to keep his flock of sheep in line

the story of the atheist soldier is fascinating and frightening to me

the man sounds as if his are reasonable and well-considered beliefs
and moreover are entirely in line with my own
and it's for that reason that the reaction to those beliefs is so worrisome

if one considers the military to be a microcosm of our country as a whole
then it merely reinforces the idea that's been heard on the tip of our leaders' tongues
unspoken but palpable
that it doesn't matter what your faith is as long as you have some

but that the lack thereof makes you a hollow person in their eyes
makes your motivations suspect
your decisions rooted in an uncertain place

like specialist hall i believe in plexiglas and steel and abs
and gravity and friction and seals and levers and pumps
screws and glue
electrons and fluids
these things exist and i can make them do stuff for me and for you
without intervention from any deity

i believe in human courage and ingenuity and that
good people will do good things for people
deserving and undeserving alike
but that you're a lot better off in the former category

but somehow by not believing in a ceiling cat
that's enough for some people in this country to somehow believe that this soldier's
good works alone are not sufficient enough a track record to say he's
a good dude

only some fictional good dude can confer that qualification

fortunately you can spend a lifetime in this country without
risk of being so judged
provided you live in a reasonably secular state and
travel in certain circles

but these people still vote

and they remind me that america has a vast capability to be stupid

so let's look forward to president mccain
but that's a rant for another day