Lubbock Left

Yahoo News has a story about an athiest soldier who alleges he was denied a promotion based on religion. Spc. Jeremy Hall wanted to hold a meeting between athiest and Christian soldiers in his MP unit.

According to the lawsuit, Hall was counseled by his platoon sergeant after being informed that his promotion was blocked. He says the sergeant explained that Hall would be “unable to put aside his personal convictions and pray with his troops” and would have trouble bonding with them if promoted to a leadership position.

Hall responded that religion is not a requirement of leadership, even though the sergeant wondered how he had rights if atheism wasn’t a religion. Hall said atheism is protected under the Army’s chaplain’s manual.

“It shouldn’t matter if one is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist,” said Pedro Irigonegaray, an attorney whose firm filed the lawsuit. “In the military, all are equal and to be considered equal.”

I am interested to see what becomes of this lawsuit. The armed forces and constitutional rights don’t always get along with each other.

Our military is not a Christian organization. But, like many of our institutions in the US, Christians seem to think they run the show. This is one of those silent assumptions that must be challenged publicly.