Allegiance Reimbursement: Fill & Download for Free

I had a reservation in Augusta, GA earlier in this year with Hertz. My flight details were in the reservation. I got the e-mail saying they had upgraded me to a Volvo S90 (it’s GOOD to be President’s Circle). My flight was supposed to arrive at 10:50pm. Technically Hertz at that airport closed at 11pm, but again, I had my details in the reservation (got into Cincinnati five hours late one time, three hours after Hertz was supposed to close and there was a Hertz bus waiting for JUST ME at the airport exit). My flight was a few minutes delayed, and landed right at 11. Took me *maybe* five minutes to get my planeside bag and walk to the Hertz counter. Which was closed up tight. Needless to say, I was a *tad* unhappy about that situation. Mind you, I am a top-tier frequent renter with Hertz. I called reservations, who of course, were completely useless. I ended up taking an Uber to my hotel, and back to the airport in the morning to pick up a car. And they had already given away that lovely S90. I ended up getting the rental for free, and my uber charges reimbursed by Hertz corporate. The manager at the airport was quite apologetic, and supposedly the person on duty that night was fired for leaving when they had confirmed reservations still in the air (I was not the only one on that flight).But it was one of several nails in the coffin of my allegiance to Hertz, and over the summer I switched to National with a status match. Which sucks, because their program is actually not as good in a lot of ways, but I need to be able to depend on there being a car waiting for me at the end of a flight.

Wording of the question when I answered: What is the benefit atheists get promoting atheism?For me, it is primarily defensive. The United States of America only cast off its servitude to Protestant Christianity about sixty years ago.When I was young, Christian “Blue Laws” were in effect. Businesses other than food service and pharmacies were closed on Sunday. Movies were closed on Sunday. In my home state of Pennsylvania all bars and liquor stores were closed on Sunday.In the public schools of Pennsylvania the school day started with all children reciting the Christian Lord’s Prayer, followed by a student reading a few verses from the Christian Bible. “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, but that came after I left for college.This ended with a series of Supreme Court decisions in cases brought on appeal to them from the ’40s through the ‘60s.As should be obvious, the United States was a somewhat hostile environment for nonbelievers in my youth, and it still is to some extent.As a naval officer, my dog tags bore a P for Protestant, since I was neither Catholic (C) nor Jewish (J) and they did not have an A for Atheist. (Apparently they do now.)Until the 1960s, “separation of church and state” primarily meant that government could not reimburse or subsidize taxpayers who chose to send their children to {gasp} Catholic parochial schools.And it’s still going on. My understanding is that the Vice President of the United States subscribes to Dominion Theology (Wikipedia), “a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians based on their personal understandings of biblical law.” This I’ll fight to my dying breath.Here’s the absolute truth: As long as they keep it to themselves, it bothers me no more that someone chooses to worship and pray than it would if they chose to play golf in Sunday morning. I simply do not do either.But . . .When they bring their superstitious beliefs and their list of “god-given” rules into my personal space, insisting that I should do as they do, they become my enemy.Some Christians spread lies and negative innuendo about atheists from their pulpits and websites. Christian Apologists are quite willing to say things about atheists that they know (or should know) are untrue, and to use fallacious logic (which they must know is false) to demean unbelievers and comfort the foolish.The difference between the members of the Westboro Baptist Church and the average evangelical, intelligent-design, creationist Christian is one of degree, not kind. They both want the same thing: Others to follow their religious rules.Therefore . . .When I answer a question about atheists, gods, or religion, I’m not trying to change the belief of the person who asked the question. I'm playing to the kids in the bleachers -- freethinkers, nonbelievers, doubters, skeptics, the undecided, and the questioning children of theists -- to provide accurate information and let them know they are not alone in their dissent. Therefore, I try to correct mistaken ideas about atheism and counter myth with reality, dogma with reason, superstition with science, sophistry with logic, ignorance with fact, and rudeness with unfailing politeness.Every now and then I get a PM from someone who has read some of my answers on Quora, saying, “Thank you.”That’s the benefit.Answer shared to The Best of Barry, a blog I created to store answers that might be appropriate for a book I'm trying to write, so they can be easily retrieved.And to the blog Basic Atheism.

Operations- this includes a variety of activities, from goods consumed during services, activities to support the needy, to youth excursions.Facilities- As much as people decry lavish buildings, well-constructed buildings are much more comfortable and long lasting than being exposed to the elements and limited to daylight hours.Staff salaries- this varies based on what are in the first two categories, but it is common for these needs to go beyond what volunteers can reasonably staff. After having been involved with this on the financial side, I can attest that there is a great deal involved that most people have little recognition of, excepting when the building is closed for maintenance or similar situations.Leadership travel and expenses- local church service usually is expensive in time, but some church leaders spend considerable money on the road. In those cases, it is appropriate that some or all of their expenses when acting as an officer of the church be reimbursed.Leadership salaries- if leadership cannot support themselves off of investments and spend so much time in the work of the church that they cannot support themselves through regular employment, then an argument can be made for providing a stipend for living expenses.But none of these is the most driving reason. Sacrifice builds faith and allegiance in a ways that are difficult to accomplish. As such, having a religion that asks members to sacrifice is going to make them into better members through building their faith and allegiance.This is undesirable if the religion is false, but from the perspective of the religion, very favorable.