Ooooo, we're faced with death so we'd better get right with God -- if only just in case. Yeah, right. Fear of death and eternal punishment might scare believers (it's the main reason many of them profess belief), but as for us infidels, here's a great big raspberry at ya.
So, once those former atheists return from battle, do they go back to being atheists? Or, even better, do believers become atheists when they're not about to die?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2011 07:54PM by Stray Mutt.
I have always hated that one. So smug, and once again just a way to claim something is true without evidence or reason. It's as bad as those who always say that all you have to do is look at a flower or a sunset and you have to know there is a god.
Seeing a daisy sprout out of a hillside tells me one thing: That there is a daisy sprouting out of a hillside.
I recall back when the Hinckster gave the "no atheists in foxholes" mantra in a talk to the American Legion. Of the many replies one that struck was from a Vietnam war veteran who was an "atheist in a foxhole." He told of the time that U.S. bombers were bombing the area his platoon was in. He told about how he had to grab the phone and call in a halt himself because the communications officer was too busy praying.
Even the limited amount that he talks about the war confirms to me that the only things that are going to save your life in a war are training, skill, your brain and an insane amount of luck.
I spent my professional career with the US Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs. I know soldiers...and how they are lauded on Veterans Day and forgotten the rest of the time, unless they can be turned into props for some politician's photo op or some preacher's gibberish.
He was scheduled to deploy for his third tour, but it was canceled.
You know, I always thought the part "some gave all" meant dying for your country, but now I realize these soldiers literally give their whole lives, even if they come home alive.
They are drastically changed men. They can never go back to who they were before they fought.
My BIL does not talk about what he has seen and done. I get a few crumbs and hear his yelling when he has a nightmare while sleeping on my couch. I will never really know who he is anymore. The only people who know him, the authentic him, are the soldiers he has served with. They are the only people whom he can completely relate to, the only ones whom he can confide everything.
It breaks my heart that I can't be there in that way for him, but I am grateful he has friends who can.
When I worked with some TBM's they asked me if I had served a mission. Told them I served 6 years Navy as a NFO. Answered,,"OH,,that don't count,,I meant a REAL mission"..
I've heard the opposite too. "There are no Christians in Foxholes." If they honestly believe that God will fight their battles for them then why are they not trusting God to do what he promised?