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God and the Military

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Max Reheat

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Evening all, I'm just laying in bed reading my book 'The God Delusion' and it took me back to a discussion I had at work once.

I was told that if I officially listed my Religion as Atheist then I'd be in a whole world of hurt from my bosses. Can anybody shed any light on this or will I have to lie throughout the remainder of my career and put myself down as C of E?

Religion has been the cause of many wars along the centuries and I just don't see the point in it, especially when science has disproved most of the Bible.
 
Without supporting or disagreeing with your pov;

In the event that you believe you are being persecuted/differentiated against/disadvantaged by the actions of others as a reaction to your religious pursuasion then you have the right to seek redress of complaint/take action under the bullying and harrassment regulations.

I do not personally believe that anyone would be stupid enough to do such a thing in today's caring sharing fluffy tree hugging whale saving one parent family CND supporting Air Force, however, the bullying/harrassment is not down to the perception of the bullyer, but the perception of the bullyee (or however you say that and make sense).
 
The reason for the religion being enforced on PFs etc etc is due to the Head of the State issue.

Although our Lords and Masters are whichever political party are randomly voted in to power at the time, we as serving members of the Armed Forces remain Her Brittanic Majesties Armed Forces.

Therefore, with The Queen and the Royal Family acting as the Head of State and Head of the Church of England, (Henry VIII and all that), it is considered inappropriate for Her Majesties loyal servants of the Armed Forces to be seen as unsupportive of the religious infrastructure of the country.

That's all it boils down to basically - we are The Queen's servants and protectors of the State and the Church of England.......kinda. Don't think its been enforced that way since the 50s-60s???
 
Just leave it as CofE save the hassle.

Lets face it there only words on bits of paper, JPA and a set of ID disks.

and if someone decides to hold your funeral in a church what the f*ck could you do about it?

Sorry I just don't think religion is a big thing I know what I believe in and thats all that matters.:PDT_Xtremez_14:
 
Pecker Head

If that is your belief (or non-belief) then state it. No one really gives a t*ss.

My 'religion' is listed as agnostic and I have several Service friends who list theirs as athiest. It hasn't affected their careers; nor has it affected mine (under 19 years from recruit training at Swinderby to wg cdr).

I also have several friends who are christians (indeed some who are padres) - I respect their religious beliefs and they respect mine.

One of the key elements of being in the Service is moral courage. Do the right thing, not what you think people would prefer you to do.

As a note though - being an athiest doesn't get you out of church parades. You still have to do all that marching stuff but then can wait outside in the cold while the others sit in the warm church doing the religion thing.

Without getting too deep, religion is rarelly (if ever) the cause of wars (neither are tribes). Generally wars are political action (see Clauswitz - war is an extension of politics by other means) whose protagonists use religion (or tribal differences etc) to motivate the masses.
 
Pecker Head said:
Evening all, I'm just laying in bed reading my book 'The God Delusion' and it took me back to a discussion I had at work once.

I was told that if I officially listed my Religion as Atheist then I'd be in a whole world of hurt from my bosses. Can anybody shed any light on this or will I have to lie throughout the remainder of my career and put myself down as C of E?

Religion has been the cause of many wars along the centuries and I just don't see the point in it, especially when science has disproved most of the Bible.
Click to expand...
I hope you are not a Chaplain !!
 
Climebear said:
Pecker Head

If that is your belief (or non-belief) then state it. No one really gives a t*ss.

My 'religion' is listed as agnostic and I have several Service friends who list theirs as athiest. It hasn't affected their careers; nor has it affected mine (under 19 years from recruit training at Swinderby to wg cdr).

I also have several friends who are christians (indeed some who are padres) - I respect their religious beliefs and they respect mine.

One of the key elements of being in the Service is moral courage. Do the right thing, not what you think people would prefer you to do.

As a note though - being an athiest doesn't get you out of church parades. You still have to do all that marching stuff but then can wait outside in the cold while the others sit in the warm church doing the religion thing.

Without getting too deep, religion is rarelly (if ever) the cause of wars (neither are tribes). Generally wars are political action (see Clauswitz - war is an extension of politics by other means) whose protagonists use religion (or tribal differences etc) to motivate the masses.
Click to expand...

