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Prayer in uniform

I am tired of being in a meeting or brief which includes a prayer. I do not lower my head and I stand there frustrated as they beg the support and protection of God and end in Jeebus' name. This is all too often a feature of any command I report to, and I am getting sick of it.

Anyone else out there in the same boat?

How do you handle it?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Apeman Jim on April 5, 2011 at 3:42pm

LOL... the assertion of certainty that your goodness is based on the warm fuzzies you share with an invisible sky daddy!

Permalink Reply by Tim on April 9, 2011 at 12:41am

When we have a bow-your-head-in-prayer moment, I look around to find the other atheists and smile. It sounds silly, but I have found more than a few closet atheists this way.

If you see "No Rel Pref" on a set of dogtags or on an ERB/ORB, they are probably atheist or agnostic and didn't want to put it on their tags for fear of reprisal. Personally, I don't really give a fuck anymore - tell me I suck at my job because I don't believe your crazy story and fire me.

Permalink Reply by Apeman Jim on April 9, 2011 at 9:07pm

I do enjoy those moments of silent solidarity :)

Permalink Reply by Tim on April 10, 2011 at 10:51am

It can get interesting when you're at an event and local media is present, taking pictures of the people without their heads bowed in prayer. What they fail to realize is that we're keeping them all safe - pulling security while they all close their eyes. Somebody has to look out for the formation ;)

Permalink Reply by Ken Jackson on April 16, 2011 at 1:11am

I guess that I'm a dinosaur because I wouldn't tolerate that crap on my watch... I busted a bunch of looneys back in 74 just before I retired out of the nav I had a late job on a tin can in ECM and I got there just after 1600 and the tech and I went to ECM to work on the equipment (classified as secret), which meant that I had to sign in and sign out of the space and upon entering I saw a whole lot of people there who were snipes and deck apes and other snuffies all with their bibles and crap and I immediatly went into lockdown. I had the OOD and the Duty officer come up to ECM and I was totally livid at the security breach. They tried to cool me off telling me that it was just the ships company and the "Army of God" group and they were using ECM as a meeting room... I told them that I didn't give a rats ass what their reasoning was, I wanted these people under MAA observation and I wanted the Pearl Harbor ONI group there immediately. Push came to shove and I called my OIC at my unit and explained the situation and he contacted ONI as the Officers on Duty on the Tin Can wouldn't do it. It ended up that I was on a black list by this new religious group out of Colorado and they were digging into my service jacket and looking for a way to see that I was removed from service. This was in 1974 and we still were quite non religious as a whole, but the evangelicals and baptists and the rest of the crazies had started their climb up the ladder... I knew that it would be only a matter of time before the god squad would manage to either make me step over the line or come up with some minor crap and get me in deep doo doo.... I decided that since I had my 20 in it was best to retire and get out of Dodge... I don't know what ever happened to those whom I had hauled off to the brig, I am sure that there was some knuckles rapped, but this was Zumwalts Navy and it was already on its way to being a pile of feces. I am positive that I wouldn't last for a career let alone make Chief. Too much politics, and other crap. I am no longer living in the USA, I couldn't take the ignorance and the religious fairy tales.. Give me freedom and give me choice..... Keep your church out of my government and I will see that both my government and myself do not enter or bother your running of your church!

I didn't believe in the easter bunny, santa claus or any other fairy tale being and I sure don't believe in Jeezbus crap.....

Permalink Reply by Apeman Jim on April 16, 2011 at 10:03am

Its even more political now... some of the stories I could tell would make an ACLU attorney grab a shotgun!