fayfreethinkers.com

Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.

He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.

Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.

His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety. Watch why Hall says his lack of faith almost got him killed »

In March, Hall filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, among others. In the suit, Hall claims his rights to religious freedom under the First Amendment were violated and suggests that the United States military has become a Christian organization.

"I think it's utterly and totally wrong. Unconstitutional," Hall said.

Hall said there is a pattern of discrimination against non-Christians in the military.

Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else.


See here.

Doug wrote:...and suggests that the United States military has become a Christian organization. [/url]

DAR
Lots of evidence can be shown to back up the claim of at least a strong tendency in this direction ("strong tendancy" is too weak but I'm in a hurry). We need someone to do a presentation on this important topic. People have no idea how bad this problem has gotten.

D.

I met Jeremy Hall this last weekend. He spoke for the Kansas City Community of Reason last sunday. Judy and I were up there for our anniversary and we took in a couple of freethought meetings as well. He descibed the incident where a commanding officer broke up his meeting. And that the officer said that athiests have no morals so it's not good for morale. (morale !=moral)

(We also saw another speaker who I don't want to tell you right now, because I want to wait for the pictures to come in. You guys are going to be sooo jealous.)

All,

Here is a web site for the Military Freedom From Religion:

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

There is not a lot on their web site so I made a post (they have a forum) and passed on the links to Fayettville Freethinkers and FFRF. I have spent a little time over the last couple of days thinking about my religious experiences while I was in the service.

One thing that keeps popping into my head was not that we where under attack by the base chaplin but by our fellow Sailors and Marines. I remember that when I reported in to each new duty station which included about 3-5 days of indoctrination and usually at some point we would get a visit from the base chaplin and he would tell us about times for worship services and concilling services. The next time I saw the base chaplin was when my best freind got married on base 2 1/2 years later. Now that I have been thinking about it there where all kinds of churches off base that really recruited the military members very hard.

When I was stationed in California as a favorite pass time we would spend Friday and Saturday night at the enlisted club drinking cheap beer and also they would serve you even if you were under 21. I would walk from the barracks to the "E" club to meet up with my friends and on more than once I would be approached by someone asking if I had been saved or did I believe in God/Jesus. At the time I considered myself a Christian (with lots of questions) and I would say yes and they would go into their speach about going to church the next morning at "Lilly of the Valley Church". They even had a bus that came to the front gate to pick you up and I know there where several people that went and this was not the only church that was doing this.

Now that I think back about it there where several churches that recruited military members then sent them to base to find other converts to bring to church next Sunday. Don't forget your wallet! I bet they would even set up a pay day allotment!

This was also in the early and mid 80's and there never seemed to be anyone in an officail capacity telling us to go to chaple but a lot of the converts from the churches off base where working over time to find converts. Now lets move the clocks forward 25 years and a lot of those converts that managed to stay in the military have moved up in rank and now they call the shots and what the younger troops are going to do. So if you where a believer in the 80's and you still believe today and you are in the military the temptation to make more converts would be tempting and much easier now.

I would love to do a presentation about religion and the military but I am not sure what I could tell you other than personal experience and preceptions.

There is more than a little irony to the fact that the least "free" of all American citizens are the folks who've signed up to "defend our freedoms" - this is just one more example. (I think James is right - the guys who bought the conversion experience wholesale have moved up in the military and are now abusing their secular power to continue "converting" the troops.)