Though raised a Christian, Army Specialist Jeremy Hall, while stationed in Iraq, came to have different beliefs about the existence of God. He became an atheist. Little did he realize that while he, along with every other person who serves in our military forces, took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, some who took that oath did not take it to mean they had to support not having any religion at all. Specialist Hall had to be transferred out of Iraq due to threats he received because of his atheism. Even at his new assignment, Fort Riley, Kansas, the threats and intimidation continued. What I want to know is, how could so many people be ignorant about what religious freedom means?
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.
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5 Comments
April 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Sad. Just sad. When people forget the FIRST Ammendment. The freedom. But more importantly, that religion will not play a role.
April 26, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Really the way we treat soldiers in every aspect is criminal.
April 26, 2008 at 10:09 pm
The Founding Fathers were Diests, not Christians.
April 27, 2008 at 4:16 pm
While I was in the military, many of my American rights were infringed. Certainly it was well understood by all that Freedom of Speech was something we defended, not exercised until we left the service. But freedom to worship was held in high regard and I should know as I practiced a non-traditional, at least in the American sense, religion. But I was given time to meditate during basic training and certainly never had an officer attend an event and antagonize me publicly.
April 27, 2008 at 4:36 pm
[...] But apparently he received so many threats that they had to ship him to a new base. Found via The Zoo ala Pick Wayne’s [...]