Atheist soldier sues Army

Thank doorknob, if not amen, to Spc. Jeremy Hall. The Iraq vet is suing the Army for violating his First Amendment rights:

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.

Major Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, according to the statement.

Indeed, Hall was sent home in November. So now, he is suing, with the help of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Welborn, for his part, says, “I’d love to tell my side of the story because it’s such a false story.”

Right. As the story points out, this is part and parcel of military culture. Hey, Welborn, you want to be part of a religiously propagandizing military? I think Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army is recruiting.

The story notes that civilian courts have been reluctant to intervene in military affairs. That is ridiculous, and I hope this changes that.

For more on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, visit its website.