I follow quite a few military pages on Facebook. Being a veteran, I feel a great deal of kinship with those that have served. They’re my tribe. Lately, however, it seems like there’s a drift. There’s a new tribe forming, new lines being drawn.

The destroyers are making their way in to the military. When did it become chic to attack someone’s religion? I understand that people’s beliefs differ, even within the same denomination. Belief and faith are very personal things. As an atheist myself, I may not understand or agree with a person’s faith, but I respect their right to have it. They can’t change my mind (although many have tried) and I don’t try to change theirs.

Someone’s religion, belief, faith, what ever you want to call it, has little or no bearing on my dealing with them. If it does, then it’s possible a problem can arise, but normally nothing comes of it. I have yet to meet someone that won’t work with me because of my beliefs, and I have yet to meet someone I can’t work with because of theirs.

The thought of attacking someone due to their religion is personally offensive to me. (The notable exception to this is if they’re weaponizing their belief to hurt others.) Attacking someone due to their beliefs opens your own beliefs to attack. I have no problem discussing or even debating religion, but I won’t attack or belittle someone for having a differing belief system. I guess it’s the idea of treating others as you want to be treated. Have we lost that?

Being a godless heathen myself, I’m grateful to live in a society that is mainly a Christian culture. The current trend of tearing down our culture will end badly. I’m certain of that. We have created a society that is accepting of most everything. There are limits, but to have a functioning society, you need limits. There must be lines that can’t be crossed. Erasing those lines eventually destroys the foundations of the culture. Once that happens, it will collapse.

The point being missed by many of those trying to destroy or disrupt our society is that they will be the first victims of the collapse. They will bear the brunt of the violence that will follow. And believe me, there will be violence. I would even go so far as to call it righteous.

What I find strange is that the destroyers don’t seem to have a coherent goal in mind. And if they do, it’s not a single goal. It seems as though the only common goal they have is to watch the world burn. Each small group seems to have their own plan and their own goal. Occasionally, you can witness them clashing with each other because the only thing that seems coordinated is the destruction. Not the who or what or why. Some are calling for anarchy, some for a near police state. They want rights abolished, or meaningless new rights granted. Or unlimited acceptance while not tolerating differing views.

I suppose we shall eventually see the endgame and how it pans out for the destroyers. I doubt it’ll be what they want, because as I said, I don’t believe they know what they want themselves. In the meantime, I would like to see military members, current, prior, and retired, to respect each other. There may again come a time when you’re relying on that person again.