So today in my email someone tried to steer me to a job opening as local coordinator (for Tinker AFB) for MAAF — Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. They like folks over 55 with social media experience and an ability to do outreach. I chuckled as I read the description.
Here’s the thing: I could do the job, and I’m quite willing to help military people facing religious pressure. Boy, do I know how it feels to be harassed by evangelical zealots! In fact, the most obnoxious and ornery military folks I know are some brand of Pentecostal/Charismatic, and they are all too pushy about their religion. So I can see the point of MAAF, because there is this nasty incestuous synergy within pro-military right-wing religious fanatics.
The major problem with MAAF is that it draws some of the most spitefully antagonistic evangelical atheists. I have no problem with the freethinkers part, but those who seem to speak for Western atheists these days are downright mean. So while I could do the work they need done, and with a full and free conscience supporting their interests, they would probably harass me just as bad as the religious fanatics. Despite my long experience and savvy with religious zealotry in the military and my full desire to honestly protect them, they would never tolerate me.
Sometimes I think the two opposing groups deserve each other.
