1 ALL religion should be banned from the public space since you idiots don't seem to be able to get along with one another. Religion truely is the opiate of the masses.

2 Well, chalk one up for Larry -- a real threat to religious liberty in this country, who would strip us of our rights.

3 Not my fault religion makes you act stupid. The most intelligent people I know are either non religious, or they keep it to themselves (as it should be). If you assholes would stop trying to force your imbecilic world view down everyone else's throats you'd be much happier, as would we.
Fucking simpleton

4 Larry, did you miss the ironic nature of your statement that it is religious people trying to shove their beliefs down the throats of others while at the same time advocating laws to make the public expression of religious beliefs illegal? Who is trying to shove whose values down throats there?

And as far as your contention about "the most intelligent people I know", all I can say is that you must have acircle of friends that is very limited or very stupid. After all, this Sunday I'll go to a church where I am surrounded by the head of one of the teams designing propulsion systems for the next generation of spacecraft, a fellow whose contributions led to his name being given to the maneuver used to dock the space shuttle and ISS, one of the men who helped bring Appolo 13 back after the explosion, and about a half dozen other rocket scientists (the church is 3 1/2 miles from Johnson Space Center). Each is a devout Christian who shares his faith openly -- and whose brainpower leaves me in awe.

And i won't get into the question of the internationally know theologians and scripture scholars I got to know during my seminary years and their intellectual cappacity.

5 Of course your too fucking stupid to see the deliberate irony of my first statement, and like mosr simpleton conservative pukes you reacted without thought that the post might be going for the ironic. Typical right wight bloviating asshole.

6 Now let's get this straight -- I pointed out the irony of your statement, and therefore you accuse me of having missed it? Do I really need to point out the absurdity of that assertion on your part? Either you are a particularly stupid troll, Bubba, or you are lying.

But then again, what should I expect from someone who has tagged himself with the handle of "LIEsureSuit Larry".

Oh, and by the way -- you will need to stop your use of profanity if you plan on posting here any more.

7 You won't win with larry there RWR, you should know liberals are the leaders of do as I say, not as I do.

It is funny that atheists always scream Religious people are always shoving their views down the poor atheists throat..

Yet, aren't they trying to do the same by outlawing religion?

Aren't they doing that in schools now, with the teaching of theory of evolution as fact. You know man came from a monkey, macroevolution.

So, while it is alright for them to use a "Public" forum to teach and espouse their views to the young of this nation, Religions can not allow Preachers, in this case, Chaplains from just preaching the Word of God and allowing an ADULT to decide for themself.

Seems atheists may have more to hide than anyone.

8 There you go again being a stupid fucktard, "freedom of religion" implies also a freedom from religion. You fucking simpleton. I have the right to practice whatever religion, or even non-religion I choose. I do not have the right(and neither do you miserable christian fundalmental assclowns) to force my world view forcebly on anyone. Sure wish you and all the rest of the god squad boneheads would understand that.

9 Go read the very quotes you cite in the initial posting. Mr. Weinstein does not want "complete censorship of all religious speech", just such censorship while an Air Force member is on duty. The average Air Force is only on duty 40-60 hours per week--that leaves plenty of time for religious speech and evanglizing but my experience has been that most would rather use that time to watch football. BTW, Air Force members are also prohibited doing virtually anything not directly related to mission accomplishment while on duty--while on duty we are protecting the Constitution so we can enjoy its freedoms while off-duty.

10 1 -- to my nameless coward friends -- you have the right to not practice religion, but you do not have the right to stop me from talking about religion, any more than I have the right to get the government to force you to stop talking about your atheism.

And when you consider that this man wants to stop even evangelism by chaplains, it is clear that he is, in fact, interested in stopping all religious speech by members of the Air Force outside the context of a chapel service -- as witnessed by his use of cadets passing out fliers at meals or setting up trips to see The Passion of the Christ as something that would be prohibitted

11 Blah,blah,blah...label, label, label... Conservatives are this, liberals are that...

I'm an atheist, which probably means you'll ignore whatever else I say, but that's your loss. I'm also an ACLU member, and on active duty. I take all of these seriously enough to deeply resent your ignorant statements about EVERYBODY's beliefs.

In some ways, it's an exercise in futility to even present an opposing view in a forum like this, because most people can't think beyond their own preconceptions, regardless of the validity of an argument or evidence. Nevertheless...

Enough with the "I know you are, but what am I" prattle! My/your/his/her free speech right is GUARANTEED by the First Amendment, but it didn't begin with it - the whole idea is that men have natural rights, whether you think they came from a creator or not - that IS a historically LIBERAL political view. If you think that right was somehow provided or protected by your god, try to explain where free speech has been in the thousands of years of human history before the United States.

As for the balance between your rights and mine, yours extend only as far as they don't infringe upon my equal rights, and vice/versa. That's also a LIBERAL idea, which you ought to embrace unless you want me to put into an Air Force Instruction the words "so Help Me Allah" as part of the oath of office, the way "so Help Me God" is part of the oath in the Air Force Instruction now.

As for chaplains in the military, consider the following:
- All military chaplains are in the military, and thus accept constraints on their behavior concordant with their roles as soldiers and representatives of the Federal government; i.e., in uniform and on duty, they accept that some of their citizenship rights may not be exercised - that includes some aspects of free speech which would not be consistent with good order and/or their official capacity and role, e.g. joining a political demonstration in uniform, telling their CO to screw off, evangelizing to the "unchurched"
- All chaplains are officers, and therefore in SPECIAL positions of authority, which incur a SPECIAL responsibility not to foist their personal beliefs or needs upon those they outrank; the cadets, as all lower ranking military members, should not be in a position where they feel pressure from the chaplain (or CO/CC) to do something that has NOTHING to do with their military duty - it's up to the officer to avoid even the APPEARANCE of such an environment
- These two factors should obviate that evangelizing in uniform is a sin (sorry, couldn't help it); it is incompatible with their military duty as soldiers and officers. Be available if someone seeks it, provide it if asked, but don't foist, don't proseletyze

Lastly, Larry's point about irony above was that you missed the fact that his irony was intentional; it was like pointing out that someone made a pun when they obviously meant to make a pun. No one is asking you to stop talking about religion (although, with the strength of your discourse, the religious right might)(that's sarcasm, don't point it out later), but no public official should be talking about their religion while in acting in their official capacity - to do otherwise shows a complete lack of respect for their fellow citizens rights to freedom from religious oppression (I know, not YOUR right, because you want every public official thumpin' the bible). Just remember, right now, Christians are in the majority in the U.S.; if and when you're not, how would you like the President to end his speeches with "...and since there's no god..."? If you will not speak for the rights of atheists and non-Christians now, who will speak for your rights later? It was a pastor who talked about the persecution of the Jews in Germany, remember "...Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me."