CNN: Atheist soldier claims harassment
JUNCTION CITY, Kansas (AP) — 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. It wasn’t until 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.” . . .
This story doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen similiar scenarios through the eyes of my clients, who have been discriminated in little and big ways for having views that are unpopular when it comes to faith issues. SPC Hall in this story caught flack for being an atheist, but I’ve had clients catch grief for being Wiccans, for being Baptist (but not believing in war), and I’ve had clients catch flack just for questioning the theology that is pushed on them by the chaplains.
I think it is critical that the military follow the first amendment on both of the religion clauses — (1) free exercise — servicemembers should have the right to practice their faith as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others (a commander should not be proselytizing subordinates, at least when he or she is on the clock, even if proseltization is a religious duty for the commander), and (2) establishment – the military should not respect one religion over another, or push servicemembers to practice any faith.
And I think it should go without saying (but apparently it needs to be said), that the freedom of religion encompasses the freedom not to believe.
Anyway I’ll be rooting for SPC Hall in this fight.
For more information on this issue, go to: MilitaryReligiousFreedom.org
The USA is a really great country but until it abolishes the death penalty and stops requiring profession of a faith in god, pretty much from anybody but especially from politicians, it could not really call itself truly modern and free country.It’s simply embarrassing to be closer, in regard to those issues, to medievally minded governments like Saudi Arabia, Burma and the like than the other democracies in Europe, South America, Australia, Japan.
Kudos for Jeremy for “coming out” about his beliefs, or in this case, non-belief in God. We are force-fed religion in this country even though we are supposed to be secular state. One of the reasons the English left their homeland was because of religious persecution and yet we are doing the same thing here years later. How does being an atheist make one more amoral than someone who goes to church on Sundays and turns around and stabs his family and friends in the back…at least an atheist isn’t hypocritical. If atheist can respect those who have religious beliefs why can’t they get the same respect back? Whose the bigger person then?
Why is it that Christians always want to push their believes on every else. If there was no religion in the world, I think it would be a better place. 90% of the wars are cause by religion. You believe what you want to and let me believe, or not, in what I want to.
This man is not atheist , he is stupid.
This country is fanatic and fundamentalist
and you can’t wait they do something ion
other way . And he is a Lucky man ,because
kill him is aesy and normal. He is living
in America , and here christian- sionism
is the only way. He is stupid and he is
losing time and money.
I think it’s also important for everyone to remember that the military places people from all walks of life in one environment with very little adjustment, so there’s bound to be clashing of opinions and beliefs. Granted everyone should be respectful of eachother’s belief, but I believe this story has been blown way out of proportion simply because the unfortunate word “religion” got tossed in the mix. In my (admittedly few) years in the military, I’ve actually seen very very few instances of someone getting any sort of flack for a religious belief. I’ve been to other countries, I’ve worked with joint American military and foreign military forces in Europe and Africa, and I’ve witnessed harrassment on every level imaginable – from music preferences, to a bad haircut, to gay accusatins, to hobby choices, to questions of retardation, etc. While everyone gets ribbed and harrassed for anything imaginable under the sun, the truth is most people in the military could care less what your religious beliefs are, as long as you take care of your stuff. Join any branch of the military, you will hear some of the – for lack of a beter word – vilest things you’ve ever heard in your life. Conversations certainly haven’t catered to any one religion in the places I’ve been. I find it very hard to believe this Specialist was truly harrassed to the point that he “feared for his life” and had to be moved elsewhere, or that his advancement to his next rank is being based on his religious choice. That just sounds like bullcrap that was dramatized at the time and then thrown out there in this story to make it a bit juicier and sensational. And as far as being “ashamed” to profess being an atheist? I would venture to say 85% of the people I have encountered so far in the military have been atheist/non-religious/just didn’t care. Now if he’s an outspoken prick who belittles other people, or maybe is lazy and doesn’t do his job, or disrespects his authority, or perhaps just doesn’t do a good job of making friends, I could see him getting harrassed for that – I actually see those examples all the time – but it wouldn’t be because he’s an atheist, it would be because he’s either a douchebag or socially challenged (not saying he’s either, just throwing it out there as an example). While I don’t deny religious harrassment occurs and I disagree with religion being forced upon anyone, I simply don’t buy this story as truly being a “religious issue”. And I admit now I could be completely out of line and maybe this particular story is legit. The issues are still there and should be dealt with. But I don’t think allowing the media to catch these stories and bloat them beyond proportion helps anything either, it just stirs up controversy and makes for more juicy stories – which I suppose is all the media is looking for in the first place anyways.
As far as being an atheist in the military, it smacks directly in the face of America’s civil religion which had its meager beginnings during our own (un)civil war. It talks about “God & Country” and basically equates “dying for country the same as dying for God.” One must, however, realize that when you enlist in the military, you basically give up your right to live or your right to life. As a Vietnam vet and a historian, I know this all too well. As one North Carolina soldier is quoted as having said after he stacked his arms at Appomatox, “I don’t believe I will be able to love another country.”
However, as a people, we have been inculcated with some type of patriotism, which in many cases gives us the right (God-given or otherwise) to invade any country we feel like invading.
Atheist or no, will we ever be considered civilized when we no longer have to build war memorials???? That, I think, is the greater issue at hand.
I want to add that this is something that religious folks should back as well. The First Amendment rights of religious folks are at stake too. I don’t think most religious folks would like the idea of the military leadership deciding what religious beliefs or practices are and are not acceptable.
In fact, one of the worst ideas in the military is the office of the chaplain as being a government-paid position. I would much prefer that chaplains be volunteers sent by their respective churches than having the chaplains corps be paid by the government (and as such, feel that their ultimate loyalty is to the military since they are paid by the military, than to their faith traditions).
Conscience (be it religious or not) should be respected as the highest law of all. I think the First Amendment was written in part out of that belief.
In response to Judy (commenter #3) who said, “If there was no religion in the world, I think it would be a better place. 90% of the wars are cause by religion”
I agree that religion has been both a source of evil and good in the world. Many wars have been fought over religion. I don’t think though that 90% of wars have been. In fact at least in this century, wars have had much more to do with struggles over class, ideology and race, than to do with religion.
Even those wars that are supposedly fought over religion, usually are not. Classism is usually the real root cause. Religion is just used as a rallying cry to get folks excited to fight.