US Army Capt Sara Sharick publicly identifies as an Army officer and recruiter — and she’s an atheist. When a potential Army recruit walked into her office one day, she was “disappointed” to learn he wanted to attend Liberty University.

So my Center Commander asks him where he plans on going to college. I’m thinking K State or KU, some place local. He says “Liberty University.” I just about choked…I pull out my phone and look up if Liberty even has an ROTC program. Sure as [redacted], both Army and Air Force. So disappointed.

Why is she “disappointed?”  She says Liberty University is home to “the crazies,” apparently referring to Christians, given that Liberty is a mainstream Christian university.  (Sharick joins Michael Weinstein’s loathing for the school, when he called it “horrifying” that Liberty would teach the same material other universities do.)

At first, Sharick seemed willing to grit her teeth and help the kid out: 

Not that it makes a whole lot of difference, if he wants to go in the Army, we’ll put him in. It’s just so disappointing to see kids go off to [redacted] colleges where they probably won’t learn what the real world looks like (and won’t learn any real biology on top of it).

Later, though, she starts wondering if she can steer the kid ‘straight:’

The kid wants reserves so many we can convince him to go to K State or something instead…

Think about that for a second.  A US Army recruiter is talking about convincing a future Soldier to attend a different college because she takes issue with the religious beliefs of the school he’s currently interested in.

What if she’d realized the kid probably held beliefs consistent with Liberty’s, and that’s why he wanted to go there?  Would she have treated him as one of the “crazies?”

Apparently, she’d be “disappointed.”

Now, consider what would happen if a Christian Army recruiter publicly talked about steering kids toward Liberty, or away from some ‘non-christian’ school which they were “so disappointed” to see kids interested in.  Think someone would complain?

In short, it is not a recruiter’s job to participate in such persuasion.  If the kid asks about good schools for certain career fields, advise away.  If the school he suggests has issues incompatible with his recruitment — like it doesn’t have an ROTC program — then explain that to him.  But to convince him to attend another school because of personal issues with that school’s religious faith?  That’s out of bounds for a military officer.

Had she been a Christian, people would have told Sharick that if she couldn’t faithfully perform her duties apart from her religious beliefs, she should find another line of work.

To recap:

• An atheist Air Force Chief tore down posters in his squadron if they mentioned religion, even if they were for sanctioned events.
• An atheist Army officer implies she would intentionally try to dissuade a recruit from attending a Christian school.

Meanwhile, what coercive actions have Christian troops taken as a result of their faiths?

That’s right.  They haven’t. And yet Michael Weinstein’s “religious freedom” “charity” ignores atheists’ inappropriate conduct and attacks Christians’ permissible conduct instead.

That should tell you all you need to know about what Weinstein thinks about “religious freedom.”

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