Why do you think 90% of military personnel are atheist?

[jennifer_bloom]

Among doctors, 95% believe in God, while less than 10% of soldiers believe in God.

[ohshee]

Because when are men and women join the military they are programmed first day of deprogrammed of all morals values and ethics. And then they are reprogrammed to become Fighting Machines you can't believe in a god and go out and kill people everyday.. this is what pisses me off, when they come back from doing their tour, and there is nothing there to meet them at the airport there is nobody that has their back they have no place to live what they had just gone through Place through their head everyday do not deprogrammed tree turn into normal everyday life they still fight the battle. I think they are taken for granted with the heads you spend for every single one of us so we can have our freedom is unbelievable the hell did they put themselves through every situation they put themselves through bullets whizzing by you Dim killing people this is why they don't believe in a god the ones that held onto that little bit hope and make it home might succeed in life I think every man and woman who goes into the military when they come home they should have the biggest paycheck fishes have a house given to them they should have a car given to them any job. And reprogrammed to fit into society again is bullshit what they have to go through. And for any man or women that reads this thank you with everything ounce of my being for putting your life sacrificing yourself for all of us may God bless you

[MadBoy]

Considering the stuff soldiers see/do on a daily basis, it's not really surprising that they don't believe in God.

[IveGotNoName]

I mean, both my brothers are very catholic and they're both doctors, and one of them is married to a doctor who is also catholic... so in that sense it adds up... but I don't think it's like that in general... probably really depends a lot on the country

[GrimmGothBabe]

Because the idea of God is supposed to be kind and loving but soldiers see death and destruction, doctors see miracles and lives saved that were close to death.

[ladsin]

Source? There’s the common trope of, “there’s no atheists in foxholes.” Which I find insulting and unappreciative, but the claim that 90% of military personnel are atheists seems ludicrous to me.

[JamieLoves]

@ladsin
She/ he can’t show you any pole or give us a link to anything that shows that.

It’s made up

[ladsin]

@JamieLoves you work in healthcare? What do you do?

[JamieLoves]

Yes.. MD

[ladsin]

@JamieLoves well damn. What field? I used to work in a psychiatric facility.

[JamieLoves]

OB/GYN

[ChrisMaster69]

I would firmly disagree with that statement.

prior to any engagement, the Regimental Padre or station padre offers prays, you have more people attend than if they were offering free beer.

nothing converts an atheists faster than being shot at, having rockets and mortars coming in.

now how many are Practicing religious, a different matter.

if given a survey, yeah a lot will put atheist.

when I was in training with Air Force I would put my hand up for Catholics, as they had tea and scones and not just biscuits (cookies). So as far as thst time in the RAF went, there were loads of Catholics lol.

[ChrisMaster69]

Update to mine with some real statistics from Office of National Statistics.

www.gov.uk/.../uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-1-april-2020

I would hazard a guess this is fairly similar for the US.

[wickhamhayls]

so the faiths of people in the armed forces offends you?

[ChrisMaster69]

@wickhamhayls what the actual fuck, where did you manage to jump to that utterly fucking bizarre cockwomble of a question?

[wickhamhayls]

Because of your tone. Sorry, just my view/opinion.

[ChrisMaster69]

@wickhamhayls my tone, fuckme side ways.

Do you actually understand positive and authoritative sentence structures.

I would hazard a guess you do not interact with many English people, zero Geordies and zero ex serving members of Her Majesties Forces?

It’s called being Blunt, to the point.

[wickhamhayls]

Well, you cannot be British if you don't even spell "Her Majesty's" correctly.

[ChrisMaster69]

@wickhamhayls you missed the Geordie bit, it means I’m shit at speeling and my autocorrect hates me.

[The_Maphio]

Source, or those are numbers tossed around casually.
Science and religion don't cancel each other as it's normally believed. Men of the cloth and scientists usually discuss and debate. There are many of such debates online, if you're interested in more than football, make up and porn.
Militaries are people with their heads in reality. Literally "boots on the ground". No time or space to pray when your life is made of conflict and death, or just hanging around in foreign countries risking your lives from attempted assassinations in places where you don't belong (looking at you, America).

