RE: 70th Anniversary of D-Day
June 6, 2014 at 1:30 pm
(This post was last modified: June 6, 2014 at 1:32 pm by Brian37.)
Oh and yes, I will take even this event to remind everyone there ARE atheists in foxholes. One of my deer friends who died in 04 was an old man, who I met at a Unitarian Church served, not on D-Day, but saw combat in Europe in WW2. He was an atheist then, and even after seeing all that death and violence, he remained an atheist until the day he died.
I also have met atheist veterans from the Vietnam war. One of them was also a member of that same church. He came up to me one day knowing I was an atheist, and said, "I suffered a heart attack once, yes it scared the shit out of me, but I didn't feel the presence of a god and when I survived it I also didn't default to a god." This was a guy who saw violence and death in Nam but was more scared of his own heart attack but in neither case got so scared as to cower to a superstition.
Of course it would be nice to not have to bring this up, but unfortunately there ARE far to many who think if they survive a war or win a war, the Christian god got them through it. The truth of that war, and even WW1 and all wars, is that when you are fighting fascism, or tyranny, what matters isn't what the guy next to you believes, but that you all get through it and go home.
I don't have the guts to do what they did. And even some that day once they got on the beach, froze in complete terror, but even that was more than I could muster. The western allies, do not have any god to thank for the win, we all have those brave men to thank.
Bottom line, there are atheists in foxholes and always have been.
I also have met atheist veterans from the Vietnam war. One of them was also a member of that same church. He came up to me one day knowing I was an atheist, and said, "I suffered a heart attack once, yes it scared the shit out of me, but I didn't feel the presence of a god and when I survived it I also didn't default to a god." This was a guy who saw violence and death in Nam but was more scared of his own heart attack but in neither case got so scared as to cower to a superstition.
Of course it would be nice to not have to bring this up, but unfortunately there ARE far to many who think if they survive a war or win a war, the Christian god got them through it. The truth of that war, and even WW1 and all wars, is that when you are fighting fascism, or tyranny, what matters isn't what the guy next to you believes, but that you all get through it and go home.
I don't have the guts to do what they did. And even some that day once they got on the beach, froze in complete terror, but even that was more than I could muster. The western allies, do not have any god to thank for the win, we all have those brave men to thank.
Bottom line, there are atheists in foxholes and always have been.
