It's not that Hall was a poor soldier -- the Spc. served two tours and had a near-perfect record -- or that his patriotism and sense of duty wavered in the face of deteriorating conditions and escalating troop deaths. No, Hall's offense? His refusal to embrace Evangelical Christianity.
His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.More disconcerting is that Hall's experience is in no way unique, according to Michael Weinstein, a retired Air Force officer and atheist who founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation:
...
Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, "Do you believe in Jesus now?"
"Our Pentagon, our Pentacostalgon, is refusing to realize that when you put the uniform on, there's only one religious faith: patriotism"...Makes one wonder how long it'll be before Don't Ask Don't Tell is expanded to include atheists. After all, one must first embrace Jesus Christ and The Bible before gearing up, shipping out, and violating the Fifth Commandment.***
***Note: I'm referring here to the Fifth Commandment as stated in the Roman Catholic Decalogue, as that was the spooky, prehistoric bullshit forced on me personally as a youth. Protestants and Jews (i.e. heathens) may feel free to consult #6 on their list of holy no-nos.
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