There have been occasional stories about this happening at the Air Force Academy, but now it’s being busted wide open, only to find out it’s become pervasive. Army of God, converting with the sword, indeed. Frightening.
Group seeks probe of evangelical military video
A watchdog group that promotes religious freedom in the U.S. military accused senior officers on Monday using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity.
Such proselytizing, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has created a core of “radical” Christians within the U.S. armed forces and Pentagon who punish those who do not accept evangelical beliefs by stalling their careers.
“It’s egregious beyond the pale,” said Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. “We apparently have a radicalized, evangelical Christian Pentagon within the rest of the Pentagon.”
The group asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate a video in which some Army and Air Force officers discuss their faith while in uniform.
Weinstein compared what he said was radical proselytizing within the military with the Islamist militants U.S. troops are confronting in wars overseas.
“When we’re facing a global war on terror against what we call Islamic extremists, it certainly doesn’t help when we have apparently a viewpoint from the cognoscenti and glitterati, the leadership of the Pentagon, pushing a particular virulent worldview down the throats of people who are helpless to argue against it,” Weinstein said.
UPDATE: Watch the video.
Check out the Christian Embassy mentioned in all this.
I really hope the media streams pick this up, and that some religeous freedom organizations sue the government for letting this happen in the military.
Of course this is happening. That’s what evangelism is all about.
The question is, is it dangerous? Certainly, a military with enough high level leadership under the spell of fanaticism is a military capable of acting on its own and being a destabilizing influence…
But bad movie plots aside, its probably on such a small scale that simply court martialing those involved will be enough.
Now… while what i just said was pretty logical, rational, and tame… I’ll just sit back and wait for the thumper loonbats to accuse me of persecuting Christians.
I really hope this gets legs, because we really need to stop this bs in its tracks. If this gets enough press, that would be great to make the Pentagon and our military forces less of a pawns for the evangelicals.
There’s them what say the end times are near:
http://tinyurl.com/yxw7fy
This is not really happening. Someone is making it all up. Just like the Holocaust..never happened either; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said so. I’ll bet the Crusades never happened either. Just a nice fairy tale of handsome knights riding off for God and King.
#4: Not yet. At least not directly. But with God on our side, who knows what’s down the road.
So what’s better, the atheist whose only “higher power” to answer is his superior here on earth, and who doesn’t believe in an afterlife if this life goes horribly awry, or the religious zealot who at any time might hear a voice in his head that says “My time is nigh — do my bidding now and come join me for eternity!”? Religious experiences take place entirely inside one’s head, with no external verification. Encouraging soldiers and officers to serve a “higher power” who outranks even the Commander-in-Chief seems a little dangerous.
I’ve never understood the low level of trust Americans have for atheists.
How is this different from the college professor who rams his liberal bull down the throats of defensless students. I should think, to be fair, you would have made this connection immediately. Me thinks you protest too loudly.
#9: It’s different because college professors aren’t generally wielding artillery with armor piercing rounds.
Uncle Dave – chill man, I highly doubt you’ll ever see anything like that listed above unless we go Islamic as a nation. As a red blooded, right-wing, Bible thumpin Christian, I promise to protect your place of worship, right to life in case of “heathen” killings, and not beat your wife. Or mine, because she’d shoot me with the revolver next to the bed that I made the mistake of teaching her how to shoot.
As to military evangelising – the members of the armed forces should be allowed to spread their beliefs. Whether Islam, Christian, Atheist, FSM, etc. They should be allowed to. Obviously, it shouldn’t be forced on someone through the chain of command.
Example – a good friend, one of my best, is a Tech Sarge in the Air Force. I once went to church with him and his Colonel was there – but at church or outside of normal duties – he was known by his first name, and was an equal. In fact, when we packed him up to move, his Colonel was there, and he scrubbed his freakin toilets! That said a lot to me. He was showing God’s love to his fellow Christian, not forcing religion on him.
If a CO makes his men attend church, or treats them differently due to their belief system – then yes, that is wrong. But to take some free time and share their faith – that’s the whole idea behind freedom of speech.
If this proves to be a forced religion situation, then it should be stopped and people corrected. But I’d like to see the whole story before I pass judgment.
#10 thAT’S STUPID THE MILITARY HAS NOT harmed any one but students have been given a failing grade for objecting to such subjective trash supplanting what they were there to learn. That’s real harm. Your grades are looked at when you apply for a job And an “F”. Don’t make such dumb remarks.
They should be allowed to. Obviously, it shouldn’t be forced on someone through the chain of command.
Yeah. And a colonel should be able to date a corporal if he wants to, eh? After all, it’s HER choice, right? If he doesn’t ORDER her to go out with him and have sex, it’s not coercion, right?
Bugs said it best: what a maroon.
There is no evidence of anything in that story. You have a guy that heads up a group that’s only aim is promoting no religion in the military that talks about a video that nobody posting here has seen and may or may not be against a military rule.
He talks about people that have promotions slowed or blocked but doesn’t give one piece of evidence to back that up.
#12: Please look up the definition of ironic satire.
Did anyone stop to think that this is what the war mongers really want? What’s a better excuse to build up a military that’s in line with their image of God’s Army than to start a never ending “war on terror”? People will complain about the evangelism, but they’ll still cough up the money and vote in the conservatives who will “protect” us from Islam. It’s much easier to change the structure of government to a theocracy if the military is behind you rather than siding with the rebels who still believe in real freedom.
I believe there is no restricting him, even though in uniform, has the right to free speech. If the First amendment is right, he is allowed to have free exercise of his religion also given in the Constitution.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
I’ve searched for years and years for this phrase “separation of church and state” and no matter how hard I try, it doesn’t show up in any legal US document in that way… why is that… sounds like a Liberal conspiracy, or just a way to get puffed up in old Cali.
