This Is How People React to Atheist Soldiers?

I didn’t get much of that in the Navy and I never hid that I was an Atheist. It was right on my dog-tags. I did have an exchange once with a Christian who said he was saddened and scared for this country because people like me were able to serve in the military.

Personally.. I think they are trying too hard to be contrary and dragging the kids along mimics the militant Christians a bit too much. Carry the signs, thank the troops and observe (not celebrate) memorial day. The “Happy Memorial day” thing frankly irritates me.

My boyfriend is about to come home from the Navy. He’s agnostic. My dad identifies as an atheist. He was in the First Infantry Division(Big Red One) in Vietnam. To think that someone would be that much of a jack ass to someone who put their lives on the line for them makes my blood boil.
I’m proud of my dad and my boyfriend. My boyfriend is very brave for choosing to go and my dad is brave for not running away from the draft. They have nothing to look forward to if they are/were killed in action and that, in my opinion, makes them braver.

@schism Keep in mind that out of the (what looked to be) hundreds of people they passed in this parade, only a few were complete assholes to them.

Apple and Praise? ok….

Absolutely disgusting.

Christian Theology:

Jesus died for you: All praise and worship be unto him.
Atheist soldiers risk their lives and die for you: $@#% YOU!!!

That isn’t far from where I live and I have to say I am not shocked at all sadly.

The Pa Nonbelievers should Walk in the Ephrata Pa parade.

I think they should have prepared actual float all dressed up in multiple, large US flags, with big mock up of US Constitution with First Amendment displayed in large letters, with big sign “Support Atheists in Foxholes” running around it, and as they were driving it they should play “America, oh beautiful”, and while approaching the main stand they should play our national anthem, so those assholes in the stand who ignored them would have to stand up and salute. Just thought that a little esthetic advice would be nice. :))
We have to be everywhere “ordinary” Americans are and display symbols that mark us as patriotic citizens.
And after someone will estimate how many atheists died for this republic we should be proudly bringing this number up at every occasion. Whoever has this number please sound off.

Wow, Tom, thank you for your service. You are most eloquent; everyone I know in military service (just a few, but I meet them in my job with DHS) Basically tell me the same, especially those who have been deployed to dangerous area. Your fellow troops are human beings, and you do what you can to keep their backs. I am grateful for what you do.

It’s sad when people conflate small town behaviour with all small town people. I encountered it when I lived in the country, and there is a lot of it, but not everyone is small minded and bigoted. I tend towards it myself, after having a very bad experience in Redding California. I still feel funny (weird) when people who would never say n*gg*r are more than happy to call people trailer trash or white trash, and I have been guilty of this as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is we can’t assume anything about anyone. we can only try to have a conversation. I learned last week that that isn’t always possible when someone is so stuck that they just parrot lines and don’t address what you are saying.

Good people exist all over, right? Or am I too naieve?

@Tom- Thank you for your service.

If I saw a Christian group coming towards me in a parade, I would wave at them just as I do the Hari Krishnas, the float for the Jewish student center, etc. There’s more to that anger than just being different. When we stand tall and say “I don’t believe and I’m fine if you know that”, I think the religious people who have the least faith are the ones that get angry. Some of them would like to hop over that imaginary fence that separates us, but they have way too much invested in their belief system.

As for kids in a parade, hell ya I would take my child. But, I would also not be saying anything to try and start a debate in the middle of the street. “Support ALL our troops!” would have been my chant. Most of them will be able to read the sign.

I live a whopping 30 minute drive from that place and I’m not surprised in the slightest that so many reacted so poorly. This area might not be in the Bible Belt, but they’re just as backassward in so many ways.

That said, while I appreciate their coming out and supporting the troops, they could have gone about it in a much less inflammatory way. There was no need to shout more than “Happy Memorial Day” or as Annie said above, “Support ALL the troops!” Keep the banners, signs, and t-shirts; it’s your organization supporting the troops, but without being confrontational douchebags. The “look at me, look at me!” shouting is just childish and so very… religious in spirit.

I don’t like when Christians pummel me with needless godbot talk, so why in the world would I subject them to it? What? Because they do it to us we should do it to them? How very Old Testament and how very wrong. We need to show people that we are smarter, more polite, kinder, more compassionate, and certainly show that we have better manners! Why sink to the level of those who despise and belittle us?

It’s nice to see fellow PA atheists out and about in the community, but I think there comes a point where being so militant actually hurts the cause.

Think about it, we can’t stand the religious who act confrontational and abrasive, it downright chaps most of our asses when they do it, but then we act in the same manner and expect the other side to give ground and take us seriously?

We’re smarter than religious tactics, how about we start acting like it?

Thanks, I showed this to my atheist son. He didn’t know the expression, “There are NO atheists in foxholes.”
So this helped him learn again that common sense is often wrong.

Why not leave them to their foxholes?

Taking one step away from an authoritative god must be more difficult than stepping away from the authority of man.

Please no ! Not “This beautiful Atheist Baby”.
The child is merely the child of Atheist parents.
Hopefully when he’s old enough he’ll make up his own mind, without being indoctrinated into either religion or atheism.

He’s kind of annoying and the shirts (“I’m going nowhere when I die”) send out the wrong message. The “Happy Memorial Day” thing is a little irritating.
That’s still no excuse for being so rude and callous. It’s amazing how so many people despise us, and for no good reason, either.

