JUNCTION CITY, Kan., April 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army soldier alleges in a federal lawsuit filed in Kansas that his atheism prompted threats from an officer, court records show.
In his lawsuit filed against the Army, Spec. Jeremy Hall accuses Maj. Freddy J. Welborn of threatening him and another atheist soldier with charges and a re-enlistment ban due to their beliefs, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Hall alleges Welborn attended a meeting of atheists and others described as free-thinkers in Iraq last July and issued threats shortly after the talk began.
Hall eventually filed the lawsuit along with the advocacy group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, in federal court in Junction City. The suit alleges Hall's First Amendment right to be free from state-sponsored religion had been violated.
The suit is pending and a U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman offered no comment on it, the Times said.
Hall returned from Iraq last November after allegedly being threatened by a number of his fellow soldiers, the newspaper reported.