I bet the people in California didn’t know there are 49 other states in the US, and just because CA holds the most Nuts, doesn’t make the values of the entire USA. Sure seems like it though sometimes.
And yes…God loves you too John C. Dvorak!
#14: Check the update added at the end of the post. It has a link to the video.
#17: Freedom of speech is one thing. Coercing someone into “believing” in order to advance or even not be harassed is something else.
#12, you’ve been lied to — you probably read one article about one professor who failed one student and took that, added it to the fact that you feel persecuted by liberals for your conservative beliefs and came up with the mistaken impression that liberal college professors everywhere are failing students who do not espouse liberal values.
i challenge you to produce proof that failing students for espousing conservative values is an actual trend. i submit that it is not.
i guarantee that you will find in your research that the conservative propaganda you blindly parrot is an outrageous exaggeration based on a small number of isolated incidents that no doubt.
and even if you succeed in proving me wrong, it still is flagrantly anti-American to use a position of government-sanctioned authority to force another man or woman to accept your religious beliefs, period
#12
Let’s put your argument into perspective.
The neo-cons like to spout that Ronald Reagen won the Cold War. Historians believe that Lech Walensa, Gorbachev, and Pope John Paul II were the most notable people in the fall of the eastern bloc. So if your student challenges the Professor’s viewpoint and claims that Reagan not only defeated all the Plains Indians but also the Soviets too, he deserves an “A”?
The only mark your student deserves is an “F”. He didn’t learn anything from the course. And it doesn’t matter what douchebag O’Reilly or Rush Limburger says, the guy failed the course.
#4, I don’t have a clue what message you are trying to get across. But, FYI. The US is a secular society. We do not allow religious groups to drive our agenda.
I realize this is totally opposite the UK where the Queen is the head of the state church and where Bishops are appointed to the government. We don’t do that here, though at one time, regrettably, it happened.
Whatever happened in East Timor, while unfortunate and regrettable, has nothing to do with this subject. Otherwise we could start discussing many of the atrocities done in the name of your state religion.
#20 The prof made the statement that the twin towers were blown up by the US government and not by terrorists. This is insanity but I guess you think that, since he’s a liberal nut, whatever he says is AOK. .BULLcrap
I always thought it odd for someone to pray to Christ and turn around and drop white phosphorous and cluster bombs on people.
If you believe this CRAP you need to start looking under all the rock in your back yard. As a 25 + year veteran of the Army I never once saw this, heard of this, or participated in this. I haven’t been in a church in over 40 years, except to honor fallen comrades; those were non- denominational services.
#22, Curt, since when does one ranting about a conspiracy make it a political viewpoint? Many consider me to the left of center yet don’t for one second think I don’t believe the WTC came down because of two hijacked planes. Because one believes that there is a conspiracy does not make them a liberal.
Now, you claimed in #12 that students were getting an “F” because they questioned “liberal” professors. Could you name some examples? How about two or three links. Or does Rush Limbaugh supply links when he makes up this shit? And please, don’t link to any of your neo-con bullcrap sites.
If you believe this CRAP you need to start looking under all the rock in your back yard. As a 25 + year veteran of the Army I never once saw this, heard of this, or participated in this.
What’s not to believe??? Nobody is denying anything. The people involved all freely talk about what they do. Maybe somebody already mentioned this, but the “Military Regligious Freedom Foundation” has a pastor, who has his own office in the E-Ring. I haven’t heard who pays for it. Is it possible to rent real estate inside the Pentagon?
Then again, GWB swears that his Gawad talks to him all the time (sort of like how Ted Haggard used to give him a ring, presumably).
And Lo, Gawad told him how He’d like to see Iraq bombed back to the stone Age, and for American-based Multinational Corporations to receive no-bid contracts for the attacks…AND the rebuilding.
For BushCo and vested interests, Gawad is indeed Good.
For the rights and freedoms of American citizens…much, much less so….
Wha? Another evangelical in CO infected with teh gay by the liberal media, the secularists are taking over the good lord’s own military and there’s an international consortium of Nazis in Iran discussing Bergen-Belsen’s relative merit as a health spa over a few cans of pabst and some pork rinds?
WE JUST GOT THE CHRISTMAS TREES BACK UP AT THE AIRPORT, PEOPLE, C’MON! One crisis at a time, please!
I’m sorry…..I read about this 2 days ago and this story isn’t even close to what I read.
The group asked for and got permission to do the tape. They said that they added on the tape that the active duty military that was in the video were not speaking for the US. armed forces but only for themselves.
This story by Reuters is so far off the truth, it’s almost fiction. The reporter obviously took the normal Reuters line of anti-christian story lines and ran with it. She didn’t bother to actually talk to anyone except the anti-religion group.
I’m not a religious person by any means, but this story is wrong. I think Slate would have written a better and more factual piece than this and I normally think of slate as biased as Hannity and Combs.
Reuters isn’t known as the voice of Al Quieda for nothing. It’s anti-Semetic, anti-Christian and anti-Us and always reports any little rumour it hears if it makes any of those groups look bad.
Sorry Uncle Dave….feeding a story full of this crap to this blog is like feeding chocolate to a frustrated housewife……it creates a feeding frenzy…..which apparently is your goal.
#22 Why shouldn’t I link you to one of my sites. This site is fill of wacko liberist Lying sites. I know, You don’t want to Hear the truth.
#29: FYI, I first heard about this yesterday on NPR where they interviewed some of the people involved. It’s been picked up by hundreds of news outlets around the world and the Pentagon says they are investigating. True or not it, whether you like it or not, it’s news everywhere else.