A YOUNG US soldier who declared his atheism while on active duty in Iraq last year – and, as a result, was harassed and reviled – has filed a law suit alleging that his constitutional rights had been violated. The suit names Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Since bringing the suit, Specialist Jeremy Hall has been called “immoral”, a “devil worshipper” and “gay” – none of which, he says, is true.
Hall said the pressure to believe in God was so strong that he “was ashamed to say that I was an atheist”.
The quietly-spoken soldier, dubbed “The Atheist Guy” eventually “came out” in Iraq in 2007, after he was involved in a firefight.
Hall was a gunner on a Humvee. Its protective screen deflected a hail of bullets. Afterward, his commander asked whether Hall if he believed in God.
I said ‘No, but I believe in Plexiglas’. I never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I’m worm food.
The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Major Freddy J Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall’s allegations.
Welborn is a fundamentalist Christian of the barking mad variety who has an exceedingly cheesy profile on MySpace. But our Freddy, who claims that his current mood is “loved” has – possibly as a result of this post – declared his profile “private”, which means that it can now be accessed only by his friends. Welborn – aka Ephesians 6 Warrior! – probably found that he was not quite as “loved” as he thought he was.
Hall then turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and the law suit was filed. When fellow soldiers learned of the case, harassment of Hall began, and no-one did anything to stop it.
According to a CNN report, The Army told him it couldn’t protect him and sent him back to the US. Hall believes that his promotion to sergeant had been blocked because of his lawsuit.
See earlier Freethinker report here.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
