Agnostic Sides With Military Atheists

[lennygoran]

I'm the agnostic and I was watching this weekly PBS Show and they had a report on atheists in the military wanting their own atheist chaplain.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethi ... ins/10814/

Regards, Len

[living_stradivarius]

Thank you

[lennygoran]

Thank you

This part really seemed so unfair to me:

SEVERSON: Among atheists, one of the most objectionable tests they are required to pass involves their spiritual fitness. It’s a new test given annually. Sergeant Griffith failed.

Sgt. Justin Griffith, military director, American AtheistsGRIFFITH: It went on and on telling me that I need to improve my spiritual fitness. But if I need help, I call this 1-800 number. So I called that 1-800 number, and I was basically just going to yell at whoever it was, and to my surprise this was a suicide hotline. I was told that I was suicidal because I was not religious.

SEVERSON: Atheists contend it’s difficult to advance in the army if a soldier isn’t deemed spiritually fit.

GRIFFITH: I take this test again and again and again, because every three months since I failed a section, the spiritual portion, that means I’m red and I have to take it again in three months. It’s offensive in the highest. It’s illegal. it’s unconstitutional, it’s a waste of money, and it’s another tool to keep us down, to tell us atheists that we’re freaks or somehow unfit.

Regards, Len

[Agnes Selby]

Oh, dear me! So you have to be religious to get into
your army in order to be able to kill!

[lennygoran]

Oh, dear me! So you have to be religious to get into
your army in order to be able to kill!

I'm an agnostic but fortunately am not in the military--still if I encounter 1 more weed or tick in my garden I'll be calling that phone number for atheists who need suicide help! Regards, Len

[living_stradivarius]

I'm an agnostic but fortunately am not in the military--still if I encounter 1 more weed or tick in my garden I'll be calling that phone number for atheists who need suicide help! Regards, Len

Isn’t an agnostic just an atheist without balls? - Stephen Colbert

[John F]

This "spiritual fitness" test didn't exist when I was in the Army, and I was promoted as fast as my time in service and time in grade (rank) allowed, despite claiming no religious faith and never once seeing a chaplain. The test can't be serving whatever its purpose is supposed to be, as suicides among active-duty soldiers have kept hitting new highs year after year ever since our invasion of Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/us/ac ... -high.html

[lennygoran]

Isn’t an agnostic just an atheist without balls? - Stephen Colbert

No I don't think so--an atheist if I have it right says there is no God--I can't say that because I can't back it up. I feel being an agnostic makes more sense. Regards, Len

[Agnes Selby]

Isn’t an agnostic just an atheist without balls? - Stephen Colbert

No I don't think so--an atheist if I have it right says there is no God--I can't say that because I can't back it up. I feel being an agnostic makes more sense. Regards, Len

I agree with you, Lenny.

[lennygoran]

I agree with you, Lenny.

Agnes thanks! Somehow this makes me think about Mother Nature--is Mother Nature in any way God--anyway Mother Nature was very good to us yesterday--right when we needed more rain in our garden we got it--just in the nick of time--maybe our lilies will start to rise up from their holes! Regards, Len

[Mark Harwood]

Bumper (fender) sticker:
MILITANT AGNOSTIC: I DON'T KNOW & NEITHER DO YOU

I wonder whether there's an agenda behind this "religifying" of the US military.

[Teresa B]

Isn’t an agnostic just an atheist without balls? - Stephen Colbert

No I don't think so--an atheist if I have it right says there is no God--I can't say that because I can't back it up. I feel being an agnostic makes more sense. Regards, Len

I agree with you, Lenny.

Ditto. An agnostic, as I would understand it, is of the opinion that there is not sufficient evidence to prove the existence of God. In addition, there's no evidence that it will ever be possible to prove or disprove God's existence. Atheists take the firm stance that God does not exist. Fine, as long as they don't get into fanatical mode--at which time Buddhism becomes the best description, as Atheism and True Belief reveal themselves to be two sides of the same coin.

