A litmus test... In light of legislation being proposed in the name of religion.

[smccarter]

I spent six years in the US Military. I was prepared to go to war and die for your freedom. Including your freedom to worship whatever god or christ or whatever you believe in.

What are YOU (chritians) prepared to do for my freedom and beliefs?

[longship]

1. I go along with that. R&K nt

[delrem]

2. The notion that the US Military "fights for freedom" is ....

well, WHERE does it do this? In Iraq? In Vietnam? Do the bored desk-jocks who oversee US military drones "fight for freedom"? Did the US military "fight for freedom" in Falluja? Are the hundreds of thousands of victims of the US military, just over the past 2 decades, more "free" than when they were alive?

Quite frankly all these "I was prepared to go to war and die for your..." Christlike statements of self-sacrifice by US soldiers are self-serving bunkum, and US soldiers are no different than soldiers anywhere. The US sanctification of war and the US military is bloody ridiculous.

[smccarter]

3. Eh?

How many years did you serve?

[delrem]

4. Serve what? Big Macs with Fries?

[delrem]

7. At least I'm capable of understanding what is/isn't relevant to a discussion. Unlike you, sir.

[Bandit]

22. Every conflict our military gets engaged with is a training exercise.

When/if the time ever comes when our military truly has to defend the USA and all it's citizens, we will be grateful for them and all the training they had to endure to make them able to launch a solid defense. Actual encounters (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, hell even Grenada and Panama) are way better training exercises than we could put together in the USA. It's called OJT and it is extremely valuable. So yes in the long run they are indeed protecting our Freedoms.

[delrem]

23. I think your opinion is immoral. Extremely so.

[giftedgirl77]

5. How about no legislation should ever be written/proposed

in the name of any religion? Your being prepared to go to war as a meteorologist in the National Guard has no bearing on that fact.

[smccarter]

8. Goodness

You people will argue anything.

Again I say... How many years did you serve your country?

Zero I'd imagine.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Yes, that's DU for you.

It's why I don't post nearly as much as I used to.

I disagree with much of what our military does, but that's our government making those policies. I have nothing but respect for the men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line.

I think your argument is a very good one to use with RWers. Even though the use of our military to defend our personal freedoms is mostly hypothetical, it's a concept that RWers can easily understand.

Thank you for your service and welcome to DU. Not all of us are itching for a fight, or to pick apart everything that someone posts.

[pintobean]

14. He got kicked out of this thread

for calling someone an idiot.
That's DU for you.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. I stand by my post.

I think people are being incredibly rude to him, and he unfortunately took the bait.

It's all a big game of "gotcha" for some people on here.

[pintobean]

17. That's fine.

I thought it was an extremely cocky OP. Maybe he meant it that way, and maybe he didn't. When he started getting negative replies, he attacked. Now he's flagged for review.

[giftedgirl77]

13. Actually it would be over 8 with multiple deployments

that has resulted in permanent disability at 36. However, I didn't think it is necessary to point that out when it comes to legislators trying to write bills that involve their personal religious beliefs.

[pintobean]

19. Your link in that locked thread didn't work

so I thought I'd kick this one.

[Make7]

20. That locked OP was strange...

   
[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #999999 inset;"]"I believe in this country and gauge everything I believe in by the two principals this country was founded on. Freedom and equality." - [div class="footer" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; display:inline;"]smccarter
Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
[div style="width:100%; height:1.154em; border-bottom:2px groove #999999;"]
I wonder if that guy is sharing whatever he's been smoking.
 

[pintobean]

10. How many

weather forecasters for the Indiana Air National Guard have fought and died for my freedom?

[Gravitycollapse]

12. Probably no one who's still alive.

We haven't fought in a "just" war in nearly 70 years.

[jmowreader]

21. The answer is simple

They are prepared to eliminate the freedom and ignore the beliefs of anyone who doesn't have the same "deeply held beliefs."

My "deeply held belief" is there's no god. That conflicts with their deeply held belief, and that's not allowed.

[Zorra]

24. Pray that you will see the light, and learn to hate, like every good conservative "believer" does.