Yes Virginia, there are atheists in foxholes… and they don’t always receive equal or unbiased treatment in the military. That’s why organizations like the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) was created to represent them and speak on their behalf. On February 1st and 2nd, residents of Los Angeles and Ventura counties will have the opportunity to hear MAAF president Jason Torpy do just that.
The title of Mr. Torpy’s talk will be Collaboration vs. Litigation: Reforming America's Military.
It will be given first on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Conejo Valley Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 3327 Old Conejo Road, Newbury Park. The talk will be repeated Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd. (at Vineland), North Hollywood.
From the announcement by the Greater Los Angeles chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (GLA-AUSCS):
The Greater Los Angeles chapter of American United for Separation of Church and State will be hosting Jason Torpy, president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) for a special presentation of religious abuse and privileging in the US military at 7pm on Thursday, February 2 at the Mayflower Club, located at 11110 Victory Blvd. at Vineland in North Hollywood.
Jason has been working with hundreds of enlisted soldiers over the past several years to assist them in defending their First Amendment rights and in addressing religious excesses that they have claimed have been inflicted upon them by overzealous military chaplains and commanders who support them. MAAF has helped set up a dozen MASH (Military Atheists and Secular Humanists) chapters in military bases across the US and has worked in coalition with groups such as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Americans United, and the ACLU in combating military religious proselytization.
Jason Torpy enlisted in the Army in 1994 as an Intelligence Interceptor. After earning top graduate honors from two intelligence training programs, he was offered direct admission to the United States Military Academy. Upon graduation, Mr. Torpy was commissioned as an officer and served for five years in Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq with the Army's 1st Armored Division. He left the service in 2005 at the rank of Captain to pursue an MBA. He now serves as the Executive Director of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), a civil-rights organization that advocates for the rights of nontheists in the US military.
The US military has recently been discovered to be condoning or even supporting an unprecedented amount of proselytizing events and activities by Christian evangelicals over the past decade. Jason will be speaking about recent church-state developments in the US military, including a "spiritual fitness" test that rates soldiers as "spiritually
deficient" if they don't believe in God and pray regularly; and the recent challenge against a Christian-themed concert by the Billy Graham Ministries required for all soldiers at Fort Bragg, NC to attend. Please attend our event to learn how the First Amendment is being exercised in the US military.
Both events are FREE to the public. Further information can be found at www.AU-LosAngeles.blogspot.com.
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