Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Good Soldiers Go to Church on Sunday, Even if They Don't Believe in God.

It always amazed me as to how many people would become religious because they were in Iraq. A bunch of Soldiers in my unit would say, “Oh, its Sunday I’m going to church.” They’d ask me to go but I always refused. And then I’d ask them if they went to church back in states. They usually responded with a “no”. So why start now? Are you scared because you think your life is in jeopardy? Maybe if you pray to God a couple more times on Sunday, the insurgents running around in the desert with a dress and flip flops on won’t kill you? Maybe you figure it’ll be another poor soul who gets killed instead of you? Or maybe you just need comfort? Either way, it’s all bullshit excuses. When SGT A tricked me into going to church one day (she was suppose to be praise dancing, but she really wasn’t) the preacher told us to hold the hands of the people next to us. SPC G was on my one side and another male Soldier on my other side. The preacher asked us to pray for the people standing next to us. I was like, “Oh fuck.” But I prayed really hard for those two. I asked God nicely, “If you do exist, well one, I’m fucked…but please let these two Soldiers make it home safely and in one piece. Because they don’t deserve to die in some foreign land fighting some bullshit war….thank you for your time.” SPC G asked me if I prayed and I told her I did but only because it was for her….and she told me, “I prayed for you Katie because you need Jesus in your life.” I punched her in the arm.

Besides the Army thinking you have nuts made of steel, they also think you ‘re a Christian. No matter what you’re doing, you can be in formation, eating dinner, at work…they’ll have you pray. It’s like once you join they brand you with a cross. My unit would spend holiday’s together…Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter…and we’d pray like five times. I never put my head down, I always looked straight ahead. Sometimes people would say, “Hey, we’re praying you know.” This might come as a surprise to some, but not everyone believes in Jesus….and get this, there are other religions out there too. One Soldier in my unit was Muslim and he didn’t want to participate in some holiday dinner. The commander told him that if he didn’t show up, he’d get an Article 15. Well he didn’t show up, he had a few choice words with the commander and never received an Article 15. If I get deployed again I’m going to put some crazy religion on my dog tags, so they have to fly in a monk from Japan or something to give me my proper burial.

5 Comments:

Blogger Tyler said...

you know the whole staring straight ahead when people are praying.. i do that to. i did it all through my childhood and i still do it when people pray about pointless things and im involved, it wasnt something that was easy or even acceptable to do coming from a family deeply involved in church and the belief in god.

for me, i can see through someone when they're praying only because it comforts them, not becuase they truly believe in their heart that their prayer is being heard.i mean if someone is completely sincere and i know and their praying about something close to their heart, then yeah out of respect i'll close my eyes or whatever it is your supposed to do.

its not like any of that should matter anyway, its a superficial action that people do so they can "concentrate" on prayer. look straight to sky. thats what i would do.

9/21/2006 11:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This may be of interest to you...

Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers

http://www.maaf.info

9/27/2006 12:47:00 AM  
Blogger JACK BOO said...

We can keep from a child all knowledge of earlier myths, but we cannot take from him the need for mythology.
-- Carl Jung, 1912

9/27/2006 03:34:00 PM  
Blogger JACK BOO said...

One thing I don't get about atheists...Why make a big deal about denying God's existence? I mean, what's the point of starting an organization, and building a website, dedicated to non-belief in God? Vapor turkeys that live on Saturn and build school buses don't exist either, but nobody puts together a website that sells track suits with a logo on it to advertise that. (Seriously...check the merchandise link on that site). How come? Are there degrees of non-existence?

9/28/2006 03:44:00 AM  
Blogger Sean Dustman said...

I've changed my dog tags everytime I've had a set made, my current one says Jewish my last one said Zoroastrianism (try fitting that on a dog tag), glad to see I'm not the only wacko who thinks putting wacko religions on their dog tag is funny:)

11/28/2007 03:40:00 AM  

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