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DoD Officially Drops 180 Faiths from Military's Recognized Religion List

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Re: DoD Officially Drops 180 Faiths from Military's Recognized Religion List

#12

Post by Atotalnoob »

cpfohl wrote: post #10
uneekname wrote: post #2

They don't recognize atheists anymore? Am I reading that right?

Uh, honest question: why would you put atheist on a list of religions? Like…leave the religion off the dog tag and that communicates enough right? What’s there to recognize? I’m super not trying to be antagonistic. I’m trying to understand why an atheist would be upset by this.

Religion provides certain benefits in the military. If you are say a Christian, you get assigned time to go to a (hopefully) air conditioned church and relax and recover. Even if it’s short, it can be beneficial to collect yourself in a high stress situation like basic training/boot camp.

If you elect not to go to a religious service, you typically have to keep doing whatever you are doing. Atheists or other less organized religions should be treated equally under the law. If a Christian gets a 90 minute religious service, an atheist should also get 90 minutes to do whatever they want.

You also see this reflected with something like The Satanic Temple advocating for human rights under the guise of religion.

In my opinion, religious organizations should not have any more rights or privileges than businesses.

Re: DoD Officially Drops 180 Faiths from Military's Recognized Religion List

#15

Post by LastTrain »

slg wrote: post #6

It's notable that the original list with the extra 180 religions was from Trump's first term, so this is another example of the doubling down on white Christian identity politics that has come to define Trump's second term. Also one small potentially controversial decision here that I find amusing in a narcissism of small differences kind of way, Mormons aren't considered Christian according to this list.

That is actually quite useful if you are wanting to drive a wedge between LDS and Trump - there goes Utah and eastern Idaho

Re: DoD Officially Drops 180 Faiths from Military's Recognized Religion List

#18

Post by jltsiren »

slg wrote: post #6

It's notable that the original list with the extra 180 religions was from Trump's first term, so this is another example of the doubling down on white Christian identity politics that has come to define Trump's second term. Also one small potentially controversial decision here that I find amusing in a narcissism of small differences kind of way, Mormons aren't considered Christian according to this list.

The choice with Mormons is technically correct. Those who use theological considerations to define Christianity generally don't accept Mormons as Christians. For example, the Catholic Church sees Mormonism a non-Christian religion, because it rejects the Nicene Creed. People who base Christianity on cultural identity are more likely to include Mormons in the definition.

Re: DoD Officially Drops 180 Faiths from Military's Recognized Religion List

#20

Post by ajcp »

slg wrote: post #6

It's notable that the original list with the extra 180 religions was from Trump's first term, so this is another example of the doubling down on white Christian identity politics that has come to define Trump's second term. Also one small potentially controversial decision here that I find amusing in a narcissism of small differences kind of way, Mormons aren't considered Christian according to this list.

one core tenant of Christianity is that Christ the Messiah obviates prophecy. No denomination of Christianity (AFAIK) considers the LDS as true Christians...except for the LDS themselves
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