[Vision2020] Atheistic Soldier Files Suit

[lfalen]

This does not compute to me. I was in the Army in the early 60,s. At that time thete was not a problem with anyone being an Atheist. It is hard for me to believe it is a problem now. If anything  it would be more likely things have moved in the other direction.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
Date: Mon, 05 May 2008 11:52:03 -0700
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Atheistic Soldier Files Suit

> >From the Army Times -
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
> Atheistic soldier files suit
> 
> Fort Riley spc. says he is being harassed for lack of faith 
> By John Milburn - The Associated Press
> Posted : May 12, 2008
> 
> Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Spc. Jeremy 
> Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism. 
> 
> But now stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., he is at the center of a legal 
> controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he�s being harassed and that 
> his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn�t believe in 
> God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates. 
> 
> �I�m not in it for cash,� Hall said. �I want no one else to go what I went 
> through.� 
> 
> Known as �the atheist guy,� Hall has been called immoral, a devil 
> worshipper and � just as severe to some soldiers � gay, none of which, he 
> says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and 
> paused while they prayed before meals. 
> 
> �I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That�s 
> what I believe everyone else should see,� he said. 
> 
> Hall, 23, was raised in a Protestant family in North Carolina and dropped 
> out of school before earning his GED. It wasn�t until after he joined the 
> Army that he began questioning religion, eventually deciding he couldn�t 
> follow any faith. 
> 
> But he feared how that would look to other soldiers. 
> 
> �I was ashamed to say that I was an atheist,� Hall said. 
> 
> It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall 
> was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective 
> shield. Afterward, Hall said, his commander asked whether he believed in 
> God. 
> 
> �I said, �No, but I believe in Plexiglas,�� Hall said. �I�ve never 
> believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I�m 
> worm food.� 
> 
> The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. 
> Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to 
> hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall�s allegations. 
> 
> Hall said he had had enough but feared he wouldn�t get support from 
> Welborn�s superiors. He turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military 
> Religious Freedom Foundation. 
> 
> Weinstein is the foundation�s president and a graduate of the Air Force 
> Academy. He had previously sued the Air Force for acts he said illegally 
> imposed Christianity on students at the academy, though that case was 
> dismissed. He calls Hall a hero. 
> 
> �The average American doesn�t have enough intestinal fortitude to tell 
> someone to shut up if they are talking in a movie theater,� Weinstein 
> said. �You know how hard it is to take on your chain of command? This 
> isn�t the shift manager at KFC.� 
> 
> Hall was in Qatar when the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 18 in federal court 
> in Kansas City, Kan. Other soldiers learned of it and he feared for his 
> own safety. Once, Hall said, a group of soldiers followed him, harassing 
> him, but no one did anything to make it stop. 
> 
> The Army told him it couldn�t protect him and sent him back to Fort Riley. 
> He resumed duties with a military police battalion. He believes his 
> promotion to sergeant has been blocked because of his lawsuit, but he is a 
> team leader responsible for two junior enlisted soldiers. 
> 
> No one with Fort Riley, the Army or Defense Department would comment about 
> Hall or the lawsuit. Each issued statements saying that discrimination 
> will not be tolerated regardless of race, religion or gender. 
> 
> �The Department respects (and supports by its policy) the rights of others 
> to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs,� 
> said Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department. 
> 
> All three organizations said existing systems help soldiers �address and 
> resolve any perceived unfair treatment.� 
> 
> Lt. Col. David Shurtleff, a Fort Riley chaplain, declined to discuss 
> Hall�s case but said chaplains accommodate all faiths as best they can. In 
> most cases, religious issues can be worked out without jeopardizing 
> military operations. 
> 
> �When you�re in Afghanistan and an [improvised explosive device] blows up 
> a Humvee, they aren�t asking about a wounded soldier�s faith,� Shurtleff 
> said. 
> 
> Hall said he enjoys being a team leader but has been told that having 
> faith would make him a better leader. 
> 
> �I will take care of my soldiers. Nowhere does it say I have to pray with 
> my soldiers, but I do have to make sure my soldiers� religious needs are 
> met,� he said. 
> 
> �I hope this doesn�t define me,� Hall said of his lawsuit. �It�s just 
> about time somebody said something.� 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
> Pro patria, 
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
> tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
> 
> -- Adlai E. Stevenson,
> Jr.
> 
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