An atheist airman from the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada will lose his job if he refuses to re-enlist with an oath that concludes, So help me God. The airman says the oath violates his religious beliefs, and that he shouldn’t have to be forced to say it.

Of course, leftists are having a field day with this. The Air Force is forcing people to be Christians. The Air Force is persecuting atheists. But apparently everyone fails to realize that this is not a religious issue. At all. This is just the military way.

If I ask you to jump, you say, “How high?” Remember that? I don’t think the Air Force cares if the oath says, So help me God or So help me Mickey Mouse. The fact is that any soldier needs to do what he’s told. Not on his own terms. But according to the terms of his commander.

A contract is a contract. The Air Force is not a legislative arm. They are part of the Executive Branch. They follow orders. They execute the law. They can’t allow any of their men or women to just leave out part of the contract “for religious reasons.” You either submit and obey. Or you get out of the military. That’s not religious per se. That’s just the Air Force being the Air Force.

And secondly, what does this guy care if he has to assent to something he doesn’t believe has any meaning or power? If the Air Force wants him to say a traditional phrase like So help me God for oaths to a deity he doesn’t believe exists, what difference does it make? Does he think it’s wrong to say “Bless you” when someone sneezes. It’s a phrase. If he doesn’t believe it, it doesn’t make a difference. He has no commitments either way, right?

Apparently not. The problem with atheism is that it is a religion. A religion at war with all other religions (So much for Co-exist, I guess). It is just as exclusive and just as close-minded as the most narrow of the religions it daily criticizes. And it is completely irrational. Why have a religion founded on something’s non-existence? How about an “Anti-Mermaid Religion.” We base our entire religion on the fact that mermaids don’t exist. No. You can’t really be against something that doesn’t exist any more than you can lean against the air. As Doug Wilson says, there are two tenets of atheism: “1. God doesn’t exist. 2. I hate Him.”