I saw this on FoxNews.com and was curious what the communitiy's take was on this.

FoxNews Story

From how it was reported it seems to me like this guy has the right idea and attitude about this. I get curious how my faith or lack thereof may impact my ability to lead as I promote.

Anyone else have similar stories?

This sounds like a bunch of bull! Theres too many people in the Military that claim no religion for this to be true. He probly just got pissed that he didnt have all the freedoms he had before or the Drill spit in his face while he was yellin at him or somethin. Its too easy to say youre high-speed but bein high-speed is a differant story.

I guess part of my sympathy with him is that I have seen units where it is expected that bow your head during the prayer/invocation/etc and if you don't you get a talking too. I have been fortunate enough to not have to deal with too much of this, but it I can see where he might run into trouble if he had a real zealot in his unit that was pushing this.

I am more curious if the relgious practices and family status of Soldiers are being considered when recommendations for Command and such are being considered and if they aren't should they be? Does a person's faith or lack thereof affect his ability to be an effective leader? I am very curious on the thoughts of the community on this issue. This is one of the best places to gauge a reaction from a broad sampling of Soldiers all over the world and from all ranks.

You sound like some kind of reporter. But to give an opinion for you, a Commander shouldnt let any of his personal beliefs guide him/her. Theyre supposed to go off of what is right by our Military standard. Now with that said our Military has a long tradition with Christianity. So.... hard to say bro. Our money says "In God We Trust" not the lack there of. I myself have No Rel Pref on my ID Tags but Im certainly not gonna go around my unit flaunting that or tryin to push that on people. Which is probly what this guy did even though hes sayin that he observed others traditions. Were livin in a time where people hate a President that is tryin to do all he can to keep the people of his nation safe and those same people also want to screw the military as much as possible.

LOL, I agree it does sound like a reporter. For the record I am a SGT, and the reason I am asking is because I am about to become a 2LT in the near future and with the prospect of command on the horizon I want to get an azimuth check from the community, and more importnantly work to shape my approach to this issue.

I am curious why the MAJ would threaten charges on a troop for wanting to hold a meeting? I agree that there is a long tradition and the Chaplains play an important role in our force, but how is this ideal of not letting ones personal beliefs effect command decisions actually working in the Army as a whole?

It is funny, I guess I would classify myself as an atheist, if I were pressed on the point, but my tags have Roman Catholic on them because my Mom is devout and there are certain motuary concerns with regards to that (I believe).

I am not trying to start debate, just curious how the troops on here would feel if they had an Atheist as thier 1SG or CO. Would it matter? And if so why?

To me the religious beliefs of my CO or 1SG have nothing to do with how well they lead soldiers. Looking out for others well being doesn't mean you have to be a specific religion! I would have the same confidence in you as a leader regardless of your religious beliefs. What is more important is your tolerance of others religious beliefs. All too often, like in the article posted, people don't agree with the minority. It's a shame but it happens. I would probably expect you to have more respect for your subordinates religious beliefs if you were atheist then if you were catholic, or christian. This is all my personaly opinion by the way.

I think a lot of people confuse Atheism with devil worship, atleast people in my unit do. We have someone in our unit who sounds just like the story you posted without all the threats to pursue UCMJ. He does not force his beliefs on others and doesn't talk about religion unless people ask him. Yet he is called out in company formations for not believing in god, be a devil worshiper, and once they went so far as to say he was going to hell in front of the entire company. To sit where you are and claim this article is false is rather pretentious of you, don't you think? How are you to say what did and didn't happen in this persons situation unless you were directly involved. Discrimination happens everyday in the army, wether it be against race, religion, or gender, it happens!

It reminds me of this one time at a Bradley gunnery, the Chaplain asked us to pray to god so that we would all score high on the range.......and then he gave us all suckers!

Freakin priceless!

Being somewhat of an atheist myself (well, agnostic, if you really want to get technical), I could care less if my CDR/1SG were atheist. I could also care less if they were Muslim, Jewish, or any other form of religion, as long as they keep it to them selves.

