!CAUTION!
YOU ARE IN A "VERBAL SHRAPNEL" RICH DOMAIN
18 November 2008
The Butter-Cutter On Protecting Nonbelievers
On walking into the virtual Mess Hall, I sensed that The Butter-Cutter was going to over-react to the issue at hand. Cautiously, I said, “The Marine Corps Times recently reported that President-Elect Obama has been petitioned to protect nonbelievers in the Armed Forces from those that believe. How do . . .” (1)
“Hold on there Officer-Type,” he said in cutting me off. “Who . . . what's petitionin' . . .what?”
“OK. 'The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers' and 'The Secular Coalition for America' are asking Obama to prevent 'religious discrimination' against those members of the Armed Forces who have 'no religious affiliation,' ” I explained.
“Yer shittin' me, ain't ya?” he said in response. “Yer here today ta mess with my head!”
“No, that's what the article reports.”
“Atheists . . . nonbelievers . . . don’t believe in God; so, they don’t got religion! How the f*** d'ya protect somebody from ‘religious discrimination’ if he ain’t got no religion?” The Butter-Cutter asked.
“Specifically, the petitioners are asking that nonbelievers be 'explicitly' identified as a protected class of personnel,” I further related from the article.
“They wanna be a protected class? Let's see . . . how about me 'n' my buddies gettin' protection cuz we're needy 'Freethinkers' about screwin' 'n' we oughta have them needs protected. That means, the Corps has gotta come up with some chaplainette Celestial Virgins fer 'Freethinker' whoopee services at reveille--ya know that's our most needing . . .”
“STOP!” I shouted before he finished. “You are profaning a serious issue. These people are deeply concerned as demonstrated by their petition to the president-elect. They want protection from religious groups proselytizing them.”
“Pros . . . elly . . . sizing . . . ya mean they don't want anybody ta talk ta them about religion?” he asked.
“Well . . . it's . . . kind of like that,” I said hesitatingly.
“So, if some guy says: 'Hey man, come on over ta my place 'n' try some bagels 'n' Jewish sushi,' he could get hammered? Er some Mackerel-Snapper sayin' 'Merry Christmas' ta somebody could get Office Hours? How about one o' them Muhammad-types sayin' 'Uh salami? I like 'em!' Does he go ta the brig?” The Butter-Cutter asked.
“Those things seem innocent enough,” I suggested.
“Oh, yeah? I hear some religions make their . . . 'affiliated' go out ta get nonbelievers ta join up: when Catholics get confirmed they're told that they're soldiers fer Christ 'n' their supposed ta go out 'n' spread the word; them Evangelicals . . . they're supposed ta do like them confirmed Catholics in puttin' out the 'good news'; Mormons gotta put in time recruitin' new Mormons; 'n', so on. That's all part o' practicin' their religions, I'm told!”
“Now you are closing in on the issue. These petitioners want protection from the actions you just described. They say, and I quote from the article, 'What we are asking is that nontheistic service personnel be extended the same institutional protections and support that traditional faith groups enjoy.' ”
“Halleluiah! That's it. The believers got the right ta believe out loud 'n' the nonbelievers can non-believe out loud! How's that fer equal protection, rights, 'n' all that good shit? Did I solve the problem?” he said with a smug.
“No! That's not the solution,” I corrected The Butter-Cutter.
“Bull Shit! That IS the solution! Everybody in the military swore ta defend the Constitution 'n' the last time I checked it guarantees the 'FREE EXERCISE THEREOF' religion. So, what the f*** d'ya think 'free exercise' means? We can all go ta Gold's Gym 'n' pump iron without payin' money? Hell NO! it means ya can 'exercise' yer religion 'n' the government can't keep ya from doin' it!” he shot back. (2)
“These people are nonbelievers and they do not want other's trying to foist their religious beliefs on them: They want freedom FROM religion!” I corrected again The Butter-Cutter.
“First of all, the Constitution don't got the word 'nonbeliever' in it; so, them petitioners got a problem from the git go. In the same breath, the Constitution gives ALL o' us the same protection OF religion 'n' OF speech. The Constitution don't give ANY protection ta anybody FROM religion er FROM speech! That's what the Constitution does with its words. If ya don't got that loaded in yer brain housing group, go read the Constitution! Then, tell them nonbeliever petitioners ta get 'AFFILIATED' WITH THE CONSTITUTION BY READIN' IT!” he shouted out in closing. (2)
Semper Affiliated,
Anthony F. Milavic
Major USMC (Ret.)
(1) http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/11/military_religion_nonbelievers_111408w/
What I think is obvious - this is ridiculous. The B-C is totally right, you are free to believe or not believe whatever you want. You're free to ask me to change my thinking and I'm free to say no thanks. Of course, if you hassle me non-stop about my beliefs, and effectively harrassing me and preventing me from doing my appointed tasks, then things go a bit too far. But is there any evidence that anyone in the military is being attacked in an unpleasant way about his or her non-beliefs?
R. Osborne said: November 18th, 2008 7:26 am
They already are protected they simply have to say "No Thank You I don't want to hear it."
sniperbait66 said: November 18th, 2008 9:08 am
Sorry 'bout this. They are trying to create for themselves a specific "STATUS", which, one day may mean: "I refuse to fight in a Judeo/Christian War. It is against my belief system." If the Moron in the White House signs any such "protective" laws, we may wind up with a serious problem down the road a few kliks. Not even opening the Pandora's box of Muslims in the Military refusing deployment to Combat in Muslim countries. We have a great many Loyal American Muslims. We also have millions of Muslims living here. Who may or or may not feel any loyalty. It'll just have to come out in the wash, because we ain't friggin' NAZIS. Anyone who goes against the Constitution is a TRAITOR. I hope our young Marines have the sense to kill and Officer or Staff NCO who give any order that is contrary to OUR CONSTITUTION. I was always prepared to execute any Officer who tried to give an order contrary to our Constitution. It was one of the reasons I stayed in, becaue all this crap has been coming down the pike since before 1948.
Mike Gatto said: November 18th, 2008 10:21 am
The only thing a Marine has between him/her and God is that we hasten our enemies' appearance before Him. All else is a distraction. Of course, what or who a Marine worships (God, the bottle, women or whatever) while off duty is thier own business and no one elses. If a peer tries to preach to me, I can say thanks but no thanks; if a subordinate tries to preach to me, he's going to give me 200 pushups; if a superior tries to preach to me, he / she needs to leave it alone. Thankfully, I never had to worry about it because all the Marines, I've worked for, with and above were exemplary and never made me feel discriminated against because of my particular religion. I'd rather not make any more "protected classes" since we have enough. Of course, your mileage may vary...
Mawk Arnold said: November 19th, 2008 2:58 am
My first cruise through your site - I look forward to more of it.
SuzyTwotablets said: November 19th, 2008 12:06 pm
Nah, let them form a class of their own and be identified. All the better to know who they are, where they are, what their bitches are and what their plans are. Let them organize and colonize. "Stand tall, all heathens, let your voices be heard, your faces be seen and sins be never washed away." More room in Heaven for the rest of us.