehouse.gov “We the People” website calling for an “End [to] the Military’s Discrimination against Non-Religious Service Members.”

The petition wording reflects some of the sentiment behind Chalker’s failed lawsuit against the Army — a lawsuit that was tossed out because Chalker failed to use the internal grievance systems the Army has in place.  The petition contains similarly vague claims of illegal conduct, which are (still) unsupported to date by any public facts:  Read more

The Courage of US Military Chaplains

The National Catholic Register ran a piece on military chaplains entitled “Profiles in Courage: Military Chaplains,” documenting the roles and experiences of Catholic chaplains in the US military.  While it noted the typical shortage, it also highlighted a surge of new volunteers:

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA reported a sharp jump this year in the number of seminarians interested in serving as military chaplains. As the 2011-2012 academic year begins, there are 31 military-affiliated seminarians nationwide, up from three just three years ago.

The article also profiled four military chaplains Read more

Update: Atheist Soldier Refuses to Bow Head at Graduation

The CNN.com blog that covered the atheist Soldier refusing to lower his head during a training graduation prayer updated their post with input from Fort Jackson:

Fort Jackson officials said Friday that an atheist soldier was asked to lower their head during a prayer portion of a graduation ceremony rehearsal, but then decided it was ok for the soldier to stand at Attention. [sic]

As originally thought, the desire for a Read more

Atheist Soldier Refuses to Bow Head at Graduation

According to a CNN blog, an atheist US Army Private First Class graduating from Advanced Individual Training at Fort Jackson, SC, was expected to “bow his head and clasp his hands” during the prayer portion of his unit’s graduation. 

After almost being pulled from a graduation ceremony for refusal to lower the head during a benediction, a soldier is now allowed to attend but must instead stand at attention.

The rehearsal occurred yesterday, the graduation itself is today.  Notably, the CNN article was written only on the basis of information from the Soldier and Michael Weinstein; Read more

1 … 50 51 52 53 54 … 67