Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Fort Riley soldier sues Defense Department over religious freedom
From the AP:
FORT RILEY, Kan. - A soldier who unsuccessfully tried to hold a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing the Defense Department, claiming his right to religious freedom was violated.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges a pattern of practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. It was filed Monday, the 220th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. It names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Maj. Paul Welborne.
According to the filing, Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier assigned to Fort Riley's 97th Military Police Battalion, received permission to distribute flyers around his base in Iraq for a meeting of atheists and non-Christians. When he tried to convene the meeting, Hall claims, Welborne stepped in, threatening to file military charges against Hall and block his reenlistment.
Hall is getting support from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. According to the news article, this is the "first of many such suits to come." Mikey Weinstein, president of the MRFF, said:
"We're going to expose the pernicious practice and pattern of these massive violations of the Constitution. That we had to go to this extent is just a heinous disgrace that defies any possible explanation."
There have been repeated reports of a fundamentalist infiltration of the US military at all levels, from the Pentagon on down. Now, having people of faith in the military isn't a problem as such. Having the military in the hands of a religious cabal is an entirely different matter. "God's Warriors" is a phrase more suitable to some Taliban-like government than one based on the ideals of democracy.
Jim Downey
(Hat tip to Clay!)
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I've seen nothing to
I've seen nothing to indicate that Christians were *excluded* from the meeting. Just "not invited." In fact, it seems an odd conclusion to jump to, that the poor little Christians, ever the discriminated-against minority, doncha know, were "excluded".
Anyone who thinks that, in the US military, Christians constitute a discriminated-against minority, has never served.
Just FYI...
...sorry I hadn't responded to any of the comments in this thread; shortly after posting it for some reason my ISP started having problems accessing UTI, and we just got it back a day and a half later.
I'm sure that there's a priest out there somewhere willing to take credit for this due to the power of prayer. ;)
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
For which
For blocking it, for restoring it? Or both?
Blocking, of course.
Naturally they'd want to shut us down. However, I sent a donation to an atheist organization, and they interceded by sacrificing a small child...
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Site trouble
UTI has been down repeatedly over the past two days; are you sure it's all your ISP?
-Col.
Well...
...chatted with Brent about it, he couldn't find any problems with the site or host. Determination here seemed to indicate that it was a problem with CenturyTel (our ISP), since other sources here in town didn't have any difficulty at the same time we couldn't gain access.
Did others have problems as well?
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
More problems
Jim, I see no one else has responded affirmatively, but I've continued having problems even today. I've not been able to get on all morning. Even earlier than the past two to three days, sometimes the site wouldn't come up, but would give me some kind of strange code page that was associated with UTI, change the favicon on both the command line and in Favorites, and maybe other oddities. Just in case you want to forward this to Brent....
-Col.
Jim, do you know...
...more of the details of this story?
Before going on as to what I'm wondering with that question, let me state first of all that I'd have to agree with Weinstein that such isn't Constitutional.
But I'm wondering if you know whether or not it was solely Christians that were excluded? It says that Hall was holding a "meeting of atheists and non-Christians". If Christians were the only group excluded (something I doubt, but raise the question just in case) I can see how a court could potentially hold that to be discriminatory. Do you have more info that would clarify this?
Thanks.
-Col.
More Info
This was originally posted about a month ago at Dispatches from the Culture Wars as a email from someone who heard about the meeting second hand. Based on the last paragraph of the post this email was probably at least partially responsible for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation getting involved.
From what's in that email the meeting was associated with a group called Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. I'm guessing the writer asked what the freethinkers part meant and either got a bad answer or oversimplified that into non-Christian.
McMillan
Thanks~
I must say (unless it turns out that there has been some kind of miscommunication) that it doesn't sound Constitutional and that MRFF was well within its rights. Fair is fair under the law.
-Col.
I wish him all the luck in
I wish him all the luck in the world but I fear it may be an uphill battle all the way. When I was in the military, I was given the option(?)of "No Pref" instead of Atheist as they claimed that there was no such thing.
Account
I'm glad that he's filed a lawsuit and I hope it goes well for him. This definitely is an issue that needs to be addressed in the armed forces.