Soldier's life threatened for atheist beliefs INC Video

Soldier's life threatened for atheist beliefs INC Video

rawstory.com

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was a Baptist before he served two tours of duty in Iraq, but in the course of his service he became an atheist and now says he no longer believes in anything. That, he alleges, led to discrimination against him in the military.
After the lawsuit was filed, Hall received death threats from other soldiers. The army assigned him a full-time bodyguard and then sent him home early from Iraq. Although Hall is still in the Army, he says he chance at a military career is over, and he will be leaving the service next year.

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I'm having a little trouble swallowing this.

A soldier, serving in Iraq had his life threatened by other soldiers because of his lack of belief in christianity (or any other religion)?

He now says that he was singled out because the US armed forces are a christian organisation - presumably a mindest that has been generated in order to further intensify the war in iraq by making it a religious crusade - and is suing the DoD for breaching his 1st amendment rights.

I've had the conversation before about the separation of church and state, which although laid down by law, is in reality a very blurred line (when was the last time a politician was voted in on a platform of atheism?) and now, according to this soldier, that same line is becoming increasingly blurred in the military, to the extent that he was assigned a bodyguard after becoming an atheist.

Is this a deliberate tactic in order to mount a modern crusade and war of religious ideology?

Acoording to this soldier, the answer MAY be yes...

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If they do this to each other imagine how they treat the Muslims..

I mean . This is just petty . And no one in the military is outraged . Seeing as this is probably the 9th or so story i have heard like this .

Our own frigging guys.

Evangelism is alive and well in the military, no doubt about that. I for one can say I'm not surprised.

Think about, the military is all about aggression and solidarity. In order to be considered a good patriot, one must profess their undying faith in God. Should anyone dare rock the boat and decide to think differently...

Well, they must be derided and set upon as an example to all other soldiers that might entertain thoughts of religious dissent. In this twisted logic to deny one's faith is to deny one's country.

This incident is most unfortunate. Just makes you wonder, how many similar incidents go unreported.

I personally have not seen anything quite like this.

I was in Iraq in 2003 in a combat unit(Armor) and in Afghanistan 2005-2006 in combat support(MPs) and we had a wide variety of people including Atheists, Muslims and Pagans. We never had such an issue. I had some semi trivial issues with people, coming from a Jewish background I dont take holocaust humor, jew used as a verb, etc. as being very funny. I dont remember any of the atheists catching any flack. The wiccan guys were teased at times, but thats it.

Maria-stardust;

I hate to burst your bubble, but you do not swear an oath to christ in the military, you swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States. The only times I went to church was to get away from the drills and that was only in basic training.

I do find this extremely disturbing though. This jacka$$ of a president has so crossed the line on so many things I find it difficult to believe this is not coming from the whorehouse, I mean white house.

Mikeboyd;

What armour unit were you in. I was in Gtrp. 2/3 ACR and B. co. 2/32 Armour. These were 20 years ago but at least I am not the only DAT here.

edit: had a similar story but decieded not to share it sorry.

[edit on 9-7-2008 by hILB3rT]

While I am an atheist, I do feel everyone has their own right to follow which ever God they wish. That being said, I don't think the person has the right to sue the DoD because they were discriminated against. The only people he can sue are the persons invlolved.

There is no way he will win the lawsuit because the military doesn't care what religion you are. (I know... I'm in the military) The DoD never said he had to be Christian. Seems to me like he just wanted to go home. Yes, there are some bad apples, but you can't hold everyone accountable for them. I'm atheist and most of the people I'm friends with are as well. We debate religion at work a lot and nobody ever feels threatened. Perhaps that's the difference between the Air Force and other branches though.


Bottom line, if he needs to sue someone, he should sue the people that threatened him, not the whole DoD.

There caertainly are a number of stories like this coming out now, I wonder if it will be a major issue in the coming years if Mcain wins. We will just have to see.....