Grah.

[digitaldiscipline]

jaylake brings the blood pressure meds by sharing the following link:

https://alstefanelli.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/us-army-atheists-unfit-to-serve/

Just look at that URL for a second. You don't even need to read the whole thing to get your RDA of WTFF.

This is not even an insinuation. The US Army has taken the position that a soldier who does not feel connected to a deity is an incomplete person, and that a lack of belief will somehow compromise their principles and values. It’s right there, in black and white. That the US Army would take such a position is deplorable, and the fact that it is mandatory appears to be a direct violation of the First Amendment of the constitution that these very soldiers put themselves in harms way to protect. It is discriminatory in every way and undermines the confidence that every soldier should have that their Government is supportive of them, regardless of their belief or disbelief in a deity.

Justin is spot on when he stated that, “spirituality has nothing to do with being a soldier. That is a private matter for soldiers, and in no way should any command be evaluating how ‘fit’ a soldier is based upon his beliefs or lack thereof.”

WHAT THE FIRST AMENDMENT WHAT WHAT NO.

For extra bonus grarh, check out the quoted remarks by GHWB. Buddy, I may not have a thousand points of light, but I have got two middle fingers.

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In completely unrelated news, I've been sleeping like the dead for the last couple of weeks, usually by 10pm, and apparently engaging in fairly pronounced burrowing behavior (yes, there exists a guy who admits to stealing the covers, though it's neither intentional nor consciously done). The dreamscape has been its usual level of peculiar, with yesterday's highlight being my turn as a personal trainer to a youth football team and Felicia Day. She was a much more attentive client than the boys were, for whatever that's worth.

Comments

[drcuriosity]

There wasn't anything there to suggest that they were asking about any other things greater than yourself, other than a being of some sort. Other spirituality-based questions, certainly. We can't say for certain without the whole survey text, but if that question is indicative of the flavour of questions being asked, then it's definitely problematic.

[angledge.livejournal.com]

the_axel provided a link to the actual questions - which, it turns out, don't actually mention a greater being at all. Here's the link:

http://rockbeyondbelief.com/2010/12/24/soldier-fitness-tracker-spiritual-questions-now-available/

[drcuriosity]

Cool, thanks. Less suck than it could be. Though it could easily be fixed, I feel, if you added a "Not applicable to me" option to the standard 5-point Likert agreement scale they're using, or allowed for those who didn't feel the question was relevant to them to leave it blank.