"Praise God for our courageous firefighters and police force"

I've been away with my family for a week now, driving through BC and Washington State. We stayed a night in Vernon, two nights in Osoyoos, and are now in Seattle for four nights. I'm always a fan of travelling and visiting new places.The drive was beautiful, and I've gotten to spend some quality time with my family.

Unfortunately, we were travelling through areas heavily affected by forest fires. Signs of the fires weren't too obvious for the first few days of our trip, but time went on, particularly during our second day in Osoyoos, it became quite clear this was not an issue to be taken lightly. There was a day when we were entirely shrouded in smoke, unable to see more than a few hundred feet into the distance, as ash fell from the sky. The entire atmosphere was somewhat apocalyptic.

When we crossed over the border into the U.S., the fires were even worse. We were diverted off the highway to pass through evacuated ghost town so as to avoid open flames upon the hillside. Less than an hour after we passed through, the entire area was shut off and we would have been forced to remain in BC. For the next several hundred miles we drove through smoke so thick that I continually had to remind myself it wasn't just a foggy day.

That isn't fog. That's smoke.

The devastation, while mostly confined to nature so far, is immense, and the risk these fires pose to peoples' livelihoods cannot be underestimated. Entire towns are at risk of going up in flames. I have the utmost respect for the firefighters and emergency services helping to deal with the situation, and my heart aches for the families of the three firefighters killed a few days ago, as well as the others who have been injured. These people are brave, selfless, especially given that many of them are simply involved in firefighting to fund school and other ventures. I have endless admiration for these people.

And so, perhaps, one can see why I was a little irked when I came across a sign, in a church just outside of Osoyoos, reading "PRAISE GOD FOR OUR COURAGEOUS FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE FORCE".  I'm sure that anyone who knows me--indeed, anyone who has ever brought up the subject of religion around me--will know where I'm going with this.

God should not be the main source of praise for the courage of the firefighters and police officers. the FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS are the ones deserving of praise!

Yes, perhaps He deserves a cursory nod of gratitude as basically anything can be attributed to an omnipotent being if one believes in such things. However, people should not be displaying roadside signs attributing human bravery to any kind of higher power. This sort of praise should be limited to like-minded individuals, not brandished, rather insultingly in my opinion, where it will achieve maximum exposure, and where the emergency crews themselves will see it. To do so undermines the real world sacrifice these people are making. The men and women fighting these fires are being injured and killed simply because they want to help, not because of heavenly powers.

 I'm sure some of the emergency crew members themselves would attribute their bravery to God, and that is their right. They are the ones making the sacrifice and doing the hard work, so I will not argue with them. The rest of us, however, should be praising the people themselves. Do not thank an abstract, invisible force before you thank the real individuals sacrificing themselves for the good of others. As far as us laypeople are concerned, these people do not do this job because God sent them, or because He compelled them to; they do it because they are brave, selfless human beings willing to put the greater good before their own safety.

They are the ones who deserve the praise.

Now, one could argue I have no right to be upset by this sign given that I am neither a firefighter or a police officer, and nor a churchgoer. These people would bring up a valid point. I am, indeed, none of these things. I am an opinionated person who was rubbed the wrong way by brave individuals being duped out of their well earned praise. They get so little for their hard work, surely we should not also try to take our gratitude away from them as well.

I realize that this sort of thing is not uncommon. But to see this straight after reading about the deaths of three brave firefighters really made me angry. I'm an atheist and I have very big problems with organized religion, so my opinions are biased. So I appeal to logic and human decency. How can anyone defend praising an abstract force--whatever their religious beliefs--before praising REAL HUMAN SACRIFICE? If I were a firefighter, police officer, or member of any emergency service, I would be incredibly insulted by this sign.

Any firefighters or policeman who would disagree with me? As always, I value any kind of feedback. Thanks for reading!