This is a topic idea from Dagny3 and it’s a good one. If there’s any group in the military that attracts as much or more crap from the uniformed religious right, it’s the Pagans. And fair is fair – if the military is going to provide facilities and support for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim service members, than these folks should have access to the same level of support.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35188048/ns/us_new
Kathleen
I am curious to hear whether these Air Force Wiccans worship skyclad.
[...] my first comment on the matter was tongue in cheek: I asked what might be the likelihood of the Air Force allowing the Pagans to conduct their rituals [...]
Well, we’ll see what happens. According to a news report I read this morning, someone already violated the Wiccan’s designated sacred space by planting a cross in it. You notice you never see Wiccan’s trespassing and violating the sacred space of Christians, but yet they are never accorded the same respect.
I used to work with a military chaplain who once bragged to me how he managed to prevent a Wiccan circle from meeting on his post by setting up so many roadblocks that it was impossible for the Wiccans to meet the criteria for having a meeting. It was pretty shameful.
Kathleen
As a senior AF enlisted member in charge of a large group of snarky, intellectual students with a significantly higher number of non-theists, agnostics, and “non-majority” beliefs (as compared to the normal AF population), I can tell you that group requests for facility use are honored regardless of that group’s faith (or lack thereof) at this unit.
However, it only takes one overzealous leader to throw a delusional wrench into the gears of rationality. One of my previous unit commanders some years ago was fond of saying, “If I had my way, I’d have ‘em ALL in church on Sunday” (and never meant it as a joke). That mentality is far more prevalent in the military than our senior leaders admit to, or the press is ever made aware of.
I suspect that for every story told about successful religious accommodation in the military, there’s an unheard tale of bigotry that’s been softly and suddenly vanished away.
Your students sound like a hand-full, but in a fun way
To continue with the theme of your post, I probably wouldn’t be any sort of an atheist activist if I hadn’t been singled out and harassed by an evangelical commander. Before that, I was happy as long as I was simply left alone. After that, I joined American Atheists and founded MAAF.
Kathleen