Air Force denies reenlistment after refusal of religious oath

INDIAN SPRINGS, Nev., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A non-profit group accused the U.S. Air Force Tuesday of denying an airman's reenlistment after he refused to recite religious oaths in word and on paper.

The American Humanist Association, a national non-profit organization, released a letter addressed to the inspector general and other officers at Creech Air Force Base, where the unidentified airman was based.

"On or about August 25, 2014, [redacted] was told that his options were to say 'so help me God' or to leave the Air Force, " the letter said. "Further, he was told that he must sign the religious oath portion of the enlistment form without adjustment. Requiring [redacted] to take an oath containing this religious affirmation violates his clearly established constitutional rights under the First Amendment."

The letter, written by Monica Miller, an attorney with the AHA's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, went on to demand that the airman, an atheist, be allowed to reenlist "using a secular affirmation." Litigation was threatened if the Air Force refused.

The Air Force Times reported that Air Force Instruction 36-2606 refers to the oath that reenlisting personnel must take, which ends in the aforementioned religious oath but used to contain a sub-clause allowing servicemen to omit the words "for personal reasons." That exception was removed in late 2013 when the order was updated.

Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson told Al Jazeera that the airman's enlistment ends in November and that he has until then to fill out his reenlistment form. Another Air Force spokeswoman, Capt. Brooke Brzozowske, said that the oath is mandatory. "Reciting 'so help me God' in the reenlistment and commissioning oaths is a statutory requirement," she said.