[Strangler Lewis]

As to a secular value system, the story goes that the great sage Hillel was asked if/or said that he could teach the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Challenged to do it, he stood on one foot, recited the golden rule and declared, "That is the whole of the law. The rest is commentary. Go forth and learn." Since you are an agnostic, I assume you have no trouble agreeing that this moral principle--which sounds a lot more moral than enlightened self interest--predates its clever attribution to a divine source. I think the "self-evident truths" set out in the opening to the Declaration of Independence states some key principles as well (minus the endowment by the creator part).

I'm not sure that the Dorchester story is terribly useful in a world where our enemies blow themselves up for the greater bad all the time. Further, in "Band of Brothers," the point was made that the bond among the men was such that they killed themselves for each other all the time, without particular regard for the objective at hand and, presumably, without consideration of Judeo-Christian principles.

That said, I do wonder if the story really played out as we're led to believe: with angelic music and lighting and an exchange between Bobby Jordan and Pat O'Brien.

Sorry, son.
Dat's okay, fadda.
Here, take moin.
Tanks, fadda, I'll never ferget ya.

Or was there, perhaps, a bit more persuasion exerted on the chaplains?