A proposed amendment to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act would add atheist “chaplains” to the armed forces. The principal organization pushing this idea is the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, whose president, Jason Torpy, claims it’s unfair for Christians et al. to have chaplains, but not atheists.
Nationwide, atheists have no chaplains; vegetarians also have no butchers. No matter, Torpy says chaplains are needed to serve the 40,000 atheists in the armed forces. His figure is wrong: the Department of Defense says there are 9,400 atheists or agnostics among the 1.4 million active-duty personnel. Given that there are five times as many agnostics as atheists, nationally that means there are less than 2,000 atheists in the military. Torpy’s figure is 20 times the actual number.
The ploy is familiar. The main goal of atheist activists is to censor public expression of religion, especially Christianity. If this doesn’t work, they settle for contrived competition, thus hoping to neuter its effects. That’s why atheist organizations seek to censor Christmas displays on public property. When that fails, they erect anti-Christian statements next to nativity scenes.
Torpy’s group is on record opposing Christmas concerts on bases, Christian war memorials, and nativity scenes on public property (his organization brags about ending the “stranglehold” crèches have). His group also supports anti-Christian billboards comparing Christianity to slavery.
Ninety-five percent of all Americans who are affiliated with a religion are Christian. To be sure, atheists have rights, but not among them is the right to war on Christianity, even in a backdoor manner.
