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Soldier Sues Over Officer's Berating

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By NEELA BANERJEE

The New York Times

Published: May 10, 2008

FORT RILEY, Kan. - When Army Spc. Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and free thinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.

But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Hall and another soldier about atheism, Hall wrote in a sworn statement.

"People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the Founding Fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!" Welborn said, according to the statement.
Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, the statement said.

Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, filed suit in federal court in March in Kansas, alleging that Hall's right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment had been violated and that he had faced retaliation for his views. In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers.

Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, declined to comment on the case, saying, "The department does not discuss pending litigation."

Hall's lawsuit is the latest incident to raise questions about the military's religion guidelines. In 2005, the Air Force issued new regulations in response to complaints from cadets at the Air Force Academy that evangelical Christian officers used their positions to proselytize.

In general, the armed forces have regulations, Lainez said, that respect "the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs."

At the July meeting, Welborn told the soldiers they had disgraced those who had died for the Constitution, Hall said. When he finished, Welborn said, according to the statement: "I love you guys; I just want the best for you. One day you will see the truth and know what I mean."
Welborn declined to comment beyond saying, "I'd love to tell my side of the story because it's such a false story."

But Timothy Feary, a soldier who attended the meeting, said in an e-mail message: "Jeremy is telling the truth. I was there and witnessed everything."

Civilian courts in the past have been reluctant to take on military cases, and the Justice Department has yet to respond to Hall's lawsuit.

"Even if it doesn't go through, I stood up," Hall said. "I don't think it is futile."

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