God-Fearing Christian Soldiers Threaten Atheist for Expecting Equality

Christian soldiers are apparently "defending" America by threatening to assault, harm, and even kill an atheist soldier because he actually dares to think that he, an atheist, should have the same rights and privileges as Christians. Yesterday I wrote about Jeremy Hall's lawsuit against the military, filed because he has been discriminated against by Christians who object to the presence of open, public, unapologetic atheism in their midst. Now, other members of the military are reportedly sending him unambiguous threats.

If the threats are authentic, the lesson is clear: non-Christians in the military, and especially atheists, should not presume that they really do have equal rights and they certainly shouldn't bring public attention to that fact. Anyone who does and thereby threatens to upset the carefully constructed system of Christian Privilege which allows Christians to use the military as their armed wing of militant, world-wide evangelism just might not wake up one morning. It's a question of love, you see: God love the world enough to kill his only son and Christians love the world enough to frag atheists.

The email said a fellow soldier has threatened to "beat his ass," called him an "atheist ass pirate" and "a faggot" and enlisted a "lynch mob" of other soldiers to intimidate Hall because of the allegations Hall made against the military in a lawsuit Weinstein's foundation and Hall filed Monday in US District Court in Kansas City.

Weinstein said he has been in contact with supporters of his foundation who have reported the posting of messages on military and civilian-based blogs, such as military.com, apparently threatening Hall with "fragging," a term used by the military in which an unpopular soldier could be killed by intentional friendly fire during combat.

"Mikey, I hope I am not a victim of a hate crime while I sleep tonight," Hall wrote in an email to Weinstein Thursday evening. "I do not want to die for my country this way. [The soldier] is threatening to beat my ass and all sorts of things. I may be harmed or worse. I am afraid for my safety. I can't sleep, man.... I just lay in my bunk for two hours and I couldn't sleep."

Source: TruthOut

Weinstein is asking that civilian and uniformed leaders in the military take proactive steps to both protect Hall and find out who has been threatening him, but thus far none of the calls placed to those leaders have been returned and no one in the Pentagon is commenting. Big surprise! I wish I could say I'm shocked by any of this, but I'm not.

There's a reason why plaintiffs in cases like this in the civilian world are often made anonymous in court documents: it's very common for them to experience threats, harassment, vandalism, loss of business, and even physical assault at the hands of god-fearing Christians who love their neighbors enough to beat them down for challenging Christians' political, social, and cultural privileges.

Jeremy Hall probably didn't have the option of remaining anonymous, which meant that standing up for his rights and the rights of others was inherently dangerous. Unlike those who have threatened him, though, he's willing to take risks to defend equal rights and treatments for everyone rather than simply those who happen to agree with him.

Nevertheless, it's important to keep in mind that atheism isn't really a "civil rights" issue. I'm sure that if Hall and other atheists were just nicer to Christians and less intolerant towards religious beliefs, none of this would ever have happened. Right? Aheists in America don't have "civil rights" problems, just "public relations" problems.