“Organizers said they hoped the “Rock Beyond Belief” event at Fort Bragg would spur equal treatment toward nonbelievers in the armed forces and help lift the stigma for approximately 295,000 active duty personnel who consider themselves atheist, agnostic or without a religious preference.”

So many things to say and so few electrons.

I’ll limit myself to two for now:

1. The number 295,000 is crap. It includes about 8,000 atheists, 1,800 agnostics and 286,000 “no religious preference” (I know the numbers don’t add up — they come from the Chicago Tribune). Yup, out of 1.4 million active duty members of the military about 1/2 of a percent are atheists.
2. The atheists now want their own military chaplains. I’m in favor of good treatment for anyone willing to serve their country. But what will an atheist chaplain say to a dying soldier? “My son, I see you’re dying. It’s important to remember that you born for no particular reason. Your death has no meaning and you will have no existence after this one. Your life here was short, but other than a few people no one cares and no one will remember. Your children won’t remember you and your wife will remarry. You have no soul, but if you did, I’d commend it into the hands of Richard Dawkins and Alisa Rosenbaum.”

Military nonbelievers’ event shows there are atheists in foxholes – chicagotribune.com.