The New York Times today is running a story about an American soldier who had been deployed to Iraq and who is an avowed atheist. The soldier was sent home early from his tour after being threatened by his fellow soldiers and superior officers, and is filing a lawsuit against the Army. The suit complains of a dominant and discriminatory Christian evangelical religious culture prevailing among American troops in Iraq. The incident raises the question of whether or not or to what degree the war in Iraq is a religious war: perhaps the latest “hot” episode in a centuries long mainly “cold war” between the Christian and Muslim worlds.
See: Neela Banerjee, “Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats,” New York Times, April 26, 2008.
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