Air Force to atheist Sgt.: "Recite 'So help me god' or get out"

[dead0man]

The institutional culture of the Air Force is awful - and the worst of any branch of the US armed services by far.

No it's not.

As somebody that's been working in or for the USAF since 1994 I've NEVER seen anybody take sh**t for holding non-Christian views (and I've seen a lot of people, myself included, holding those views).  I guess 20 years of living something is nothing compared to reading/skimming 3 articles on the topic in the last 4 years.

As for the OP, of course this is wrong and hopefully this situation will fix it.

[dead0man]

A military angled MB I lurk at (very pro-military, GO USA USA kind of place) is very pissed off about this.

[dead0man]

A military angled MB I lurk at (very pro-military, GO USA USA kind of place) is very pissed off about this.

In the way I'd hope they'd be POed (pro-American) or the way I expect they'd be POed (pro-intolerance)?

The good way.  They think it's a load of horse sh**t/people shouldn't have to swear to a god (much less a specific "God") to swear allegiance to their country.

[dead0man]

The institutional culture of the Air Force is awful - and the worst of any branch of the US armed services by far.

No it's not.

As somebody that's been working in or for the USAF since 1994 I've NEVER seen anybody take sh**t for holding non-Christian views (and I've seen a lot of people, myself included, holding those views).  I guess 20 years of living something is nothing compared to reading/skimming 3 articles on the topic in the last 4 years.

As for the OP, of course this is wrong and hopefully this situation will fix it.

Admittedly I've read more about officers (especially at the AFA) then I have about enlisted personnel, and the servicemen whom I've talked to are either in other branches or have been out of the Air Force since the '90s, but why should I take the word of some guy with a bad attitude and baseless assumptions about my reading habits over all of that?

You can take the word of whomever the funk you want to just as I can counter your anecdotes with my own anecdotes.  You can think (incorrectly) that the USAF is full of churchy folk preaching God and holding back anybody that thinks otherwise if you want.  There certainly are problems with the "institutional culture" of the USAF (we can do a thread on it if you want...the disregard of the nuclear force, too much in bed with certain contractors, typical govt overspending, an aging fleet of birds...more), but Christians running amok is pretty far down the list and it's certainly not "the worst of any branch of the US armed services by far".

[dead0man]

it's certainly not "the worst of any branch of the US armed services by far".

Out of curiosity, which one would that be in your opinion?

As far as too much religion goes?  It might be the AF (the shenanigans at the Academy were very embarrassing), but it's not "by far".

[dead0man]

It's a huge disaster.  Should have used different air frames for the different services requirements.  Trying to get one air frame to do 3 totally different things to save money was an idiotic thing to do.