Blake Page was a West Point cadet who decided to quit the military academy to protest the “illegal infusion of military procedures and events with fundamentalist Christian proselytizing. He was months shy of graduation.
“Countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution,” wrote Page, who was slated to graduate in May. “These men and women are criminals, complicit in light of day defiance of the Uniform Code of Military Justice through unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the non-religious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation.”
While he will be granted an honorable discharge, Page will be responsible to pay back approximately 250k for the education he received at West Point.
While at West Point, Page established a chapter of the Secular Students Alliance to support non-religious cadets at the institution. He has argued against prayer being included in mandatory events. He says he has faced persistent discrimination as a known atheist and has been told by his superiors that he will never be a good leader until he “fills the hole in his heart.”
His complaints have won some concessions, with the backing of the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation — which provides legal aid and a channel to the media — and the support of Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.
But Page says that even sympathetic military superiors are reluctant to take action on religious issue because of the sensitivity, and says that applications to leave campus on routine “rest and relaxation” outings were systematically denied him and his fellow secularists.
I’m glad to hear he’s receiving support from the secular community.
When he informed superiors of his plan to leave West Point, about a month ago, Page says generals appealed to him to work through official channels to bring change at the academy.
“My motivation for resigning was first because I didn’t want to be part of it, but also to motivate other people to stand up and be counted. Without something bold that gets attention, I don’t see a way to inspire anybody to stand up and say ‘I’m tired of this’,” Page told NBC News. “And talking isn’t working, it hasn’t been working. I wanted to do something more.”
Page is currently writing a book.
