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August 21, 2006

There ARE atheists in foxholes

And they’re not staying quiet

The Mililtiary Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is making sure of that.
“It’s a denial of our contributions,” says Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, who founded the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. “A lot of people manage to serve without having to call on a higher power.”

And do many other things, as well.

Of course, in the Raw Story piece linking to the Newsweek column, not everybody gets it.
“Agnostics, atheists and bigots suddenly lose all that when their life is on the line,” Lt. Gen. Blum said. “Something that they lived their whole life believing gets thrown out the door, and they grasp the comrade next to them, and they don't care what color their skin is, and they don't care where they pray.”

Wrong. I can speak from experience, having gotten lost in Canyonlands National Park in August in 100-degree-plus heat and running out of water. I was ready to die according to my convictions.

Despite the military later putting some heavy-duty spin on this, it’s clear where it stands. Thank doorknobs that I never completed the applications to the Point and elsewhere when I was a young and impressionable high-schooler.

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