CURRENT MOON

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Onward Xian Soldiers, Marching As To War


After a while, you run out of adjectives to use and new things to say about this sort of illegal, wrong, and immoral behavior.

A foundation that has sued the military alleging widespread violations of religious freedom said Tuesday that it has evidence showing that soldiers are pressured to adopt fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

. . .

The material was gathered from Fort Riley in Kansas, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fort Jackson, S.C.

Examples at Fort Riley, where Hall is stationed, included a display outside his military police battalion's office with a quote from conservative writer Ann Coulter saying, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

Another photo from Fort Riley shows the book "A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam" for sale at the post exchange.

. . .

Weinstein said materials for a Bible studies course from Military Ministry, part of Campus Crusade for Christ International, teach soldiers that the U.S. military and government are instruments to spread the word of God. The material was found at Fort Jackson, S.C., he said.

. . .

The lawsuit also alleges that Gates permits a military culture in which officers are encouraged to pressure soldiers to adopt and espouse fundamentalist Christian beliefs, and allows a culture that sanctions activities by Christian organizations.

It also says the military permits proselytizing by soldiers, tolerates anti-Semitism and the placing of religious symbols on military equipment, and allows the use of military e-mail accounts to send religious rhetoric.


It's not surprising; xianity has almost always associated itself with armies of the patriarchy and the list of wars fought "in Jesus' name" is a long one. The xian church and the armed forces are simply two branches of the patriarchy and it's not surprising to see them working together.

But it is illegal. It violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is wrong. It's wrong to use the government and the coercive power of the military to privilege one religious group over all others. It is immoral. It's immoral to force people to abandon their religious beliefs in order to serve their country in the military. And, you know, it just stinks to high heaven. Is this really the face that xians want to show to the world?

I know.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The worst part of this -- to me -- is that we can no longer count on our military to honor their oaths to uphold the Constitution.

Not if they think they're beholden to a "higher law."

Anonymous said...

That story is about 8 months old and apparently one of a kind. Not bad for such a huge orginization as the US military. I'm glad Ft Riley allows the sale of books at the post exchange. They probably should consider censoring out the traitorous lib trash such as the NYT though. Oh, Ann Coulter spews out those sound bites for the expressed purpose of free advertising to increase her book sales (at px's?)

Anne Johnson said...

Yes, it is the face that America wants to show the world.

Do I get extra credit because I answered with a full sentence?

sharon said...

My thought exactly, Anne. Yes, as a matter of fact this *is* the face that B/C & Co. wants to show the world. And please let us distinguish between our Country and our government!

And the highest immorality of all is promoting war and--let's face it--genocide, in the name of Jesus.

We have met the Enemy, and he is Us.