
October 12th / 14th, 2007
"Radical Christian Group a Threat to Constitution"
We are a nation of religious people. In fact, nine out of ten of us say we
believe in God. But what makes America unique is our melting pot diversity,
especially when it comes to organized religions.
The U.S. military, as a microcosm of society, is comprised of men and women
from varying faiths. That’s why, for example, we’ve had non-denominational
chaplains serving our soldiers ever since George Washington assumed command of
the Continental Army in 1775.
But a movement is afoot in the military that violates the doctrine of
separation of church and state, and promotes intolerance and even violence towards
those who do not subscribe to their radical views.
These people are known as Dominionist Christians, who according to Michael
Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, display
characteristics such as: homophobia; misogyny (including believing women are mere
servants to men); and anti-Semitism. They also strive to subordinate man’s
law to their own religious law.
At first the military’s complicity in enabling these cult freaks seemed
harmless enough, with high-ranking officers allowing outside groups to hold
prayer meetings inside the Pentagon. Then came mounting evidence that some
military leaders were trying to force a radical fundamentalist Christianity on
their subordinates, so much so that Weinstein recently described them to Dan
Rather as being like the Taliban.
The result has been a series of lawsuits, including one brought by a group
of Navy Chaplains who allege discrimination. Meanwhile, several senior
officers at the Air Force Academy have been accused of using their position to
“inappropriately propagate Christian views”. Then, just last month, a military
watchdog group filed suit against the Pentagon for various Constitutional
violations, including the pressuring of one soldier to embrace Christianity.
His crime was refusing to join in prayer at a Thanksgiving dinner for the
troops.
One atheist soldier commented to positiveatheism.org that intrusive
religious activity on military installations is simply government-sponsored religion
at taxpayer expense.
But the worst thing about Dominionist activity is that it doesn’t just stop
at passive proselytizing. HDNet News recently reported that Jonathan Spinks’
OSU (Operation Straight Up) had been allowed by the Pentagon to distribute a
disturbing video game to soldiers in Iraq. The computer game is titled
“Left Behind: Eternal Forces”. The scenario is that an army of Christians
descends upon New York City to either convert or kill Jews, Muslims, Catholics,
Buddhists, gays, and anyone else who advocates separation of church and state.
Players get points for killing video characters who do not accept the bigoted
views of Dominionist Christians.
Not long ago, the Federal government finally took the first steps in
addressing this growing problem when the Inspector General determined that Pentagon
officials had “improperly endorsed and participated with a non-federal entity
while in uniform”. But that admission may not be enough to discourage cult
wackos from continuing to harass and discriminate against their fellow
soldiers in the field.
Our men and women in uniform have enough to deal with when fighting
insurgents, without also having to be hassled by Dominionist Christians who
sometimes display their dogmatic prejudices in an aggressive and violent manner.
These freaks, no matter their rank, should be discharged immediately, and
companies who promote this dangerous religious intolerance should be barred
from any access to government buildings or installations.
Right now, our military is a proud melting pot, but if we don’t act quickly
to curb the harassing and dangerous activities of Dominionists, then that pot
is going to start boiling over. We just can’t afford to have our Bands of
Brothers turn into a war of brother against brother.
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