CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR – Is America beginning to accept atheists?
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MIKEY WEINSTEIN COVERED IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
“This country was founded on a very critical principle – the Founding Framers looked at the horrors that occurred throughout history by mixing religion and war, and they said, ‘We’re going to separate church and state,’” Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told The Week. “And that means they cannot test for religion in the military.”
Similar debates have played out in other parts of American life: at schools, during child custody battles, in advertising. For the most part, atheists and advocates of secularism have had to fight against a prevailing public perception in which they are seen in a negative light. Read more
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I am stunned, yet not surprised at all at the same time, that there are laws in several states stating that an Atheist may not hold office (though seeing Maryland in that list was a real shocker). One would think that such patently obviously unconstitutional laws would have long ago been stricken from the books, but the religious extremists hold entirely too much sway in this country. I am very glad indeed that we at least have the Military Religious Freedom Foundation keeping an eye out for our folks in the military. Thank you again, Mikey and company!
Personally, I don’t care about atheists holding office, if they want to…fine with me, but they, like Christians should be barred from making laws based on their “religion”, i.e. the first time they cite “no controlling authority” as the basis for a law they want to enact it must be vetoed, since “no controlling authority” is the basis for their religion. As for the MRFF, I am a career soldier and a Christian, and my initial contact with this organization was to read their mantra as cited above . . .
“When one proudly dons a U.S. Military Uniform, there is only one religious symbol, the American Flag, There is one one religious scripture; the American Constitution. Finally, there is only one religious faith; American patriotism.”
…and this statement belies a base lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution which I and every service member swore to support and defend. Specifically, the 1st Amendment, which protects religious freedom. Therefor when I put on the uniform I do not adopt the “religion” of “patriotism”, I retain my own faith in service to my country. I do not hold the American flag as a “religions symbol”, it does not replace the cross. The flag is the living embodiment of the nation known as the United States, and I do not hold the Constitution as a religious text, it is the law of the land, and has nothing to do with religion other than to protect our right to practice our own chosen religion.
The Founding Fathers put a religion clause in the Constitution, and that clause prohibits the Congress from making any laws respecting the establishment of religion, it did not erect a “wall of Separation” it simply barred the government from creating a “Church of the United States” which would mirror the Church Of England, which many who came here, did so to escape.
I do not support the MRFF, because they propose quasi atheism, and that was never an intention of the writers of the Constitution, or the Federalist Papers. The United States was intended to be a nation of freedom, of speech, politics and religion…which does not include a political activist group dictating to others how they may conduct their relations with their creator, whoever that creator may be.