@Tom Well said. When I walk down the street I feel safe. Thank you to you and your fellow soldiers for protecting us so we don’t have to face the same ugliness you do. The irony of this whole situation is that if the world had fewer believers, chances are really good that there would be less of a need for soldiers.

This is beside the main point, but honestly this is about the worst display of parade-ness I have ever seen. Everything in a parade should be flashy, impressive, or at least throw out something sugary. I think they were ignored by the bandstand because there was just nothing there to see other than a bunch of people with bumper stickers and a red SUV.

I wonder what the religious groups there looked like – did they have live music and/or candy? If this was the first atheists I had ever (knowingly) met, I would think they were awfully boring and non-cool.

Atheists in the military shouldn’t have a more difficult time there than the religious, or any other group, yet they do. Creating a group to gain visibility for themselves is certainly a good effort. Some oblivious people will be enlightened by it. However… I dislike how this guy tried to sell atheism along with being a veteran. When the people objected to atheism, he misrepresented them as if they didn’t support veterans, which isn’t necessarily so. Being a veteran doesn’t mean you get a free pass for your opinions and actions. The respect they earned is for their service to this country and its citizens, and I think it ends there.

Why didn’t this make Fox News? If it had been a town with atheists shouting down and disrespecting christians in a parade it would have been made mincemeat fodder for the faithful.

Memorial Day SHOULD be a solemn occasion, but don’t blame the atheists. It was changed by the Feds from Decoration Day, May 30 (decorate the cemeteries with flags) to Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) so that Fed employees could have a 3-day weekend (and go to the beach, etc…..not honor fallen soldiers). The Annville parade is NOT a solemn parade, but includes clowns, dancers, rock music, and the ubiquitous Shriners in their little funny cars. The organizers set the festive mood, NOT the atheists. A solemn parade would get very sparse participation. From my viewpoint, when I die (for whatever the reason) I want the living to HAVE FUN while they are still alive, not be all somber about my death–sheesh what a waste of life time.

Veterans Day gets very little voluntary participation because it’s often during midweek and during cold weather. That’s why Veterans Day ceremonies often are forced into public schools that day.

Well, I’ve seen a couple of hate message against atheists but we really have to ask ourselves how long the parade was and how many hate message they received. I didn’t see that much hate apart from 2-3 messages in this video really…

I live about 12 miles from Annville and lived in PA my whole life. And unfortunately in PA, this isnt’ that suprising. There is a reason we’re called Pennsyltucky.

and sorry gloomcookie but I won’t stop rocking the boat no matter how many people say such sad things like:”It’s nice to see fellow PA atheists out and about in the community, but I think there comes a point where being so militant actually hurts the cause.” People said that many times, to those who got feisty for civil rights. How many more years would that fight have gone on if no one said “enough is enough!”

I appreciate your group attempting to get some respect for what you’ve done in the military, however as an atheist knowing there’s no life in the ‘hereafter’, don’t ya think an atheist would be more rational, respected and respectable by not taking an opportunity to sign up to kill others or waste their own life in US wars for corporations? [excluding the conscripted of course] What if no one signed up to fight wars for politicians and the corporations they represent?

The honorable US Marine Corp Major General Smedley Butler knew ‘War is a Racket’ fought for corporations even back in the early part of the 20th century “I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers.”
http://www.warisaracket.org/dedication.html

As an atheist, at my recent birthday party I had 7 devout Christians and 2 atheists enjoying each others company. My lady partner is also very religious – it proves that we can live in harmony, without hatred!

we are Veterans, we do not soil that image by making a political statement on a Day honoring ALL VETERANS and especially those who died

Right – so if a group calling itself “Born Again Christian Vets” had marched, you would have “started kicking a few peoples asses”?

There is no excuse for ignorance and those people {i.e., the “amerikan taliban”, aka rabid, bigoted evangelicals intent on turning this country from a republic where all are [or should be welcome per the Constitution which we swear to protect and defend seem to have cornered the market into a theocracy where their narrow-minded bigotry is all that is permissable ! It is the reason why the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was established … interestingly enough, of it’s thousands of members and clients, approximately 95% of it’s clients are Christians, discriminated against and harassed and intimidated because they are the “wrong kind of Christians” … the Foundation is there to assist all, believers of all sorts AND non-believers, who experience such treatment … check it out and it’s Open Group page on Facebook

Sigh. Another pacifist asshole who thinks if we ask the bad man nicely enough they will just go away.

Dude, there is no excuse for you stupidity.

I don’t get americans they and their strong belive that they can’t eaven support veterans I once was in parade with atheist who had died and it had as much support as anyone else.

About those 13 wasted minutes of your life…

Some of us may have wanted to see more than just pissed off Christians.  Some find it helpful to see all of the different reactions, to get some context of how the general public reacts to atheists.  Just showing the haters would only give a piece of the puzzle, seeing all the folks asking for stickers and pamphlets has just as much meaning as the negative aspects of the video. 

Also, two different times are mentioned right by the video that you can advance to for hate jollies.

Lastly, you’d better make it 14 minutes wasted, as you took the time to write a comment… about your wasted time.  10 points for irony!

It’s spelled atheist. And Mormon. And you forgot the “?”.