US Christian soldiers threaten life of atheist colleague

This video from the USA is about Jeremy Hall, an “atheist in a fox hole” fighting back.

In the United States armed forces, lots of categories of people who, for various reasons, used to be unwelcome, are now welcome because of the cannon fodder needs of George W. Bush’s Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. etc. wars.

These categories include: middle aged people; people with little education; wounded veterans and other people with health problems; people on drugs; people with criminal records; nazis …. even dead soldiers.

They DON’T include gay people; and, apparently, atheists.

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane in the USA:

CNN: Soldier’s life threatened for atheist beliefs

Wednesday July 9, 2008

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was a Baptist before he served two tours of duty in Iraq, but in the course of his service he became an atheist and now says he no longer believes in anything. That, he alleges, led to discrimination against him in the military.

“I think it’s utterly and totally wrong,” Hall told CNN. “Unconstitutional.”

In March, Hall sued the Department of Defense, claiming that his first amendment rights to religious freedom had been violated and suggesting that the US military has become a “Christian organization,” a charge the Pentagon denies. …

After the lawsuit was filed, Hall received death threats from other soldiers. The army assigned him a full-time bodyguard and then sent him home early from Iraq. Although Hall is still in the Army, he says he chance at a military career is over, and he will be leaving the service next year.

The full CNN story can be read here.

So, apparently, in the US armed forces, it’s “Onward Christian soldiers … kill an atheist fellow soldier for Christ” (like creationist Christian fruitpickers sometimes do to pro-evolution fruitpickers). The rise of fundamentalist Christianity in the US armed forces has not only created grave problems for atheists; but also for Jews; for Muslims; and for non fundamentalist Christians, like Capt. MeLinda Morton.

Evangelical Christians among the officers and cadets at the US Air Force Academy have created an atmosphere of systematic intolerance towards Jewish and non-religious students, according to reports by minority students and investigations by off-campus groups concerned about the rise of fundamentalist bigotry: here.