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 wit (formatting original):
Technically, there really are no Chaplains in foxholes (in the US military.) They are designated ‘non combatants’, 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…
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.
Unfortunately, Griffith is wrong, and his attempt at wit falls flat. A foxhole is not defined by whether or not a Chaplain is in it any more than a war is defined by the location of its front lines. (Ask the Soldiers in Humvees and MRAPs with Chaplains onboard if they think their vehicle is still for “fighting.”) He ignores the fact the US military does “[assign] a weapon” to Chaplains — it’s in the hands of the Chaplain’s assistant, standing right next to him, charged with protecting the Chaplain with lethal force.
Griffith also grossly misstates facts when he says Read more