I'm uncomfortable a lot of times when religion gets into the military. I don't mind at ceremonies where you expect it (an opening prayer, a grace, a benediction, or a memorial service) but sometimes... it gets out of hand. There are times when it is not exactly coercive, but it makes me feel uncomfortable.
1) One of our Lutheran friends made the mistake of going to one of the "praise and glory" type services, and they tried to forcibly baptize him.
2) A ten-minute long, overly effusive evangelical prayer (which, admittedly, was at a promotion ceremony) that made me want to creep out of the room.
3) Our current brigade commander including a Biblical quote at the end of every briefing.
Sometimes, tuning it out isn't always an option.
The point from Cole's post about it that I liked was this: Furthermore, it isn’t religious bigotry to say that the Air Force is wrong to revise the guidelines they just released because they received some intense lobbying from a bunch of loudmouthed zealots who once again assumed their favorite role- poor, oppressed Christian. After all, the Air Force itself recognizes they have a problem:
The Air Force report cites some incidents but does not go into details: religious slurs and disparaging remarks between cadets and statements from faculty and staff with strong religious beliefs that some cadets found offensive.
no subject
Personally?
I'm uncomfortable a lot of times when religion gets into the military. I don't mind at ceremonies where you expect it (an opening prayer, a grace, a benediction, or a memorial service) but sometimes... it gets out of hand. There are times when it is not exactly coercive, but it makes me feel uncomfortable.
1) One of our Lutheran friends made the mistake of going to one of the "praise and glory" type services, and they tried to forcibly baptize him.
2) A ten-minute long, overly effusive evangelical prayer (which, admittedly, was at a promotion ceremony) that made me want to creep out of the room.
3) Our current brigade commander including a Biblical quote at the end of every briefing.
Sometimes, tuning it out isn't always an option.
The point from Cole's post about it that I liked was this:
Furthermore, it isn’t religious bigotry to say that the Air Force is wrong to revise the guidelines they just released because they received some intense lobbying from a bunch of loudmouthed zealots who once again assumed their favorite role- poor, oppressed Christian. After all, the Air Force itself recognizes they have a problem:
The Air Force report cites some incidents but does not go into details: religious slurs and disparaging remarks between cadets and statements from faculty and staff with strong religious beliefs that some cadets found offensive.
DV