I thought this was a very interesting article. Thoughts?


At Speicher base in Iraq, US Army Spec. Jeremy Hall got permission from a chaplain in August to post fliers announcing a meeting for atheists and other nonbelievers. When the group gathered, Specialist Hall alleges, his Army major supervisor disrupted the meeting and threatened to retaliate against him, including blocking his reenlistment in the Army.

Months earlier, Hall charges, he had been publicly berated by a staff sergeant for not agreeing to join in a Thanksgiving Day prayer.

On Sept. 17, the soldier and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) filed suit against Army Maj. Freddy Welborn and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, charging violations of Hall's constitutional rights, including being forced to submit to a religious test to qualify as a soldier.


LINK

When the group gathered, Specialist Hall alleges, his Army major supervisor disrupted the meeting and threatened to retaliate against him, including blocking his reenlistment in the Army

Sounds like that is a violation of our constitution, though I don't know how that applies to our military.

I believe the case has gotten pretty big. Also, it would be illegal (and will be brought up during trial from what I understand) for the major to attempt to block Hall's re-enlistment (which he did try to do) based on his religious affiliation.

Yeah I'm sure that is Bush's idea for sure.....Back when Bush ran the last election his campaign supporter had to sign an affidavit that they would only vote for him.


I wonder if any Republicans are doing that this time around

Atheists and other nonbelievers deserve evey right all of us have. To say they can't have the right to assemble sounds odd.

sglaine wrote:Yeah I'm sure that is Bush's idea for sure.....Back when Bush ran the last election his campaign supporter had to sign an affidavit that they would only vote for him.


I wonder if any Republicans are doing that this time around

Good question and I would say it will depend on which of the boys gets the nomination. If Rudy is the lucky one, there will probably be no such affidavit.

When I read this story and then hear right wingers talk about how "Christians are losing rights", it really makes me wonder what they think their "rights" are.

Thanksgiving? Not really Christian, it's about as Christian as Christmas (which to the uninformed seems Christian, it's not it's really Catholic with pagan influences).

Anyways I would think that Hall's supervisor would get his nuts chopped off for trying to block a soldier's re-enlistment for trivial reasons, especially when the Army is hurting for bodies.

Hiya Rup! How's things going for you? OK, I agree, there is no excuse for forcing religionj on anyone and then using it in a re-enlistment thing is just sad.

Good seeing as how I'm no longer in Kuwait.

Something to think about. When I was in Kuwait Ramadan started, on like the 12th or so. They made us do certain things to try and be as non-offensive as possible to our hosts. We weren't supposed to eat, smoke, or drink (except water) outside.