The Army forcing attendance at an Evangelical Christian concert.

[Panacea]

I know for a fact that there are Jewish and Muslim soldiers. I believe that Wiccans managed to get their faith recognised on gravestones a while back. How could this be justified in any way, shape, or form?

Rapscallion

LOTS of religions are officially recognized now, including Wiccans, Buddists, Sikhs, and more.

My limited understanding of the military is that the commanding officer can order his troops to do whatever he/she wants them to do, as long as it is not a criminal act. .

Now, (dunno) if the commanding officer of the base orders every troop on the base from his XO on down to buy at least one box of his granddaughter's Girl Scout cookies, I dunno if that would be a lawful order. Unethical perhaps. Or have Obama make all the troops buy girl scout cookies so his daughter can win the Badge of the Year.

Personally, I think Obama would tell this General to cut that shit out if he heard about it. The problem with Obama is that he doesn't want to alienate any voters, and he doesn't want the press to have a story of "President disbars Christian concerts on military bases."

This article is over a year old. It may have already been dealt with.

Similar behavior at the Air Force Academy has led to lawsuits and the defacing of a Wiccan circle. The problem is more pervasive than one commanding officer.

[jackfaire]

How could this be justified in any way, shape, or form?

Rapscallion

Depends on the unit and who will back up the guy in charge when he lies.


When I was in Basic I was given complete religious freedom I had been Wiccan but rather than attend the services for Wiccan, there were like 5 people total so really not even enough to do more than talk about it, I took the opportunity to attend Buddhist services and explore that faith.

There was a lot of religious freedom and openess there.

At my duty station however my Staff Sergeant was a preacher in his off hours and embraced anyone with a religion with a similar background as Christianity but the fact I believed in a Goddess left me open for riducle.

You can file Equal rights complaints but if like in my case everyone else says your lying either because they are purposely lying for the Staff Sergeant or because he makes sure never to mock you in front of the others then it's your word against his and you will lose.