Atheist Soldier Sues Army Over Discrimination

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall is an atheist, formerly a Baptist, and is suing the Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and others.

His reason?

Discrimination.

"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."

According to Hall there were several instances where fellow personnel discriminated against him because of his atheism.

"Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, 'Do you believe in Jesus now?'"

Clearly these two instances are uncalled for. These two incidents certainly harassed Hall. If these events are true, they are unacceptable.

Hall is also claiming that because of his atheism he lost out on getting promoted. Hall is quoted as saying

"I was told because I can't put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn't make a good leader,"

Yet it seems that the military is fine with the personal religious beliefs of officers being promoted via prayer and as an influencing factor in promotions.

Hall is not alone in this suit.

"Michael Weinstein, a retired senior Air Force officer and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is suing along with Hall. Weinstein said he's been contacted by more than 8,000 members of the military, almost all of them complaining of pressure to embrace evangelical Christianity."

Religious discrimination of any form is illegal.

The Pentagon maintain that these instances of evangelizing are rare.

According to this article from a year ago, discrimination against atheists in the military is viewed as acceptable.

"Now the Army National Guard is telling its unit level Equal Opportunity representatives that it is OK to discriminate against atheists. They are using my formal EO complaint as a training scenario in which a Lieutenant files a formal EO complaint against a general officer for claiming that there are no atheists in foxholes."

Atheists are one of the most discriminated and most distrusted minority groups in America. A poll found that a majority of Americans would not consider voting for an atheist. Women, Muslims, blacks, and gays were more likely to be elected than an atheist.

I have personally experienced such discrimination and most of it stems from ignorance about atheism. It is not a belief in nothing. Most atheists believe in an ethical reasoning of some sort. Myself, I consider myself a Humanist when it comes to ethics and morality. I do have beliefs. I simply reject the notion of a higher power. That is what atheism is. However; in America and other places, atheism is seen as a dangerous way to live.

Maybe one day we can all get along.