Just in case anyone forgot about it, since the Bush regime took over, the Pentagon and armed forces have been harboring a growing evangelical-dominionist movement which not only has been harrassing non-Evangelicals in the military, but they have been using the military, and thus, your tax dollars, to openly promote Evangelical Biblical- literalist dominionist Christianity.
For those not in the know, Dominionists are people who believe in actively working towards making the country one that is governed and controlled exclusively by Christians who would impose Biblical Law over all sectors of society, according to Fundamentalist Christian Reconstructionist views. This is a dangerous idea, because dominionism is specifically anti-democratic. These people would not subject any power they get to a popular vote. They believe that they are mandated by God to take control of America and the world, and that America should be ruled over by a king who is specifically Christian.
In other words, these people are Freaking WHACK-JOBS!
Since 2004, reports had been coming from West Point, the Air Force Academy, and other military schools, from atheist, Jewish, Islamic, and non-Christian soldiers, that there was a growing intolerant community that was responsible for creating an atmosphere of antisemitism, religious harrassment, and blatant sexism within the military. This is nothing like the Tail-hook scandal, but it's worse for different reasons. Basically, Jewish people in the military, especially at the academies, were harrassed on a daily basis by Evangelical Christian officers and command. The Pentagon has become increasingly Evangelical over the last few years, and complaints from Jewish and atheist military personnel who claimed they were being harrassed by Evangelical officers and groups, were being ignored.
Soldiers have complained that they were forced to attend exclusively Evangelical services, and subjected to disceplinary threats if they refused to go or did not participate in prayer-related activities. Jewish soldiers complained that fellow soldiers and officers subjected them antisemitic verbal abuse as well as social ostracism. When they went to superior officers, to complain about it, they either received further abuse from those superiors, were told that the complaint was not serious enough to investigate further, or that nothing was done.
Eventually, Michael Weinstein, a former JAG (Judge Advocate General) who is now a civilian Lawyer, got wind of this, and founded The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which lobbied for an investigation. There was an investigation, and the results confirmed a lot of what Weinstein has said.
Currently, there is still a Prayer breakfast held at the Pentagon each week, and various Christian Evangelical extremists, such as Ken Ham, have been guest speakers at them. This is kind of scary, because if there is enough support for Evangelical whack-job Christian beliefs in our military, these beliefs of dominionism and prophecy fullfillment could shape our foreign policy -- our soldiers could be asked to go to war and risk their lives to support the crazy religious beliefs of fundamentalist whackos.
See these articles for more expansion on this issue...
As early as December, 2006, there were issues with Evangelicals in the Pentagon
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6610025
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation's report on an internal Military conspiract of Evangelicals:
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/six-month-report-2007/six_month_report2.html
US Air Force Academy investigated over allegations of Antisemitism:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/03/national/main692779.shtml
Kill or Convert, Brought to you by the Pentagon:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=220960
"These people should be Court Martialed:
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/13/weinstein/
Pentagon Sued Over Mandatory Christianity:
http://www.truthout.org/article/pentagon-sued-over-mandatory-christianity
Soldier sues Defense Department over Religious Discrimination:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/08/atheist.soldier/index.html
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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