Controversy
On July 18, 2006, Blum made controversial remarks about atheist and agnostic soldiers while addressing an NAACP convention. Blum said "Agnostics, atheists and bigots suddenly lose all that when their life is on the line....Something that they lived their whole life believing gets thrown out the door, and they grasp the comrade next to them, and they don’t care what color their skin is, and they don’t care when they pray". Atheists and agnostics objected to Blum's equating their lack of religious belief to bigotry and his paraphrased repetition of the "no atheists in foxholes" assertion. Several atheist organizations complained and called for an apology. Additionally, several soldiers filed formal equal opportunity complaints and at least one officer resigned his commission over Blum's alleged bigotry and alleged illegal handling of formal EO complaints. Blum never apologized for his remarks and the Department of the Army Inspector Generals Office concluded that "Blum's remarks, though perhaps insensitive, did not rise to the level of an offense".
Read more about this topic: H. Steven Blum
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