Jason Torpy is a committed humanist and vegan. He graduated from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree and from The Ohio State University with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He served as a Captain with the 1st Armored Division in Iraq and now serves as President of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers (MAAF), a nonprofit community for atheists and humanists in the military.
**Comments at The Human Animal do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers are any other organizations.**
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that a former soldier was killed because he was atheist. The soldier had a troubled past; apparently, he was reported missing from Ft Sill in December of 2005. It is unclear if this was a violation of his enlistment. Brittany Green allegedly told authorities that her brother [Justin Green] said he had shot Ramirez twice because he “did not believe in God and alleged that Ramirez reached for a gun,” the complaint said. Terri Green… Read more
I was dismayed to see a headline from NPR today saying, “Military pokes holes in acupuncture skeptics’ theory.” Acupuncture is founded on the hypothesis that needles will redirect bodily energy to improve overall well-being. The problem? The bodily energy (called “qi,” pronounced chee) doesn’t exist. Acupuncture can’t work, just as antibiotics couldn’t work if germs didn’t exist. And so, with soldiers facing real medical issues and NPR being a reputable news source (normally), is there anything to this article? In… Read more
What is the history of kissing anyway? Everybody does it, or wants to (asexuals excepted). But where does it all come from? The Today Show webpage at MSNBC took a retrospective to review this ubiquitous cultural practice. How does Christianity fit into all of this? The biggest kissing killjoys of all were the early Christians. Kissing is prominently mentioned nine times in the Bible, but only once, in Romans, does it refer to a romantic kiss. There are… Read more
Scott Burdick has published In God We Trust, free on YouTube, a fascinating two-hour documentary on the town of King, North Carolina, its secular minority, its Christian majority, its religious diversity, a war memorial with one too many flags. Throughout the documentary are in-depth interviews with non-Christians in the area, including Hare Krishnas, Muslims, and “dancers.” These interviews cover not just the flag issue but general questions of faith. Many might find these parts to be most interesting. How many… Read more
Recently, I posted a White House Petition (on the intolerably slow whitehouse.gov site) to remove the requirement for service members to choose a religious preference. Military personnel could always state a preference on their records if they felt strongly about the issue, but it wouldn’t be a requirement to state a preference. As part of this, there’s also a recommendation to add “humanist,” which isn’t currently an option. A writer at the Burn Pit, a blog at the American Legion… Read more
