Atheist Air Force airman barred from reenlisting for not swearing "so help me God"

[Peter1469]

For some reason, the Air Force has had several such scandals over the last decade or two. I am not sure why it is just them.

I mean why they have to take this position. None of the other services do.

[Captain Obvious]

"...so help me Pastafari"

[kilgram]

Ding dong rings the bell. You put your hand on a bible and swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nuttin but the truth. You swear to god you will uphold your oath of office. This practice has been ongoing for hundreds of years. Nobody ever died from it.

I thought that USA had separation of state from church. It is a clear religious imposition.

[Alyosha]

Via Slate:



Yeah, this is total bull$#@!. I am a polytheist myself, and I still think it's bull$#@!. This is basically forcing someone to acquiesce to a religion. Where does it end?

I think this story is not true or a plant to change the rules and socially engineer the military.

[Peter1469]

I think this story is not true or a plant to change the rules and socially engineer the military.

Courts have slapped the Air Force over stuff like this before..... Regarding the veracity of this story, I don't have an opinion. It doesn't affect me, I joined a man's service.

[Mister D]

It sucks. Defeats the purpose of serving/fighting for your country/constitution, imo.

Who fights for a piece of paper?

[Chris]

Seems trivial but it violates the first amendment.

The difference between this and the example of a school preventing a student from say bless you is this: The Constitution dictates permissions and prohibitions of government, not the people. Government cannot force an oath but the girl should be free.

As for taking God out of schools, that happened as a result of conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, atheists were not involved.

[Matty]

I thought that USA had separation of state from church. It is a clear religious imposition.

Nope! Wrong again. It's all voluntary.

[Matty]

So, when they decide you get to swear to Allah, you'll be perfectly okay with that? I mean, it's not like it'll kill you.

Get back to me when that happens! Who is they?

[del]

I think this story is not true or a plant to change the rules and socially engineer the military.

the air force has had problems with this for almost 10 years now. i don't doubt for a minute that it's true. somewhere there's an O-8 or two who *got religion* and wants everyone else to get it too, imo.

WASHINGTON, June 22 - An Air Force panel sent to investigate the religious climate at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs found evidence that officers and faculty members periodically used their positions to promote their Christian beliefs and failed to accommodate the religious needs of non-Christian cadets, its leader said Wednesday.


Text: Religious Climate at the U. S. Air Force Academy (pdf)


But the panel said it had found no "overt religious discrimination" - only "insensitivity" - and praised the academy leadership for working aggressively to confront religious problems in the last two years.
Lt. Gen. Roger A. Brady of the Air Force, who led the 16-member group, said in a news conference at the Pentagon that the academy and the Air Force as a whole were struggling to define the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable religious expression in a government institution, a reflection, he said, of a debate under way across the country

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/po...pagewanted=all