NO ATHEISTS ALLOWED

Most of you reading my blog are U.S. citizens. 

You are familiar with the Constitution which protects us from various forms of discrimination, including one’s religious beliefs…or lack of them.

Well, I recently read about a unit of U.S. soldiers who were the subject of blatant and unashamed religious discrimination.  They were told they could not serve on a certain mission if they were atheists.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  Well, neither had I until I read Hampton Sides’ book, “Ghost Soldiers: the Forgotten Epic Story of World War II’s Most Dramatic Mission.”

As the story unfolds, we learn that the survivors of the Bataan Death march were being held by the Japanese in a squalid prison camp near Calasio, the Philippines.  A special unit was formed to rescue them….120 of the best trained men in the U.S. Army.  Colonel Mucci was called upon to lead this special unit.  Before they departed on the mission, he made the following speech to these Ghost Soldiers.  This is when the discrimination against atheists took place.

“It's going to be extremely dangerous,” he said.  “Some of you might not make it back.” He explained only the essence of it - - the details would come later.  

The following morning at dawn, the men of C Company, along with one platoon from F Company, were to head east in a convoy of trucks to a little place on the brink of the American lines called Guimba.  From there, they would walk thirty miles through enemy territory in a stealth operation considered so important and yet held in such tight secrecy that no one else besides General Krueger himself would know about it.  There was a prison camp, he said, full of the last ill and stick-figured American survivors form Bataan and Corregidor.  The task before the Rangers was to liberate these prisoners before the Japanese slaughtered them all.  “You’re going to bring out every last man,” he said, “even if you have to carry them on your backs.”

It was a plum assignment, but the risks were immense.  As Mucci put it, they’d be “behind the eight ball” for the duration of the raid.  The area around the camp was infested with enemy troops, he said.  He urged anyone who had doubts to drop out then and there.  He especially recommended that married men withdraw from the mission.  Such was the difficulty of the operation that he wanted every last member of the expedition to be a volunteer.  Mucci said, “I only want men who feel lucky.”

The assembled Rangers studied each other in mute amazement.  They all felt lucky.  No one dropped out.

“One other thing,” Mucci said.  “There’ll be no atheists on this trip.”  Upon adjourning the meeting, he said he wanted every last one of them to meet with the chaplains and pray on their knees.  Services would be held in a half hour.  “I want you to swear an oath before God,” he told them.  “Swear that you’ll die fighting rather than let any harm come to those prisoners.”

Pivoting with a flourish, Little MacArthur bid his men adieu and left them to their swirling thoughts.  Then all 120 of them, even the cynics and doubting Thomas's in the ranks, went to church.

No complaints were filed that day.  But please, don’t tell the ACLU.  I’m not sure what the statutes of limitation are on something like this.  Sometimes belief in God and prayer just sounds like the right thing to do, even though it is unconstitutional.  Know what I mean?