My bold, how many warm churches have you been in then? All the ones I go in are freezing. Move rememberance day to the Summer I say!
 
When I joined (1992) my religion was listed as C of E because I didn't really care are at the time. Once I got to my first unit I decided that C of E was wrong (due to events at the time) and told my boss I wanted to change my religion, she sent me to the vicar who listened to me talking for an hour and agreed I should not be C of E.

When I got back to PSF and filled in my paperwork I changed my religion to "None".

I do not believe in a God, however, if one does exist then he or she is an evil baastard who just makes people suffer for his or her pleasure.
 
I hope all those that don't believe in God are first on the list for Christmas duties.
 
Im down as No denomination, which i think is the standard when you refuse a religion. Its what i threw down at Halton and i would take umbrage at someone trying to force a religion on me, even one on paper.
 
I applied for new dog tags last year and out down Atheist. When they arrived, they had C of E on them...

Not very pleased, even though I would be dead I don't want any of that non-sense anywhere near my send off.

Guess I'll have to stick my wishes in my will.
 
I seem to recall an article in the press a few years ago along the lines of some fella in the RN being allowed to convert to satanism so long as he did not carry out satanic slaughters of virgins ( not that the navy will have any ) or offer animals as sacrifice!
 
I'm about to join the auggies and I put down atheist as my religion because that's what I am. I would be pretty pi55ed off if someone decides that I am C of E for convenience. What would a believer say if they were listed as being a believer of a different faith?
 
Entropy said:
I'm about to join the auggies and I put down atheist as my religion because that's what I am. I would be pretty pi55ed off if someone decides that I am C of E for convenience. What would a believer say if they were listed as being a believer of a different faith?
Click to expand...


It's all "Pixies in the sky" to me
 
Climebear said:
....Without getting too deep, religion is rarelly (if ever) the cause of wars (neither are tribes). Generally wars are political action (see Clauswitz - war is an extension of politics by other means) whose protagonists use religion (or tribal differences etc) to motivate the masses.
Click to expand...

The support of "god" (of whatever denomination) by both sides in conflict is rather interesting - I've yet to see the losing side explain why their "god" let them down. I was on jury service last week (a 5 day trial) and, due to my personal religious beliefs, I was the only one to make an affirmation (http://www.jsboard.co.uk/etac/etbb/benchbook/et_03/et_mf04.htm) rather than swear an oath. As the days went on it became apparant to me that a good number of my fellow jurors were a damn sight less "christian" than I was - hypocrisy of the highest order, which is what we find within a lot of religions!
 
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Barch said:
I hope all those that don't believe in God are first on the list for Christmas duties.
Click to expand...

Yea, because Christmas is all about the celebration of Jesus birth these days eh?

I hope that means that all those who take Christmas off spend most of it in church if I have to be in work because I don't believe in their brand of God?
 
4everAD said:
My bold, how many warm churches have you been in then? All the ones I go in are freezing. Move rememberance day to the Summer I say!
Click to expand...

They're generally warmer than standing around outside of them!:PDT_Xtremez_35:

3Chordwonder - check what religion you have recorded on JPA.

Teh Wal - I agree with you. I think that I am far better at being an agnositic that the vast majority of people who claim to be christians are at living a christian life.
 
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Climebear said:
Pecker Head

If that is your belief (or non-belief) then state it. No one really gives a t*ss.

My 'religion' is listed as agnostic and I have several Service friends who list theirs as athiest. It hasn't affected their careers; nor has it affected mine (under 19 years from recruit training at Swinderby to wg cdr).

I also have several friends who are christians (indeed some who are padres) - I respect their religious beliefs and they respect mine.

One of the key elements of being in the Service is moral courage. Do the right thing, not what you think people would prefer you to do.

As a note though - being an athiest doesn't get you out of church parades. You still have to do all that marching stuff but then can wait outside in the cold while the others sit in the warm church doing the religion thing.

Without getting too deep, religion is rarelly (if ever) the cause of wars (neither are tribes). Generally wars are political action (see Clauswitz - war is an extension of politics by other means) whose protagonists use religion (or tribal differences etc) to motivate the masses.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest then, would being a Muslim get you out of doing church parades........I ask with a genuine curiosity.
 
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