Posted on 04/27/2008 4:10:46 PM PDT by forkinsocket
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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If everything in the article is true, and it’s a big if, then not should Specialist Hall clean up in court, but it looks like there is a major house cleaning needed in the military. Now, I suspect there is another side to this story, and I’d really like to hear it.
Funny how they not only expect to be able to say anything they want but expect to be honored for their ideas.
America is a Christian nation, get used to it.
There are practicing Wiccans and Muslims in the Army. Yet this Major is going to risk his career to harass Atheists.
Right...
It’ll all come out in court.
He was sent home early from a tour in Iraq and they are suing.
LOL!
***I’m raising the BS flag. Not just because it’s the New York Times...
There are practicing Wiccans and Muslims in the Army. Yet this Major is going to risk his career to harass Atheists.***
I will agree with you on this. BS! I knew several self-proclaimed atheists in the military back in the 1960’s and they were not harrassed for it. They did seem to have bad attitudes though.
I’ve seen far too many zealot missionaries as officers in the military for my tastes. My last unit commander was just that type.
Nice guy outside of that, but once the ‘Praise Jesus’ button was pressed... it was time to run for the hills.
So this really isn’t all hard to believe.
I don't believe this guy is up to what your measuring.
Do you have a "domestic fowl fecal matter detector"?
No need to sue the army, just tell them to go to hell!:)
Sad, but when I saw “NYT”, my belief-O-meter just wouldn’t register. We’ll see what happens.
He was sent home early from a tour in Iraq and they are suing.
Perhaps he was threatened by his fellow soldiers because he was a pain in the rump or even dangerously incompetent.
Me too. However my "Baloney-Meter" was off the charts!
...well, the thing is the foxhole atheist is an “endangered specie.”
No, America is a nation that is predominantly Christian, not a Christian nation
Really? So who got sent home from your unit?
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I'm telling you he got all Jesus on me! Send me home!!!
A lot of people around here don't think there should be either.
Whether or not we’re a Christian nation or not, has nothing to do with it. If this soldier’s story is true, which I doubt, then heads should roll.
What I personally suspect, and I’ll freely admit that it’s without proof is that this guy was not just an atheist but a confrontational anti-religionist. The two are not the same, not at all.
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