Religion should be a personal thing(IMO). What works for some will not for others. Further more, we seperate church and state for a reason. What ever the case, I feel none of it has a place at work. It definitley should have no bearing what so ever on how Soldiers interact. The sad fact though, obviously, it does.

If somebody wants to get together with like minded indivuals and have service, debate, whatever, I say go for it. Just leave the rest of us the hell alone!

thats too funny whyme

I've always been taught that there are three things you never discuss at work; Politics, religion, and baseball as they are all destined to result in a shouting match. I'm a Christian myself, but I've worked with and have made friends with Soldiers who are of other faiths, and the issue of who or what do you believe in never really came up and certainly didn't effect our duties. In the case of the Soldier in the article, "I'm not in it for cash", leads me to believe his definitely in it for cash. If it was really an issue he would have gone to his EO representative first instead of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, btw I had no idea such an organization existed until I read the article.

I heard about this guy. He sounds full of it. I have never seen any discrimination based on the lack of religious affiliation. Maybe if he was a chaplain's assistant or something but as a line dog, who cares! I can see why the MAJ would talk to him about getting a meeting together. It may have been about something else under the guise of Atheist discussion which may impact the discipline and morale of the unit. Otherwise I cant see any reasoning for something like that.

I agree that a person's faith should have little bearing in the military. With myself being an evangelical Christian, I have a strong faith that permeates every facet of my life. However, I don't expect others to hold the same beliefs I do & I won't base my evaluations of them on my beliefs.

Now if a troop wants to talk matters of faith, I'm open to discussing my/our beliefs & differences. I'm always up for a good discussion (and why I believe I'm right ). But, as with other areas, when it comes down to the Army - I judge you on your military bearing, the Army values, and the Army standards.

I'm with DoubleDeuce on this, the fact that he has to point out that he isn't in it for the money, reinforces the fact that he probably is. It's like when you call your kid in the living room and the first thing out of their mouth is "I didn't do it."

As for religion in the workplace and it playing a part in promotions and such, no it has no place. But in the same respect, he points out that he is expected to bow his head during a prayer, if he were so tolerable of other faiths, then he would do it out of sheer respect for others. My own husband doesn't believe in God but when we go to family get togethers and we pray before eating, or if he goes to a rememberance ceremony and there is a prayer, he bows his head. Not because he is being reverant to God, but because he respects our beliefs.

I think if this guy were truly as tolerant as he says of other religions, and if he truly weren't bringing his lack of religion into the workplace, then he wouldn't have all the problems he claims to have.

It smells like my sons diaper after a bunch of cake and ice cream to me....

I'm an Atheist and I've never been discriminated against, but then again I'm not easily offended, so I bow my head, say "swear" instead of "affirm" when reenlisting, etc.

That being said, I trained an NG unit from Utah that was 99.99% Mormon and I can tell you that the soldiers in that unit that are not Mormon are often treated like they are devil worshipers, so I believe that it could happen to this guy.

Lets just say maybe I know who this is. Maybe I know his chain of command at the time this started. Seems to me like this soldier likes to be in the spot light and maybe he has something personal against someone. Said Soldier did like when he was in the lime light last I knew, even made a stick about the Symbol for a certain music group that he liked. If not then I'm wrong and I am very sorry, but I seem to remember a time with said soldier, around a holiday say oh the biggest one of the year and said soldier wanting the time off so he could celebrate. Now I could be wrong and please correct me I am not 100% on all the religions out there and what ever you believe is your choice, but Atheist don't really believe in any "GOD".

35M I just re-enlisted and I tell the Officer giving me the oath that I really don't care what is said, and this last time just this last week I told my Battalion Commander as a joke to say both, it does not matter to me. To my surprise and I had to laugh a little because I'll be darned, he said both!! There went the rest of my oath because I was like wait... what did he just say.

This kid needs to stop crying. An E4 who is a team leader and only has two joes to keep track of. He can't be that high-speed. Two joes isn't even a team, its like a....gathering :P Show me an E3 who is effectively managing a 4-5 man team and I will show you someone who will make an E5. He needs to stop whining and drive on. Who the hell joined the Army thinking they were going to be treated fairly?