Wiccan veterans need not apply

A Wiccan National Guardsman killed in Afghanistan can't have his religion's emblem displayed in the military cemetary. Symbols are allowed for around 30 recognized belief systems, including atheism. (via movable buffet)


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Submitted by crazymonk on Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:14pm.

odd that atheism is regarded as "a belief system." or that you regarded it as such.

jbg. | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:36pm

also, what on earth is the symbol for atheism? the finger?

jbg. | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:37pm

ALSO, HIS NAME IS PATRICK STEWART?!?!

that's almost as awesome as that dead college kid named Zach Morris.

jbg. | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:37pm

atheism *is* a belief system. its central tenet is the belief that there is no god.

crazymonk | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:42pm

i reject that statement. i don't believe in god -- a non-belief is not the central tenet of my belief system.

jbg. | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 2:54pm

sorry, that's quite clearly a belief. a non-belief would be: "i don't know whether there's a god or not." a belief is: "i believe that there is no god."

crazymonk | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 3:00pm

I don't believe that Jeremy has been abducted by aliens, would you consider that a belief?

Do you consider every situation of not believing something to be the same as a belief?

Snakes on a Blog | Thu, 03/02/2006 - 9:32pm

Yes.

crazymonk | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:19am

you idiot. you keep calling it a "belief system." i don't have a "belief system." i don't "believe" in anything supernatural because i have no basis for any kind of "belief."

i'm glad Snakes on A Blog is on my side, though, because i do believe in snakes. on planes.

jbg. | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:37am

ALSO, HIS NAME WAS PATRICK STEWART

jbg. | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:37am

also, "belief" is one of those words that if you keep saying it and looking at how it's spelled, after a while it becomes weird and kind of meaningless.

just like belief in god.

jbg. | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:38am

Without belief, there would be no
jbg.

Slater | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:46am

Actually, I mispoke. Not believing something is not a belief. However, believing that something doesn't exist or didn't happen *is* a belief. So, snakes, you believe that jeremy was never abducted by aliens. That's a belief. But you could also be agnostic about it, which you would mean you don't know -- you don't have a belief either way.

crazymonk | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 10:19am

But does believing in possibilities in
fact also represent a belief system?

Slater | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 10:48am

Sure.

I believe it is possible that God exists.
I believe it is impossible to turn water into wine.

These are beliefs.

crazymonk | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 12:15pm

i don't believe in beatles, i just believe in me.

jbg. | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 1:41pm

yoko and you?

crazymonk | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 1:55pm

"i don't belieeeeve you... you're a liar..."

jbg. | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 2:31pm

Crazymonk,
If there were a God that created the universe, couldn't this same God turn water into wine?

The Rodenator | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 6:44pm

I should've put quotes around those -- they were meant to be exemplary, not consistent beliefs.

crazymonk | Fri, 03/03/2006 - 9:12pm

God can only turn currently unassigned atoms into matter. Once it's been turned into matter, it can't then be changed into a different type of matter, even by god. It's like stem cells.

What, do you think god is an alchemist? Or a liberal?

Snakes on a Blog | Sat, 03/04/2006 - 5:18am

can god make an atom so big that even he can't lift it?

maybe that should be "adam."

jbg. | Sat, 03/04/2006 - 3:48pm
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