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View Full Version : Fort Riley atheist soldier speaks out on lawsuit



LiberalNation
04-26-2008, 03:03 AM
Seems like a good person/soldier, too bad he's getting screwed by the system.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080426/ap_on_re_us/army_atheist_speaks


JUNCTION CITY, Kan. - Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he's been harassed and 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, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

"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 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. 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.

actsnoblemartin
04-26-2008, 03:06 AM
I agree, his commander had no right to ask his religious views, and the throw a hissy fit cause he didnt agree

by the way interesting website i found by accident tonight

http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/

http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/contactus.php


Seems like a good person/soldier, too bad he's getting screwed by the system.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080426/ap_on_re_us/army_atheist_speaks

rppearso
04-26-2008, 06:02 AM
I agree, his commander had no right to ask his religious views, and the throw a hissy fit cause he didnt agree

by the way interesting website i found by accident tonight

http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/

http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/contactus.php

Why is this such a surprise, thats what the military does they cry and stomp there feet when someone asserts themselves and does not act like a mindless idiot. Peoples personal boundries are stomped all the time in the military because there are so many dumb idiots in the military. What do you expect when you get a bunch of nimrods together in one institution and give that institution all sorts of authority over peoples lives. This is like shooting baby ducks in a bucket.

Missileman
04-26-2008, 09:29 AM
Why is this such a surprise, thats what the military does they cry and stomp there feet when someone asserts themselves and does not act like a mindless idiot. Peoples personal boundries are stomped all the time in the military because there are so many dumb idiots in the military. What do you expect when you get a bunch of nimrods together in one institution and give that institution all sorts of authority over peoples lives. This is like shooting baby ducks in a bucket.

Hey asshole! Having been in the military for 21 years and now in the civilian sector for 8, let me assure you that the dumbest grunt in the military is a fuckin' Einstein compared to the average civilian worker.

Nukeman
04-26-2008, 09:52 AM
Why is this such a surprise, thats what the military does they cry and stomp there feet when someone asserts themselves and does not act like a mindless idiot. Peoples personal boundries are stomped all the time in the military because there are so many dumb idiots in the military. What do you expect when you get a bunch of nimrods together in one institution and give that institution all sorts of authority over peoples lives. This is like shooting baby ducks in a bucket.
Whatever QUITER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you ever respond to ANYTHING that doesn't belittle the military??????

actsnoblemartin
04-26-2008, 04:08 PM
those so called mindless idiots are the reason you can post this.

:slap:


Why is this such a surprise, thats what the military does they cry and stomp there feet when someone asserts themselves and does not act like a mindless idiot. Peoples personal boundries are stomped all the time in the military because there are so many dumb idiots in the military. What do you expect when you get a bunch of nimrods together in one institution and give that institution all sorts of authority over peoples lives. This is like shooting baby ducks in a bucket.

rppearso
04-27-2008, 01:00 AM
Whatever QUITER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you ever respond to ANYTHING that doesn't belittle the military??????

When an individual military member does something honorable and stands up for themselves. There are honorable people in the military but the military system itself is anything but. Most of my comments are geared towards thoes in power in the military or thoes that fail to act honorably. If you want to be a calious a**hole that is dishonorable behavior.