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Proof There Are No Atheists in Foxholes

rhinefire

rhinefire

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Watching NBC Nightly News the day after the Oklahoma tornado a teacher was being interviewed. She said the following, " I covered some of my students with my body and one little girl said 'I love you Ms...... but we cannot die together' ". She went on to say when asked how she replied to the little girl. " I did something we (teachers) are not suposed to do, I prayed".
 
Yeah about that............

 
rhinefire said:
Watching NBC Nightly News the day after the Oklahoma tornado a teacher was being interviewed. She said the following, " I covered some of my students with my body and one little girl said 'I love you Ms...... but we cannot die together' ". She went on to say when asked how she replied to the little girl. " I did something we (teachers) are not suposed to do, I prayed".
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What does this have to do with atheists?
 
rhinefire said:
Watching NBC Nightly News the day after the Oklahoma tornado a teacher was being interviewed. She said the following, " I covered some of my students with my body and one little girl said 'I love you Ms...... but we cannot die together' ". She went on to say when asked how she replied to the little girl. " I did something we (teachers) are not suposed to do, I prayed".
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yeah, no, this is not proof that there are no atheists in foxholes. This is proof that a teacher prayed in a foxhole.
 
Am I too sensitive in being a little offended when someone claims to be 'blessed' in these incidents? I understand the sentiment, but it literally means that people less fortunate got the rear-end of the blessing stick.
 
Amadeus said:
Am I too sensitive in being a little offended when someone claims to be 'blessed' in these incidents? I understand the sentiment, but it literally means that people less fortunate got the rear-end of the blessing stick.
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This. What I've come to realize for myself is that blessings and a believed personal relationship with the creator of the universe is a little too egotistical for my liking.
 
tjhtf said:
This. What I've come to realize for myself is that blessings and a believed personal relationship with the creator of the universe is a little too egotistical for my liking.
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I agree, but I try to temper these statements around the faithful. I made the mistake of ranting about blessings on Facebook once, and I think some of my own family have put me on permanent ignore. :lol:
 
rhinefire said:
Watching NBC Nightly News the day after the Oklahoma tornado a teacher was being interviewed. She said the following, " I covered some of my students with my body and one little girl said 'I love you Ms...... but we cannot die together' ". She went on to say when asked how she replied to the little girl. " I did something we (teachers) are not suposed to do, I prayed".
Click to expand...
"Proof" there is no dictionary in Rhinefire's house. :rolleyes:
 
This teacher will now likely get fired...
 
Amadeus said:
I agree, but I try to temper these statements around the faithful. I made the mistake of ranting about blessings on Facebook once, and I think some of my own family have put me on permanent ignore. :lol:
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I try to keep things tempered. I've grown up in a 95% Christian/Catholic community, and went to a private Catholic college. No offense to most Christians, but I've seen how the bloodhounds come out when someone says they don't believe in god or criticize religion. I had a high school friend say "Happy Zombie Jesus Day" on Easter two years ago, it got intense to say the least. I was just stating my own personal feelings towards relationships with god. The only way I would ever want to change someone's mind is through thoughtful discussion, not beating them over the head with Sagan and Dawkins quotes.
 
StillBallin75 said:
yeah, no, this is not proof that there are no atheists in foxholes. This is proof that a teacher prayed in a foxhole.
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Even if it were true that there are no atheists in foxholes, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of religion. It amounts to saying that people turn to faith out of desperation and fear.
 
Aderleth said:
Even if it were true that there are no atheists in foxholes, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of religion. It amounts to saying that people turn to faith out of desperation and fear.
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It's just as likely that a desperate situation (like combat for instance) will diminish your faith. It can be hard to reconcile the idea of a merciful and just God with your brothers getting shot and blown up all around you.
 
I concur that this doesn't prove anything.

The teacher shouldn't bring her religious beliefs into the classroom. I think we can all agree to cut some slack when a 2-mile wide tornado is bearing down on a school.

That said, I don't have a lot of regard for those types of intercessory / interference prayers, especially in this type of situation. I have very little doubt that the victims of this unfortunate event died because of a lapse in faith, or because of their behavior.
 
