Atheist soldier claims harassment

• Army Spc. Jeremy Hall sues U.S. for religious discrimination
• Hall is known as “the atheist guy,” called immoral and a devil worshipper
• He turned to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation for help
• “It’s just about time somebody said something” about pressure to believe in God

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

“I said, ‘No, but I believe in Plexiglas,’ ” Hall said. “I’ve never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I’m worm food.”

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall’s allegations.

Hall said he had had enough but feared that he wouldn’t get support from Welborn’s superiors. He turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. (This takes more guts than lying just to get along … Hall is a HERO x 2)

This is not America. This is not the freedom of religion (or lack of) that America espouses. This is the hypocracy that the world sees and judges America as a deluded and dangerous super power. This is not what we send soldiers and mercenaries to fight and die for. Freedom, as mouthed by the Bush Administration, comes out with a different definition.

If I choose to worship a piece of crap or nothing at all, that should be my business. Who or what I worship has nothing to do with my patriotism. What this administration has done is define patriotism as worshiping their narrow definition of their own ‘institutional’ god. They have taken away the foundation this country was built on. No wonder there is so much mistrust and anger. Mind control is the worst abomination the Bush Administration has imposed upon this once great nation. We can dye our hair green, spike it like a porcupine, and tattoo naked people on our bodies. As long as we hate the ‘politically acceptable’ things in the name of a loving god, who had a son through an immaculate sexual encounter, while waving the American flag and putting magnet ribbons on our cars, we are true American Patriots. We are truly a bi-polar, dysfunctional nation that spends more time and money on image while ignoring the substance of life. If a Christian hears voices it must be God. If anyone else hears voices, they are schizophrenic.

America has failed to sell this bullshit and appears to be stuck within its own delusion. Countries have been careful to avoid offending their demented money machine, as we have witnessed. Countries that don’t tolerate the hypocracy, harbor terrorists. As we all know, history teaches us that those who loose are terrorists, those who win are freedom fighters.

NY Times Holds Stories Because They’re Afraid of Conservatives

Now the New York Times has gotten itself in the same old pickle they always do — they are going to be criticized by Republicans when in fact they were trying to be extra fair to Republicans. What they don’t get is that the conservatives view them as the enemy; they are never going to be appeased. So, do us all a favor and just print the damn story when you have it.

Totalitarian regimes don’t tolerate any distinction between journalism and propaganda

How did a born-again, family-values administration get in bed with a purveyor of misogyny and mayhem, trash and titillation?

This undemocratic confluence of politics and propaganda has long been in the making as corporate media have been incrementally empowered while public influence, input and “interest” have been eliminated.

The transformation of active citizens into passive consumers was enabled by the Federal Communications Commission under Ronald Reagan’s Mark Fowler, who declared “the perception of broadcasters as community trustees should be replaced by a view of broadcasters as marketplace participants.”

With the press tasked with reporting only those stories sanctioned by political and market interests, Americans have only one source for information left. Internet offers world news points of view and first hand accounts from bloggers. Of course, you must attempt to choose an impartial source. Impartial sources are rare these days, but there are a few left. OK, no one is absolutely neutral. You can first try looking at your opponent’s point of view, considering the points and locating the balance. No single point of view is without merit; conversely, no single point of view trumps anything else. Today’s world is smaller than it ever was, because of instant communication. The downside of this is knee jerk responses to breaking news, which is always incomplete.

A self-muzzled press and a public traumatized by 9/11 were manipulated by politicians.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, was asked her opinion of the U.S. media’s coverage of the Iraq win. She responded: “I think the press was muzzled and I think the press self-muzzled. Television … was intimidated by the [Bush] administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News.” For her honesty, Amanpour was immediately branded by one of those Fox foot soldiers as a “spokeswoman for al-Qaeda.”

Fear of being labeled un patriotic, siding with terrorists or anit-American has stifled public and private opinion. Opinions are always suspect by totalitarian regimes. Has the American body politic had a stroke? Remember what the NAZI regime did to dissenters? No, you are probably too young and don’t connect that behavior with Conservative American trends. NAZIs imposed their prearranged structure upon the population, Communists are still practicing this today. Just watch China and SE Asia. America risks following this path. Let Christians be Christians; Jews be Jews; Muslims be Muslims and let the rest of us alone! We don’t want a dog in this fight. Do not insist on mandatory participation. Holding the media hostage to a single agenda is a tragic mistake. You cannot mandate ignorance.

The bad

Not all atheists are hostile to religion, but many do think that religion is bad. Here are some of their reasons:

• Religion gets people to believe something untrue.
• Religion makes people base the way they run their lives on a falsehood.
• Religion stops people thinking in a rational and objective way.
• Religion forces people to rely on outside authority, rather than becoming self-reliant.
• Religion imposes irrational rules of good and bad behaviour.
• Religion divides people, and is a cause of conflict and war.
• The hierarchical structure of most religions is anti-democratic, and thus offends basic human rights.
• Religion doesn’t give equal treatment to women and gay people, and thus offends basic human rights.
• Religion obstructs scientific research.
• Religion wastes time and money.

The good

Most atheists willingly concede there are some good things about religion, such as:

• Religious art and music.
• Religious charities and good works.
• Much religious wisdom and scripture.
• Human fellowship and togetherness.