Soldier Sues Army - Religious Discrimination
Check out this story in the New York Times about a soldier who is sueing the Army because of religious discriminition. Last July Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting for atheists and free thinkers where an officer attended only to end up berating the soldiers in attendance about their lack of religion. The officer said that people like these soldiers were not holding up the Constitution and were going against the founding fathers and what they wanted for America. The officer even announced to the soldiers who were attending the meeting that they may be barred from re-enlistment and have charges brought against them. Eventually, Specialist Hall was sent home from Iraq early because of the multitude of threats he was receiving from other soldiers. I have definitely got a point of view on this issue.
First, I believe that we in America are supposed to be about freedom and not about oppression of any particular group whether we believe as they do or not. As a matter of fact the Constitution guarantees us all the Freedom of Religion and does not specify any specific religion. Granted this country may have a particular majority of people who follow one religion over another and the founding fathers may well have been of that same religion, but they were open minded enough to consider the persecution they had gone through and the discrimination so that they included for religious freedom in the Constitution. If anyone is not upholding the Constitution it is these soldiers who have threatened and harrassed these atheist soldiers. As they have clearly chosen to ignore the First Ammendment.
Second, I believe that these alleged Christian soldiers who are harrassing and threatening the atheist soldiers are in fact not Christian at all. These alleged Christian soldiers fail to understand that your "religion is something you do after the sermon is over". Christianity is not some club you are automatically a part of because you attended a sermon and said you would take Jesus into your heart. It comes with commandments and laws that must be followed no matter where you are in life. Culture and Religion are two separate things and what any particular religious law is does not change when you cross a border into a new culture. The commandments are the same no matter where you go. These soldiers are definitely not living under the example of Jesus that they would have absorbed had they gone to church for a reason other than that it was the thing to do in their culture. If they had paid attention to the sermons they may well remember that they are supposed to treat their neighbors as theirselves. They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was made into a hero by Jesus for helping an injured Jew despite the fact that Samaritans and Jews were known to hate one another due to religious beliefs. (The Bible Luke Chapter 10 verses 30-37). They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was the only one to return and thank Jesus out of 10 lepers who Jesus had healed despite their religious differences. (The Bible Luke Chapter 17 verses 11-19). They may well remember the story of the time Jesus made a point of stopping in a Samaritan village and talking to a Samaritan woman who was rude to him because of his race and religion yet, setting an example for Christians today he still treated her with respect and courtesy. (The Bible John Chapter 4 verses 1-42). They may recall Jesus going even further in his teaching saying that Christians should not just tolerate people of all races, but they should actively show love to all, even our enemies "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (The Bible Luke Chapter 6 verse 27).
Basically, the point is that my opinion should be clear. I believe that you are not truly a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc. unless you can manage to follow the teachings of the prophets who brought that religion to you. If you cannot manage to follow the laws in your own religious text then you are nothing more than a hypocrit with a book in your hand. Those kind of people remind me of those weird homeless dudes you see on the streets in large cities when you walk past them they say something about the world ending or something. Crazy dudes!! In the town my mother lives in there are many people whom you will see at church every week, but who through the other days of the week are busy gossiping about one another, judging each other an committing adultry. These people are not truly Christian or they would not do these things. Everyone makes mistakes but not so consistently as those who call themselves Christians and seem only to have chosen the religion for the purpose of being members of the majority, or because they choose to believe that you are free to do what you want because all you have to do is take Jesus into your heart and then confess your sins all the time cause Jesus is taking care of it for you. This is the lazy mans way to follow Christianity and I argue that it is in fact not Christianity at all. These people are merely wolves in sheeps clothing pretending to be something they are not. I say we put these guys in jail for going against the Constitution themselves for harassing and threatening another soldier regarding his freedom of religion.
story religious soldiers Constitution re-enlistment Iraq America Freedom of Religion
First, I believe that we in America are supposed to be about freedom and not about oppression of any particular group whether we believe as they do or not. As a matter of fact the Constitution guarantees us all the Freedom of Religion and does not specify any specific religion. Granted this country may have a particular majority of people who follow one religion over another and the founding fathers may well have been of that same religion, but they were open minded enough to consider the persecution they had gone through and the discrimination so that they included for religious freedom in the Constitution. If anyone is not upholding the Constitution it is these soldiers who have threatened and harrassed these atheist soldiers. As they have clearly chosen to ignore the First Ammendment.
Second, I believe that these alleged Christian soldiers who are harrassing and threatening the atheist soldiers are in fact not Christian at all. These alleged Christian soldiers fail to understand that your "religion is something you do after the sermon is over". Christianity is not some club you are automatically a part of because you attended a sermon and said you would take Jesus into your heart. It comes with commandments and laws that must be followed no matter where you are in life. Culture and Religion are two separate things and what any particular religious law is does not change when you cross a border into a new culture. The commandments are the same no matter where you go. These soldiers are definitely not living under the example of Jesus that they would have absorbed had they gone to church for a reason other than that it was the thing to do in their culture. If they had paid attention to the sermons they may well remember that they are supposed to treat their neighbors as theirselves. They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was made into a hero by Jesus for helping an injured Jew despite the fact that Samaritans and Jews were known to hate one another due to religious beliefs. (The Bible Luke Chapter 10 verses 30-37). They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was the only one to return and thank Jesus out of 10 lepers who Jesus had healed despite their religious differences. (The Bible Luke Chapter 17 verses 11-19). They may well remember the story of the time Jesus made a point of stopping in a Samaritan village and talking to a Samaritan woman who was rude to him because of his race and religion yet, setting an example for Christians today he still treated her with respect and courtesy. (The Bible John Chapter 4 verses 1-42). They may recall Jesus going even further in his teaching saying that Christians should not just tolerate people of all races, but they should actively show love to all, even our enemies "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (The Bible Luke Chapter 6 verse 27).
Basically, the point is that my opinion should be clear. I believe that you are not truly a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc. unless you can manage to follow the teachings of the prophets who brought that religion to you. If you cannot manage to follow the laws in your own religious text then you are nothing more than a hypocrit with a book in your hand. Those kind of people remind me of those weird homeless dudes you see on the streets in large cities when you walk past them they say something about the world ending or something. Crazy dudes!! In the town my mother lives in there are many people whom you will see at church every week, but who through the other days of the week are busy gossiping about one another, judging each other an committing adultry. These people are not truly Christian or they would not do these things. Everyone makes mistakes but not so consistently as those who call themselves Christians and seem only to have chosen the religion for the purpose of being members of the majority, or because they choose to believe that you are free to do what you want because all you have to do is take Jesus into your heart and then confess your sins all the time cause Jesus is taking care of it for you. This is the lazy mans way to follow Christianity and I argue that it is in fact not Christianity at all. These people are merely wolves in sheeps clothing pretending to be something they are not. I say we put these guys in jail for going against the Constitution themselves for harassing and threatening another soldier regarding his freedom of religion.
story religious soldiers Constitution re-enlistment Iraq America Freedom of Religion
Labels: America, Constitution, Freedom of Religion, Iraq, re-enlistment, religious, soldiers, story
posted by Unknown at 9:40 AM
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