This story has been making its way through the Atheist blogs for a few weeks now. It has finally popped up in the mainstream media by way of the NY Times and CNN.
In a nutshell, a soldier is suing the US Army, saying that his Atheism led to threats from his fellow soldiers & superior officers.
Greta Christina has written an excellent summary of the case and why the implications of this situation are so scary. One part of her piece, in particular, stands out for me, as this is something I've been saying for quite a while now...
And here's why this scares the daylights out of me. More than just about any instance of creeping theocracy in our country. More, even, than creationism and other forms of religious fundamentalism being taught in our public, taxpayer-funded schools.
This is the Army.
This is the branch of our government with the big rifles.
And increasingly, they seem to be placing their allegiance to their religion over their allegiance to the country and the Constitution.
There's a story that Ed Brayton (who's been covering this story a lot) had over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. The whole story is excellent, but here's the truly terrifying part:
One individual, posting under the name "Hidog," suggested Hall put on an orange vest and carry a sign "Bong hits 4 Allah" through the streets of Iraq, "because apparently, your Bill of Rights trump your CO's (commanding officer's) orders."
As Ed pointed out, "Well yes, the bill of rights does trump the orders of a commanding officer when those orders violate the bill of rights."
And it scares the merciful crap out of me to think that the Army is increasingly full of people -- not just mooks with no power, but officers -- who don't understand that. It terrifies me to think of an Army populated by both officers and enlisted men whose hearts -- and guns -- belong, not to the citizens of this country who employ them, but to Jesus.
And it terrifies me to realize these are not isolated incidents. There's so much more to this story that I haven't gotten into, that I don't have time to get into without this turning into an unreadably long screed. It is becoming increasingly clear that this is the dominant culture of the current United States Army.
With support from the Pentagon.
Because that, people, means that we really are living in a theocracy. Right now. The armed enforcers of our Federal government are the defenders, not of our country, not of our Constitution, but of their God and their faith.
Read the whole thing, along with her links to other stories/examples.
