A soldier in Iraq whose superior prevented him from holding a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing the Defense Department, claiming it violated his right to religious freedom.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges a pattern of practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military…. According to the filing, Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier assigned to Fort Riley’s 97th Military Police Battalion, received permission to distribute fliers around his base in Iraq for a meeting of atheists and other non-Christians.
When he tried to convene the meeting, Hall claims, [Maj. Paul Welborne] stepped in, threatening to file military charges against Hall and block his reenlistment.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19076It gets worse. Apparently, after Hall met with fellow non-believers on the base, Major Welborne allegedly disrupted the gathering, blasted the attendees, and threatened to bring an action against Hall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Just imagine the hew and cry if this Major had done something similar to a group of soldiers holding some kind of prayer meeting.
Meanwhile, in an expression of how important religious freedom is to our Republican presidential candidates (I'm being sarcastic),
[H]e’s going to move “In God We Trust” to the front of the new dollar coins instead of the side. […]
[Romney added,] “I’ll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA.”
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzA0OTUxZTc2YTk3MmQwY2VlMmNhZjY2ZGMzMTI2Nzc=This has to be one of the worst examples of political pandering to an already way over-pandered-to constituency I've ever seen.
