Religious Freedom Extends to Soldiers, Too

This week's question from the Washington Post's "On Faith" online section:

The Fort Hood shootings have raised questions again about how the military should handle the personal religious beliefs of its soldiers, whether they are evangelical Christians, Muslims, Wiccans, and so on. What is the proper role of religion -- and personal religious belief -- in the U.S. armed forces? Should a particular religious affiliation disqualify someone from active military service? How far should the military go to accommodate personal religious beliefs and practices?

As long as death and dying are part of the military, there will likely be a need for religious expression among the troops. What form that religious expression takes is a matter of personal choice, and indeed, personal freedom. It's one of the rights afforded all citizens under the US Constitution's Bill of Rights.

If the US military cannot protect the rights of its own soldiers, how can it claim to be protecting mine? Acts of intolerance by any soldier towards another human being, based on differences such as religious beliefs, race, gender, ethnicity, etc., violates the very freedoms that the military is charged with protecting.

The US military has a responsibility to protect the rights and freedoms of all US citizens. Those rights include the freedom to worship, or not, the god of one's own choosing. One would presume this also extends to those actively serving in the military.

The military does address religious needs. It provides chaplains, places to worship, and even religious supplies where needed. When the troops are isolated from public options for worship, a demonstrated effort is made to have worship services for the troops. To that accord, it would seem on the surface that the US military has made great efforts to provide for the religious needs of its troops.

Except for one thing: Protecting the religious freedom of the men and women serving in our armed forces requires more than just hiring military chaplains and providing a tent for soldiers to worship in while deployed. It requires, also, that those who purport to be on the battlefields, risking their lives to protect MY freedom, will, at the very least respect those same freedoms for one another.

It is too early to begin to know "why" the suspect of the Ft. Hood shootings did what he did. Reports coming out now indicate that religion may have played a role in the shootings, but not in the way some would think. Family members told reporters at CNN that the suspect had become increasingly frustrated by disrespect shown to him, which he perceived to be due to his religious beliefs. He was reported "taunted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."

In my daughter's school, "taunting" would be called "bullying", and there are consequences for those who do it. Those consequences protect the students. There should be consequences in the military, too.