StillBallin75 said:
It's just as likely that a desperate situation (like combat for instance) will diminish your faith. It can be hard to reconcile the idea of a merciful and just God with your brothers getting shot and blown up all around you.
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Also a good point.
 
tjhtf said:
I try to keep things tempered. I've grown up in a 95% Christian/Catholic community, and went to a private Catholic college. No offense to most Christians, but I've seen how the bloodhounds come out when someone says they don't believe in god or criticize religion. I had a high school friend say "Happy Zombie Jesus Day" on Easter two years ago, it got intense to say the least. I was just stating my own personal feelings towards relationships with god. The only way I would ever want to change someone's mind is through thoughtful discussion, not beating them over the head with Sagan and Dawkins quotes.
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You're doing fine. I came to these forums not long ago with a pretty harsh attitude towards religion. It easy to go off the deep end with criticism, at least for me.
 
Amadeus said:
Am I too sensitive in being a little offended when someone claims to be 'blessed' in these incidents? I understand the sentiment, but it literally means that people less fortunate got the rear-end of the blessing stick.
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I'm with you on that. If you believe in God and your child died in the tornado and then you hear someone who survived say something like "God was really looking out for us", I would think that feels like a slap in the face to some. I do realize there is no ill intent on the person saying it, though.

As for no atheists in foxholes? I have been in the Army for over 16 years now. I have been an atheist for the last half of that and during that time have been in two situation in which I truly thought I would likely die. At no point did I feel the need to ask for help from some deity I don't believe in. Instead, I focused on my job and saved my own ass.

And I am certainly not the only one. Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers | Atheists in Foxholes, in Cockpits, and on Ships - Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers
 
Amadeus said:
It easy to go off the deep end with criticism, at least for me.
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Don't get me wrong, I'd love to just go off on a rant about everything that I believe to be wrong with religion :lol: It's just that I think that would be a bit hypocritical of me since I think broad statements about other groups without listening to those from said group is one of the things I have a problem with.
 
What I don't get is the idea from the OP that teachers are not supposed to pray. Where the hell did that idea come from? There's nothing that prevents teachers from praying to my knowledge. Why the **** does every disaster have to be turned into something stupidly political? Seriously, WTF.
 
Visbek said:
I concur that this doesn't prove anything.

The teacher shouldn't bring her religious beliefs into the classroom. I think we can all agree to cut some slack when a 2-mile wide tornado is bearing down on a school.

That said, I don't have a lot of regard for those types of intercessory / interference prayers, especially in this type of situation. I have very little doubt that the victims of this unfortunate event died because of a lapse in faith, or because of their behavior.
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There wasnt a classroom at that point. And if the prayer calmed the kids and kept them from trying to run or crawl away then it was a great decision IMO. And Im sure the teacher was scared witless at the time.

That said though we must remember that tornado's are a act of god (according to insurance companies)
 
Tucker Case said:
What I don't get is the idea from the OP that teachers are not supposed to pray. Where the hell did that idea come from? There's nothing that prevents teachers from praying to my knowledge. Why the **** does every disaster have to be turned into something stupidly political? Seriously, WTF.
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I agree with you 100% on this. The political/religious/whatever debating should be done under circumstances where emotions aren't running at a fever pitch and people are clear headed. It makes me cringe whenever someone tries to use a disaster to prove a point or further their agenda instead of caring for the victims.
 
Disaster circumstances are obviously exceptional circumstances and should be treated as such. A teacher would normally be fired for using physical violence against a student with good reason, but it would be entirely justifiable to bruise a few uncooperative kids while dragging them to safety during a tornado. The priority during a natural disaster should be to secure the safety of the kids by whatever means needed and regular rules and regulations are unimportant.
 
Visbek said:
I have very little doubt that the victims of this unfortunate event died because of a lapse in faith, or because of their behavior.
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Are you saying God punished them or didn't protect them because they did not believe in him or sinned a lot...? I hope that's not what you're saying. 20 something kids preschool to 3rd grade died in that tornado...
 
StillBallin75 said:
It's just as likely that a desperate situation (like combat for instance) will diminish your faith. It can be hard to reconcile the idea of a merciful and just God with your brothers getting shot and blown up all around you.
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A lot of Holocaust survivors, for example, renounced belief in god because of it. They couldn't fathom the god they had been raised to believe in allowing such a horrific thing to happen. That's one of the reason why so many Jews are really secular.

Knowledge=power said:
Are you saying God punished them or didn't protect them because they did not believe in him or sinned a lot...? I hope that's not what you're saying. 20 something kids preschool to 3rd grade died in that tornado...
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Based on the rest of that post, it looks like clumsy phrasing to me. I think he meant the opposite.
 
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