The demand by Jason Torpy, speaking for the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, that the US Marine Corps remove its “Christian privilege” (the crosses on Camp Pendleton‘s ridge on Camp Horno) has spurred a “wider review” of similar memorials around the world:
Capt. Greg Wolf at the Pentagon headquarters of the Marine Corps said Thursday that an “operational planning team” is conducting Read more
Atheist Jason Torpy tilted the irony meter recently when he touted his recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery.
The event provided the opportunity to remember the service of all those hundreds of thousands at Arlington Cemetery, our nation’s most sacred shrine.
The atheist considers Arlington so “sacred,” in fact, he thinks the government should yank the crosses out of it — something even the ACLU doesn’t advocate.
The US Supreme Court denied certiorari in Mount Soledad Memorial Association v. Trunk, which lets stand a 9th Circuit ruling that the cross was unconstitutional. While some have claimed this was a victory for church/state separation, the ruling was actually more nuanced — and not focused on Constitutionality at all: Read more
Competing opinion pieces at the UT San Diego debate the appropriateness of the Camp Pendleton crosses, memorials that have stood on a remote hill on a US Marine base for years until an atheist found out they were there.
Ever-sensitive atheist Jason Torpy, the original complainant who found out about the crosses on the internet, reminds people the crosses “violate religious neutrality,” since the presence of religious symbols on government land is apparently totally forbidden:
Two 13-foot Christian crosses stand on restricted federal land as a result of unauthorized actions by private individuals…All of this speaks to a Marine-led Christianization of the military Read more
The Liberty Institute launched a campaign called “Don’t Tear Me Down” aimed at protecting military memorials. (While the push is new, the effort has been ongoing for some time.) The effort is initially focused on the Mount Soledad cross, but they accurately note the attacks on memorials could have a far wider impact:
“The ACLU is so driven to purge religious displays from the public Read more
Members of the US military have defended human liberty, at the cost of their own lives, around the globe.
They have protected people they don’t know, rights they often can’t practice, and the freedom of others to advocate ideologies with which they disagree.
They have fought, and died, for something greater than themselves.
Remember their sacrifice this Memorial Day.
Today, we join together in prayer Read more
A recent report out of southern California indicates it will still be “weeks or months” before the US Marines make a decision on the now-controversial Camp Pendleton cross.
“We are thoroughly and deliberately evaluating the issues raised by the existence of the informal memorial in order to assess the impact on the installation,” said the spokeswoman, Capt. Kendra Motz.
The atheist whose complaint started the controversy, Jason Torpy, reiterated his assertion the crosses are illegal.
Jason Torpy, the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, is an atheist and former Army officer. While his MAAF is ostensibly a “community support network,” he recently revealed the true motivation behind his ideology.
In a recent display of internet frustration, Torpy took fellow atheists to task for not banding together and being “anti-” enough. The context was a comment that people don’t join groups for things they don’t believe in, spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a self-described agnostic (who says he is “often claimed by atheists”):
Do non-golf players gather and strategize? Do non-skiers…come together and talk about the fact that they don’t ski? I can’t do that. I can’t gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn’t believe in God.
This is the same point raised by many people Read more