Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Remember the story about the soldier in Iraq who tried to organize an atheist group at his camp and had the first meeting broken up by an officer? His name is Jeremy Hall and he is now suing the Pentagon, backed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. And it looks like that was not the only incident where officers mistreated him because of his atheism:
"Immediately after plaintiff made it known he would decline to join hands and pray, he was confronted, in the presence of other military personnel, by the senior ranking ... staff sergeant who asked plaintiff why he did not want to pray, whereupon plaintiff explained because he is an atheist," says the lawsuit, a copy of which was provided to Truthout. "The staff sergeant asked plaintiff what an atheist is and plaintiff responded it meant that he (plaintiff) did not believe in God. This response caused the staff sergeant to tell plaintiff that he would have to sit elsewhere for the Thanksgiving dinner. Nonetheless, plaintiff sat at the table in silence and finished his meal."
And here are some details on the original incident:
Moreover, the complaint alleges that on August 7, when Hall received permission by an Army chaplain to organize a meeting of other soldiers who shared his atheist beliefs, his supervisor, Army Major Paul Welborne, broke up the gathering and threatened to retaliate against the soldier by charging him with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The complaint also alleges that Welborne vowed to block Hall's reenlistment in the Army if the atheist group continued to meet - a violation of Hall's First Amendment rights under the Constitution. Welborne is named as a defendant in the lawsuit."During the course of the meeting, defendant Welborne confronted the attendees, disrupted the meeting and interfered with plaintiff Hall's and the other attendees' rights to discuss topics of their interests," the lawsuit alleges.
The suit is asking for injunctive relief to prevent such abuses in the future.
Comments
Saw this yesterday - I was hoping you'd cover this one, Ed. I'm so pleased with the young troop that I'm glad he's not in my unit - I'd be too vulnerable to charges of favoritism.
Posted by: BobApril | September 20, 2007 9:52 AM
Even beyond the bigotry, the idea of trying to block someone's reenlistment at a time when the army is near breaking point is mindboggling.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | September 20, 2007 10:13 AM
Ginger Yellow,
As mindboggling as discharging Arabic linguists while waging a war in an Arabic-speaking country?
Posted by: MJ Memphis | September 20, 2007 11:15 AM
MJMemphis: Presumably their Greek was the problem, not their Arabic.
Posted by: kehrsam | September 20, 2007 11:22 AM
Mindboggling? C'mon, this is the same military that cashiered a number of English/Arabic translators at the height of Bush's war because they happened to be gay, because, y'know, the military couldn't live with them.
Then they quietly rehired back those same translators (the ones who would go back) as "civilian consultants" with four times their pay, because they couldn't live without them.
Posted by: Elf M. Sternberg | September 20, 2007 11:27 AM
There's a lot about this war that is mindboggling.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | September 20, 2007 11:36 AM
I talked about this with the programmer in the next cubicle. He's a veteran and an atheist. He said this is nothing new. Years ago all soldiers were expected to go to the voluntary Sunday church service. If you said you didn't want to go (and especially if you said the reason was that you were an atheist) then you'd spend the hours that everyone else is relaxing at the church service scrubbing grime off of the floors with a toothbrush.
He said the atheist were always given a crappy job to do during the Sunday Service as a punishment for not buying into the whole Christianity thing.
So this is, unfortunately, nothing new.
Posted by: Greg B | September 20, 2007 6:33 PM
Are we going to have to have a Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for atheists?
Posted by: shill | September 20, 2007 11:06 PM
I just heard back from SPC Hall in response to my e-mail of support. It seems he is receiving threats of violence. I wish I could say I was surprised...
I also pointed out this blog entry to him, among others - hopefully he'll stop by.
Posted by: BobApril | September 21, 2007 9:40 AM
I just found your site.
I will be back!
Posted by: Basia Kaleja | September 22, 2007 8:20 AM
If it happens, the appropriate response would be the same response that we queers should have: Don't Serve! (especially if it means taking part in this occupation of Iraq)
Posted by: MAJeff | September 22, 2007 8:27 AM
I know how he feels. This sounds like me, when I visit my fundamentalist "family".
Posted by: jeff | September 22, 2007 11:01 AM
jeff, I don't mean to sound like an ass, but why not spend Thanksgiving with your family of choice? I usuall try to spend x-mas with the parents (I like 'em but could do without most of the other relatives), but Thanksgiving I always spend with part of my chosen family (since those chosen folks are in several locations I can't be with all of 'em).
Why do we torture ourselves by allowing people to whom we are connected only by the accident of birth to treat us like garbage, be it because of our atheism (or sexuality, or ...)? Biology is overrated and life is too short.
Posted by: MAJeff | September 22, 2007 11:12 AM
Hey, I used to work with said SPC Hall. This is nothing surprising to me that he would do such a thing because he's a whiny little punk who blows things way out of proportion to get attention.
Posted by: Adam | May 15, 2008 11:54 PM