What Role Does Religion Play Within Our Military?

There are many ways to God, but as a Christian you must Believe in the Father and the Son. Churches sometimes worship Religious Covenant, that doing the will of man made covenants rather then God, for example: If your Pastor preaches or teaches without his Bible, and don't encourage you to bring your Bible to follow along on what's being preached or taught, you are trusting him at his word, Not the Word of God. Never believe a Pastor's word, unless its backed up by Scriptures of the Bible. Remember always, what Jim Jones done to his congregation in Guyana. I remember serving with a atheist on the way to Vietnam., the closer we got to Vietnam, as a Fire Team Leader, the Marine stated "to me, no way no how that he were going to fire his weapon against a foreign enemy that had done nothing to him, he freaked out everyone on the team, I passed this information to the Gunnery Sergeant, the Gunnery Sergeant relayed this information to the CO., the information got back to me, to tell that Marine, that as soon as the shooting started if he didn't fire that weapon, the whole fire team were to start firing upon him, and I could say we had no further problems.

Jefferson needs to come back and lecture us on the "wall of separation between church and state."

This particular poster can be offensive to Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and Protestants. All of these are denominations of Christianity, not separate religions...They're *all* Christians. There are too many who are quick to denounce many of these as not Christian.

Religion is there for anyone and there are religious leaders of almost every faith available to service members.
I remember just before taps onboard ship they had the evening prayer over the 1MC, even those who didn't follow religion were respectfully quiet during the few minutes it took.
I think for those who follow religion its good to have it available and for those that don't, they don't seem too bothered by it, or at least that's what I have observed.

It was wrong of both you and that CO to talk about religion while on duty. As a wise person once said, "Never talk about politics, money, and religion in social environments that don't warrant such conversations." The military is filled with people of all different beliefs, races, political affiliations, and economic backgrounds. I feel that anyone who wishes to worship or not should have that ability. It should NEVER become an issue of contention between family. After all, the military is one big family- disfunctional, but still family.

In every military in history warriors always fought in the name of their God they worshipped. For most it was an integral part of who they were/are as a warrior.

SGT Alex A., I am not a religious person, but I can understand how comforting it is for someone in combat to believe that when they die they will have everlasting life in a better place; peace of mind enhances the effectiveness of soldiers; so I think religion in the military for those who want it is a good thing. If you don't want to believe, no one is forcing you to. If you feel uncomfortable because those around you are religious, well, that sounds like a personal problem to me; just because you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean someone has done something to make you feel that way. You should work on getting over your intolerance and try to see people as more than just their religion just as those who are religious keep getting told they need to be more tolerant toward gays, transgenders, atheists, etc.

This shouldn't even be a question. I thank God for allowing me to live every day. Some don't get the chance.

First off. This Nation was not founded as a secular Nation. It was founded under God our Creator. Our Founding Fathers wanted God in the government. People used Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danville Baptist Church for their Separation of Church and State rants. They misinterpreted his original letter. Thomas Jefferson's letter was about the Government being separate from Religion, but He wanted God in the Government.