[BCA6010]

Yeah, if you found those numbers anywhere regarding the United States, then whoever is using those statistics is thoroughly manipulating the data to try and push an agenda because there's no way in hell either of those are accurate.

What's probably REALLY the case in regards to the military is that 90% of soldiers do not consider themselves devout and/or do not regularly attend religious services. That does not translate into 90% of soldiers are atheists.

They must've polled doctors exclusively at a Methodist hospital to produce numbers that high.

[Gravit1]

That is so not true, what country are you pulling this data from? Is it from Canada? In America Soldiers have been historically more conservative and Christian. That is changing and is under attack, but still 10% is way off. It appears to be much more Generational. It has been dropping since the 60s, but generally military is more conservative and Christian then a lot of fields. The military has been getting more diverse politically so the percentages reflect the society at large, but still lean more right. I have never seen any data that suggested 10%. My brothers are in the military and some old school friends, they all identify as Christian. I'd be curious where your data is from.

[DJB72]

I've known a lot of soldiers, airmen and sailors. Most have seen combat. I'd say 90% believe in God. The adage "there are no atheists in foxholes" seems to be accurate as the only agnostics (definitely not atheists) were the ones who hadn't seen active combat.

[Smashingdoozy]

It's actually 76% of drs that believe in god. Only 60% of whom are protestant or catholic.
The military as of 2019 70% were reported as christian. As far as I can tell there's no data on other religions yet. But still you are wrong so I'm not sure where you got your info from. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Smashingdoozy]

Sources for anyone who wants to have a look

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../

www.uchicagomedicine.org/.../survey-shows-that-physicians-are-more-religious-than-expected

[Agape93]

I know exactly where she got it. Her ass.

[Knighted2170]

What country are you in?
In the U. S. as of 2019 numbers (most recent reported) 70% of active duty personnel identify as some form of Christianity. .04% as Jewish or Muslim, each. 1% as an Eastern religion. Only 2% identified as atheist or agnostic.

If you are talking about U. S. forces, not sure where 90% comes from. Another country, may be true.

[katiesmuff]

For those who have been in combat and have seen first hand what it is like, likely begins to think no god would ever let this kind of horror happen to his flock

[tattoed_soldier]

As a soldier and athiest myself I'd have to say that it's because of the horrificthings you experience that you see people do to each other and the things that you do make it very hard to believe and they're all so begs the question that if there is a God and he allows these type of things to happen and in addition to that happen in his name that is not a entity to be seen in a Good light

[RedSauce]

Kind of hard to believe that “God has a plan” when you spend most of your time actively shooting holes into people

[Agape93]

Hard to believe in a loving and merciful god when you’re forced to shoot children whilst your friends legs get blown off with a landmine.

[ChrisMaster69]

@Agape93 there in lies the complexity faced by your average forces person.

While hugging the ground you think about every single deity that may want to listen.

Then when you have just seen your mates blown up and other stuff, you then realise that benevolence is not an aspect of religion and you then very much doubt the entire idea.

Realism is an amazing discovery.

[Agape93]

Exactly! A friend of mine describes it as “calling to every god and devil for help, and the universe giving you resounding silence. Best to believe in anger and determination.”

[Dinklex3]

What's your source?
Looks like those stats came out of your ass.

[NikolaiIvanov]

Well my father gave up orthodoxy after being in the Chechen war and then later Bosnia so I don't know the correct reason but I do think your argument stands valid.

[Talea]

95% of doctors believe in god?

Bull. Shit.

You're making up statistics and providing no sources.

[PaynefulPleasures]

Really that's news to me, it sounds like bs to me. That's like saying EMTs, police, firemen/women, doctors, nurses, anyone medical, etc, is atheist ✌️

[123lucy]

I'm an atheist and I have never heard that statistic, I have no idea.

[Jjpayne]

It's a good question 🤔 maybe it's because of their realistic sensible mindset. They beileve by what they experience and what they know. They are not the touchy feely types... They have a very certain way they view the world

[AdithyaR]

Probably cause they see some very disturbing stuff on the battlefield? That makes them question the existence of a higher power?

[Ez-Bri-Z]

I think you should probably recheck your stats there hun or at least provide the source.