100% agree with Arlene C.

I, for one, am sick to death of this back and forthing of religious “stuff.” After years of probing into religion, trying to understand why in 2008 we are still grappling with all this ancient belief I emerge as a weary atheist. I am reminded here of something the historian Yehuda Bauer said :There is no way that there can be an all-powerful AND just God. He can either be all-powerful OR just. Because if he’s all-powerful, he’s Satan. If he’s just, he’s a nebbish.” And no atheists in foxholes, Frank? There have been plenty. To me, it all boils down to the desperate need to have SOMEBODY in control–––somebody, like as children we once wanted our parents to be. We never lose that , I suppose, and some of us transfer that need––that want–onto a deity. It’s so sad that we have to grapple in this day and age with all this religious strife. Me thinks we humans are amazing creatures!!!!!

During my 21+ years in the U.S. Coast Guard, I don’t remember being present at one official function that didn’t begin with a benediction (a wonderfully military-ese word for “prayer”). And it never failed to bother me. I refer to myself these days as either an agnostic or a “recovering Catholic.” Being raised in a strict Catholic household is probably what drove me to this state, but that’s another discussion, isn’t it? Anyway, you might think that my background would place me in the category of those who aren’t bothered by state meetings and ceremonies beginning with prayers. But the opposite is true, and here’s why: I don’t believe any religion has the right to impose itself on everyone else, especially when that religion (whichever one it may be) is that of those in power. Yet if you are or have been in the military, you see/saw it all the time: ceremonies and other events practically all beginning with benedictions/prayers with a heavily Christian flavor. Never mind that there are more than likely some non-Christians in the group; never mind that some may not ascribe to any belief at all. The commanding officer (or someone near her) felt the need for a prayer, based on her belief system. And sadly, the chaplain concurred. I’m not saying there aren’t thinking COs and chaplains who strive daily for equality for the troops. Some even trade kick-off prayers for “moments of silence” in which each person can offer up — or decline to offer up — his or her own thoughts or prayers, without offending anyone else in the room. (A great idea, I think!) But the vast majority of those in the drivers’ seats aren’t, in my experience, willing to give up that much power. So why is it surprising when a group of everyday Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines/Coasties turns on their comrades-in-arms for not conforming to the religious majority rule? After all, they’ve been brainwashed: They’ve been repeatedly exposed to superiors who use their positions of power to force personal religious customs upon those they are supposed to lead … those they’re supposed to lead without bias of any kind, just for the record. Sadly, I seriously doubt that this is a one-of-a-kind incident. This one just happened to find its way to the consciousness (and conscience) of the public.