Common Sense

For once, I’m not talking about my dog.

One of my Myspace friends sent out this bulletin:

Why I love soldiers

A United States Soldier was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, “God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.” The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God. I’m still waiting.” It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Soldier got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The Soldier went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Soldier and asked, “What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?”

The Soldier calmly replied, “God was too busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an asshole. So, He sent me.”

All of my Myspace friends seem to be rabid Christians lately. It’s all about God and how awesome he is. Aside from being really annoying to someone who doesn’t believe in God (at least I don’t believe in him on Mondays), it’s just really, really stupid. Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in fighting terrorists who kill people in the name of God, and yet seeing nothing wrong with us claiming the right to do so in the name of God?

The idea that God is on our side and we have a right to act in his name is just farcicle. This hypothetical soldier, while it is commendable what he would do in the name of his country, is a person I would be wary of because of what he would do in the name of God. Acting on faith by punching someone who disagrees with him, that’s just crazy. Faith, by its very definition, is belief in the absence of proof. Blind belief is always, always a dangerous thing. The 2,500 dead American soldiers, I would say, are actually proof that contradict his claims. And belief in the face of contradiction always leads to violence.

Why is it we can recognize insanity in terrorists, those that kill in the name of God, but we can’t recognize it in ourselves? Terrorists are insane; they are killers and must be defeated for that reason. Invoking God on our side will only lead to more killing, more death and more tragedy.