[LottieDah]

My future son-in-law, a Marine, is an athiest who served in Fallujah. He lost five buddies there. He is also from the God-less state of California. Other than the lack of religion thing, he is a really great guy.

[GunRunner]

Hall's atheism became an issue soon after it became known. On Thanksgiving 2006 while stationed outside Tikrit, Hall politely declined to join in a Christian prayer before the holiday meal. The result was a dressing down by a staff sergeant who told him that as an atheist he needed to sit somewhere else.

In another episode, after his gun turret took a bullet that almost found an opening, the first thing a superior wanted to know was whether Hall believed in Jesus now, not whether he was okay.

This is un-American and stupid.

The staff sergeant and the superior should be reprimanded. There is no religious test for military service.

[wideawake]

What this story basically tells us is that Jeremy Hall has a lot of stories, and that one of his friends says that at least one of his stories are true.

My favorite line is this:

But he's now stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., having been returned stateside early because the Army couldn't ensure his safety.

I'd love to see the author substantiate that claim.

[tumblindice]

http://classicliberal.tripod.com/madison/memorial.html

[ontap]

I was in the Marine corps 1967-69. Some of the guys were self professed atheists don’t remember anyone having a problem with it. During boot camp they went to church with us because it was peaceful, cool and quiet. Only thing I recall was one of them said the subject on that particular day was interesting.All of them were respectful of our beliefs as far as I know as were we of theirs. I think there is more to this story than we are getting here.

[CatherinePPP]

I don’t know if this story is true or not but if it is, that sergeant is in the wrong. First, an atheist who is willing to risk his life to defend his country is still a patriot and deserves respect. Second if you meet an atheist with a good heart then this is exactly the WRONG way to bring him to Christ anyhow.

[contemplator]

The author seems to delight in attributing the actions of a few people to the entire Army and to portray those events as a pattern of overall discrimination.

The SPC made the claim that he was denied promotion 'because he wouldn't be able to pray with his troops". This may be a slight misrepresentation of how the promotion process work for an E4 hoping to make E5. This process is a point based system. In addition to a commanders evaluation, the soldiers physical fitness, education, Awards, etc.., the soldier appears in front of a board where his bearing knowledge of military subjects and appearance is judged an the solider is awarded points. The two areas in the process which are subjective are the commmanders evaluation and the boards evaluations. Both of these areas are clearly documented. If the soldier does not meet the minimum requirements the reason for this is also documented.

This is not to say that the commander and the review board members aren't skewing their evaluations and making up other reasons, it just means that they have to look harder for legitimate reasons to deny him a promotion. I once served with a soldier who was registered as a conscientious objector making them undeployable in most cases. You might think that this was a lethal situation in terms of the soldier getting promoted. Apparently it wasn't, the soldier made Master Sergeant (E-8) prior to retirement.

All I'm saying is that the author of the article may be painting the scenario with a much broader brush than is appropriate. Having been an officer in the Army, I know from personal experience that while there may be a few intolerant folks out there, this is not the case overall.

[stuartcr]

I thought it was only Christians that caught flack for their beliefs??!!!

[ASOC]

Yaunnnnnnn

Good morning USA!

THis stuff has been going on forever - I was stationed at Nellis in ‘72 (NO, dadgumit, 1972) - we had a SSgt in the motor pool who kept a bible on his desk. You knew that when you went to draw a vehicle, you were going to get a 20 min sermon. I was paid by the year so I didn’t care, one of my buds was in a hurry and told him to take his thumping elsewhere.

They invited each other out to the bck of the motorpool.

Mr bible thumper didn’t come back - and was later discharged.

I suspect Mr. “I dont believe in God” was just a little tooo in poeple faces - not a smart thing in a war zone - too many folks with loaded weapons don’t ya know.

I just finished a contract gig at the local base, if there is some sort of christian mifia, I sure didn’t see it.

Maybe someone is looking to hit it big in the Lawsuit Lottery?

[muawiyah]

Jeremy Hall is so tiresome and boring.

[TexasRepublic]

Most religious people aren’t that obnoxious, but you’ll find a few that are overzealous. At least, the Christian zealots are more likely to pray for the unbelievers than cut off their heads, so what’s the real harm in that?

[TalonDJ]

Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

The clear anti religious bigotry of a name like that blows this guys credibility completely out of the water. No sympathy.

[tumblindice]

I can’t find the Complaint, but here’s another article.
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/religious-suit-detailed.html

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I saw both this, and variations of this, in the military back in the 1980s. Bad officers and NCOs cannot resist coercion for any number of reasons, not just religion, so it is not a religious problem as such. It is, however, very prejudicial to good order and discipline.

However, that being said, I saw a *lot* more officers and NCOs who bent over backwards to follow the rules. Again, both with religion and other reasons.

One company commander regularly compelled her subordinate officers to enroll in non-military organizations she belonged to, as well as advancing her political opinions and trying to discourage soldiers in her unit from voting (which gives away her party affiliation). But she was also unethical with unit funds, and openly favored female and white personnel over males and ethnic minorities. In other words, she was rotten.

A more dangerous situation was dealt with immediately, because he was a chaplain. The only chaplain I ever heard of who was sectarian and offensive about it, and I got to see the event which led to his involuntary retirement.

While he had strayed in the past and been cautioned, mostly because of his strong anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish views, he made the mistake of shooting his mouth off before a large group of visiting foreign officers, which required extensive apologies from the post commander.

But he was completely different from any number of the other chaplains I met, who as a group were some of the most honorable, responsible officers I ever knew, and in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

In fact, based on the description in the article, I would guess that the unit chaplain was either a novice, or they were short a chaplain. Senior chaplains usually take a very dim view of religious prejudice or coercion in the ranks, and have no problem remonstrating with even senior officers who violate the rules.

And you have not been chewed out, until you have been chewed out by a chaplain.