Saying His Atheism Led to Threats

FORT RILEY, Kan. — When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.

But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Specialist Hall and another soldier about atheism, Specialist Hall wrote in a sworn statement. “People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!” Major Welborn said, according to the statement.

Major Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, according to the statement.

Last month, Specialist Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, filed suit in federal court in Kansas, alleging that Specialist Hall’s right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment had been violated and that he had faced retaliation for his views. In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers.

Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, declined to comment on the case, saying, “The department does not discuss pending litigation.”

Specialist Hall’s lawsuit is the latest incident to raise questions about the military’s religion guidelines.

To Specialist Hall and other critics of the military, the guidelines have done little to change a culture they say tilts heavily toward evangelical Christianity. Controversies have continued to flare, largely over tactics used by evangelicals to promote their faith. Perhaps the most high-profile incident involved seven officers, including four generals, who appeared, in uniform and in violation of military regulations, in a 2006 fund-raising video for the Christian Embassy, an evangelical Bible study group.

“They don’t trust you because they think you are unreliable and might break, since you don’t have God to rely on,” Specialist Hall said of those who proselytize in the military. “The message is, ‘It’s a Christian nation, and you need to recognize that.’

***********************

What are your opinions about this?

The 4th Crusade.

your posts are awesome smiless, and ALL come from the hearts of all, and all serve a GRAND purpose.....just for the record.....peace

Well thank you and you give great replies to all of them. I must say that these posts will always have difference of an opinion. It is good to see different perspectives of what people believe to be true or false. It broadens the mind and allows us to contemplate further for better understandings.

If we see this religion giving a violent reply over and over again then they can't say it is just somebody else. Just a bad seed. The effect of this Christian was to drum a voice for reason out of the military. The tactic is to use violent and threatening "warriors" up front so that a majority of Christians can claim that they are all about love. If this was really true their wouldn't be any stories like this one. Let alone incident after incident. Its time to see this violent and mean spirited belief system for what it really is.

The thought I had as I read the OP went something like this:

Where is the voice of the Christians of this country. The voices that should be raised in disdain of a private war? Where are the signs and the marches demanding our forces be returned home?

Could it be, there is a larger Christian agenda in those distant lands than what lurks in the mind of deviant overseerer (Bush)?

I believe this to be true Its mostly just hardcore evangelicals that want to fight this war.

Whaaaaaat!!?? Whatever..........

Kat