In 2010 Jason Torpy, a former US Army Captain and current atheist, essentially lied to White House staff when he told them in an official briefing that approximately 23% of the US military was non-theistic. The briefing was one part of his crusade to justify the oxymoronic “atheist chaplain.”

The problem, as previously discussed, was that his own data didn’t support his claim — and he knew it. When presenting his data, Torpy had included as “non-theists” those who indicated “no religious preference” in their military personnel records. Of course, no one has any idea whether those who selected NRP for their records are theists or not. You would think one who represented an ideology that self-righteously proclaimed its reliance on skepticism and evidence wouldn’t rely on “myth” to promote his cause, but that’s precisely what Torpy did. He cast his net so wide, in fact, that his list of non-theists included at least one Muslim terrorist.

Torpy’s fib was outed, and the knowledge of his use of fictional data made Read more