UPDATED 14 November 2008 

When they say ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ it’s slanderous…

As noted at the Stars and Stripes, the Secular Coalition for America held a news conference demanding new regulations to “protect young military members from…rampant religious discrimination in the services.”

In their press release, the Secular Coalition notes that one atheist military officer was “thwarted” in his attempt to lodge a complaint against a General officer who “opined that there were ‘no atheists in foxholes.'”  The officer “contends this statement qualifies as unlawful discrimination under current Army regulations.”

As with some other complaints of religious issues in the military, the Coalition maintains that the perpetrators are a “minority of some evangelical Christians.”

Organizations like the Officers Christian Fellowship (OFC) [sic], The Military Ministry of the Campus Crusade for Christ, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), and the Christian Military Fellowship (CMF) encourage soldiers to proselytize as their primary mission in the military.

The complaint also inaccurately stated that

MG Robert Caslen was recently reprimanded for inappropriately promoting religion through his participation in the Christian Embassy video.

In fact, the Inspector General specifically said the investigation had nothing to do with religion (see previous analysis).

It also said  

assignments and promotions based on religious membership rather than merit have occurred

and cited, as evidence, the unsubstantiated accusations of the never-litigated and now-dismissed lawsuit of Hall v. Welborn.

Most of the recommendations for new regulations are already covered by existing military policy.  For example, they suggest the establishment of a process through which religious grievances can be expressed, a forum which is already available through a variety of means.  However, they do recommend several changes, including a prohibition on evangelism of all kinds (ie, not just superior/subordinate, but also peer-to-peer).

The Air Force Times said the President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers wanted “a new military directive should be issued that “explicitly” identifies nonbelievers as a protected class of personnel.”  Conversely, Focus on the Family said

The usual critics of religious expression in the public square have broadened their religion-scrubbing complaints to the military, based on little more than the fact that men and women who put their lives on the line for this country are susceptible to a belief in God.

We should encourage such devotion, not punish it.

The article made no reference to the MRFF lawsuit brought by an atheist complaining of prayer at official functions.

Also noted at the Religion Clause.