Illegal modifications to a military chapel in Afghanistan were abruptly reversed thanks to American Atheists. They had installed the only known church steeple in Afghanistan, and cut giant crosses into the doors of the ‘religiously neutral’ building. At night, light would emit from the crosses on the doors, shining like a miniature searchlight.
Yesterday, Fox News Todd Starnes wrote an article that piggybacked the excellent NBC coverage that broke the story. These comments were all posted at Fox News in the last 24 hours. In no particular order…
I know it’s not very easy on the eyes, so the rest are below the fold. The last one will probably *shock* you.
I saw a lot of great counterpoints, and some pretty dedicated counter-trolling. I’m not sure where Bob falls on the spectrum, but this was my favorite ‘good guy’ comment.
I promised you that I’d save the most shocking for last.
Notice the different font? That’s because this one – arguably the worst – was actually posted at the NBC article. How’s that for a twist ending?
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annie thomas
January 25, 2013 at 9:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That was painful to read. I don’t understand how Christians can hate Muslims so much, when they share the same god. And their hatred for atheists? What do they care if someone doesn’t believe the same myths as them? Mind Boggling.
Justin Griffith
January 25, 2013 at 9:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Annie -- You know what else was mind boggling about this? The fact that because of this, I can say the words “I pissed off Sarah Palin.”
Or as Avicenna put it: “it’s not every day that you piss off someone widely considered to be a Yosemite Sam level of stereotyping.”
procrastinator will get an avatar real soon now
January 25, 2013 at 11:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Good job on the pissing off of Sarah Palin Justin. Thanks for a job well done.
Audra Ray
January 25, 2013 at 11:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
From a fellow Atheist: You definitely have the patience of a saint (pun intended) Justin. It was amazing how polite and reasonable you were compared to the christians and obviously god-believing people on foxnews. If these people who love their country so much would actually read the history books, they would know this country was founded by people wanting to get away from religious persecution and tyranny. They apparently want to go back to that. I hope more and more people open their eyes to the idiocy we see before us.
annie thomas
January 25, 2013 at 11:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sarah Palin is such an idiot. Regardless of the fact that it is wrong for the US military to promote a specific religion… how stupid to make themselves sitting ducks in an area where Muslims hate Christians (as much as Christians in the US appear to hate Muslims). Now you can mark “Pissing off Sarah Palin” off your bucket list. Good job! ;-)
gshelley
January 25, 2013 at 11:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Having read through some of the comments at the Fox article, it’s amazing how many people have jumped in to comment without apparently reading the article. So many seem convinced that Christians are being discriminated against and no longer have anywhere to pray that I despair. And they are the ones able to form coherent sentences.
Horacio
January 25, 2013 at 11:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Theists claim that Atheist have no morals because we don’t have an imaginary friend to tell us what to do., and here they are, “protecting” their religion with threats of violence, hate and ignorance, but claim they want peace.
I just wish there was more I could do.
godlessveteran
January 25, 2013 at 11:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I was horrified, but not surprised, when I saw dewey’s threat last night. I’d really like to know when DOJ is going to start taking these Christian terrorists seriously.
mxh
January 26, 2013 at 12:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If these people could claim to be “real Americans” and at the same time not give a crap about the constitution, I wouldn’t be surprised by any stupidity that comes out of their mouths.
Justin Griffith
January 26, 2013 at 12:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@godlessveteran I’m glad you said what you did. It shut him right the hell up. I’ve sent stuff like that to the FBI before. Going off experience, it’s actually probably not a legally actionable violent threat, depending on a few factors (location a big one).
The words Dewey chose are actually more along the lines of hoping somebody dies.
Various criteria must be met for a death threat (or violent threat) to be taken seriously -- specific method, communicating intent to harm another person (Dewey didn’t do this), specific times/locations or situation where an encounter would be logical or reasonable. I’m probably missing a few factors, but when in doubt it’s best to just forward everything to the authorities (FBI if across state lines or unknown) and let them sort it out.
josephstricklin
January 26, 2013 at 1:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
stupid xtians being stupid. They will die out and their kids will be more tolerant.
michaelpowers
January 26, 2013 at 8:56 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Those kinds of comments are why even our friends can barely stand us. We’re like the drunk, boorish guy at a party. People groan when they see him coming, but tolerate him because he has a lot of money. Thoughtless, and arrogant. It’s how we roll.
Germanguy
January 26, 2013 at 10:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I always find the US military and it’s flirting with religion rather interesting.
We Germany may also have official godbotherers (chaplains of the lutheran and catholic variety), but mostly religion is something that is not talked about. Not due to regs, but for want of interest and relevance. The only time people routinely talk about it is on field exercises during ramadan, because certain soldiers have a higher tendency to keel over from exhaustion.
Well, that and ridicule while under the influence.
Side note: From my personal experience in six units and on a total of nine bases, one of the afghan variety, about one third of our army is atheist, a further third doesn’t care about religion, and the last third is made up mostly of muslims and ‘christmas-and-easter’ christians of all flavors.
theoutsider
January 26, 2013 at 11:13 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Justin, I respect and admire greatly what you are doing. Thank you for taking a stand, and doing what you do.
Paul Loebe
January 26, 2013 at 12:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Look at these crazy fundamentalists getting all riled up over nothing. Justin, I applaud you pissing off Palin. I never had a bucket list but now I do. There’s only one thing on it:
-Piss off Sarah Palin
Let’s see if I can get that done. Congrats brother!
keresthanatos
January 27, 2013 at 12:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
To start with I am Christian.
1) Bravo Zulu, that steeple would have made a dandy targeting point.
2) Sorry about my pathetically dumb brethren, if they would actually read the bible and practice the RED words we wouldn’t have all this hate.
3) This world is about choice (as i see it), and if my almighty God didn’t force his wishes on you, then who the hell am I to try to force you to believe something you have made up your own mind about.
4) Sorry about my pathetically dumb brethren, if they would actually read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights we wouldn’t have all the theatrics over this point that was settled over two hundred years ago.
5) Thank you for serving our country and more importantly for upholding your Oath of Enlistment.
6) Keep your ass safe and sound, we all want you to come home alive and unharmed.
Justin Griffith
January 27, 2013 at 1:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@keresthanatos:
Thank you for the comment! While we obviously disagree on theology, I definitely appreciate when ‘moderates’ speak out like this. As an atheist soldier, I know that most of my fellow soldiers are Christians. There are some that are openly hostile, but the majority are neutral or a few that are even supportive. The subject rarely comes up in day to day conversation, and the mandatory events featuring prayer aren’t really ‘talky time’.
Anyway, it’s good that there are people like you making statements like this. It was extremely disappointing to see how many hateful, violent comments were directed at non-christian soldiers from people who are actually in the military.
Daron
January 28, 2013 at 6:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Justin, I hope you looked up the first poster (Joel) on AKO/DKO since his picture is in uniform. That comment would be wonderful for his CO to read.
redmann
February 1, 2013 at 9:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Justin, you should proudly display POSP after your name from now on kind of like FCD but much more exclusive. I was in the Navy from 64 to 88 and never experienced any god-bothering except from one WO, but we just ignored him most of the time, otherwise religion hardly ever came up.
Jafafa Hots
February 7, 2013 at 9:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
All I want to know is how any positive comments managed to get on a Fox News site.
robster
February 13, 2013 at 10:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Reminds me of the old cliche “With friends like these, who needs enemies”.