Teresa

[living_stradivarius]

Can't disprove the flying spaghetti monster either
You're agnostic when it comes to unicorns too, then

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof

[Teresa B]

Can't disprove the flying spaghetti monster either
You're agnostic when it comes to unicorns too, then

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof

Yep. Obviously it's silly to say I think unicorns and spaghetti monsters probably exist, because I think they do not, as there is no evidence for them. But cited from the same "burden of proof" fallacy you quoted above:

However it is important to note that we can never be certain of anything, and so we must assign value to any claim based on the available evidence, and to dismiss something on the basis that it hasn't been proven beyond all doubt is also fallacious reasoning.

Teresa

[living_stradivarius]

Can't disprove the flying spaghetti monster either
You're agnostic when it comes to unicorns too, then

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof

Yep. Obviously it's silly to say I think unicorns and spaghetti monsters probably exist, because I think they do not, as there is no evidence for them. But cited from the same "burden of proof" fallacy you quoted above:

However it is important to note that we can never be certain of anything, and so we must assign value to any claim based on the available evidence, and to dismiss something on the basis that it hasn't been proven beyond all doubt is also fallacious reasoning.

Teresa

I think for most atheists, "atheism" is a rejection of the acceptance of God as truth in the form represented by religion, and less so as a Mother Nature concept

[Teresa B]

Can't disprove the flying spaghetti monster either
You're agnostic when it comes to unicorns too, then

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof

Yep. Obviously it's silly to say I think unicorns and spaghetti monsters probably exist, because I think they do not, as there is no evidence for them. But cited from the same "burden of proof" fallacy you quoted above:

However it is important to note that we can never be certain of anything, and so we must assign value to any claim based on the available evidence, and to dismiss something on the basis that it hasn't been proven beyond all doubt is also fallacious reasoning.

Teresa

I think for most atheists, "atheism" is a rejection of the acceptance of God as truth in the form represented by religion, and less so as a Mother Nature concept

In that case I could label myself atheist--still, pure logic would dictate that some God as represented by religion could exist despite a lack of evidence. Thus agnosticism is reasonable in light of the truth that we cannot be certain. But if a probability is vanishingly small (every molecule of oxygen could migrate to the left upper corner of this room and suffocate me as I write this) then we can be "certain" enough for all practical purposes.

Teresa

[david johnson]

The atheists I know personally are simply prejudiced and will not admit it.

[Geo Dude]

Stradivarius nailed it. Atheism doesn't mean, "I KNOW God/gods/goddessses does not/do not exist", it just means, "I doubt it."

[John F]

Or "I believe God doesn't exist." Knowledge one way or the other is impossible, it's a matter of belief and therefore of prejudice, which means "Preconceived opinion not based on reason or experience."

[living_stradivarius]

Or "I believe God doesn't exist." Knowledge one way or the other is impossible, it's a matter of belief and therefore of prejudice, which means "Preconceived opinion not based on reason or experience."

Not really, atheism is based on empirical evidence that mankind likes to BS about imaginary beings.

[Geo Dude]

Uh oh. Here we go....

[Mark Harwood]

Uh oh. Here we go....

I was just goin' out for a walk. You comin', GD?

[living_stradivarius]

Remember, atheists wouldn't exist if it weren't for humans spouting bs about God.

[Agnes Selby]

God is a wonderful idea, it is religions I can't stand and what troubles they
cause, all of them!

[living_stradivarius]

God


THOUGHT of the Infinite--the All!
Be thou my God.


Lover Divine, and Perfect Comrade!
Waiting, content, invisible yet, but certain,
Be thou my God.


Thou--thou, the Ideal Man!
Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving,
Complete in Body, and dilate in Spirit,
Be thou my God.


O Death--(for Life has served its turn;) 10
Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion!
Be thou my God.


Aught, aught, of mightiest, best, I see, conceive, or know,
(To break the stagnant tie--thee, thee to free, O Soul,)
Be thou my God.


Or thee, Old Cause, when'er advancing;
All great Ideas, the races' aspirations,
All that exalts, releases thee, my Soul!
All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts,
Be ye my Gods! 20


Or Time and Space!
Or shape of Earth, divine and wondrous!
Or shape in I myself--or some fair shape, I, viewing, worship,
Or lustrous orb of Sun, or star by night:
Be ye my Gods.

--Walt Whitman

[jbuck919]

Do I belong to some cool site or what?

[Geo Dude]

Uh oh. Here we go....

I was just goin' out for a walk. You comin', GD?

Not a bad idea...