[Buddha-l] Batchelor

[Richard Hayes]

On May 17, 2010, at 7:41 PM, JKirkpatrick wrote:

> In fact,  it is compulsory if you
> are running for public office to tell all that you are a believer
> in god,  "his" mercy and blessings on the USA, and attend
> services regularly with your dear wife and children.

When I was a wee child, my father showed me his identity tags from the US Army, in which he served during the Second Wasteful War. Next to the word "religion" was written a very long word. I asked him to read it to me. The word was Zoroastrian. I asked him what was, and he explained a Zoroastrian was some sort of sun worshiper. (He was a geologist, not a comparative religionist.) I asked if we were Zoroastrians. He said no, but that when he was going through the induction process into the military, he was asked his religion. "I'm an atheist," he said. He was told he couldn't be identified as an atheist on his dog tags, because the purpose of recording a soldier's religion was so people who found his body would know what kind of funeral ceremony to give him. So my father said "In that case, I'd like to be buried by a Zoroastrian chaplain." Maybe someday I can talk him into writing his memoirs, "Confession of a Zoroastrian atheist."