the brights (NY times op-ed)

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:09 AM -0700 7/12/03, Dave Wilton wrote:
>  > the medical folks are a particular problem because they want to be
>>  able to provide you with (free) counseling, comfort, solace, etc. via
>>  the representatives of various organized religions.  the people who
>>  process the forms want to find a slot for everybody, and they're often
>>  disinclined to accept "none" or "non-believer", which they view as
>>  unresponsive; everybody believes in *something*, after all (they
>>  think, and sometimes say).
>
>In the US Army, atheists, agnostics, and members of "fringe" religious
>groups (e.g., Wiccans) get labeled as "No Religious Preference," or "No Rel
>Pref" as it reads on one's dog tags. This despite the fact that "Atheist"
>and "Other" are officially acceptable entries.
>
>When filling out the form for my dog tags, I put down "atheist" in the
>religion block. My dog tags came reading "No Rel Pref," which to me is an
>entirely different thing. I didn't try to change it though--I figured that
>if it came to the point where someone was looking at my dog tags to find out
>my religion, being doctrinaire about my lack of belief would be way down on
>the list of things to be concerned about.
>

Well, this way they can't keep you out of foxholes.

Larry