Move over DADT. Make Room for COE.
That’s Christianity Or Else, the prevailing attitude of today’s military. The creeping Christian extremist takeover of the US military has made the news in recent years. For example, in October 2005 the Air Force was compelled after a lawsuit to withdraw its policy of allowing chaplains to aggressively evangelize non-Christian service members.
WASHINGTON — The Air Force has withdrawn from use by its chaplain service a code of ethics that endorsed evangelizing military service members who are not affiliated with a religion.
The move, disclosed by Air Force officials yesterday, followed a lawsuit by a Jewish graduate of the Air Force Academy, Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque. He said senior officers and cadets illegally imposed Christianity on others at the school.
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Jennifer Stephens, an Air Force spokeswoman, said the code of ethics was withdrawn for further review on Aug. 10. She did not say why, but stressed it was separate from a code of ethics written by the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces, a private organization that provides chaplains. Its code also says military chaplains reserve the right to evangelize those who are not affiliated with any religious faith, but Stephens said the Air Force ”has no authority over the statements of that organization.”
Last week, Mary L. Walker, the Air Force’s top lawyer, wrote in a letter to Weinstein’s attorney that an Air Force chaplain service document ”might have been understood to represent such a policy statement” on evangelizing, but the document was withdrawn from use. Stephens said Walker was referring to the Air Force code of ethics statement.
Weinstein filed his suit last week in federal court in New Mexico. Among the evidence he cited was a July 12 New York Times article that quoted Air Force deputy chief of chaplains Brigadier General Cecil R. Richardson as saying, ”We will not proselytize, but we reserve the right to evangelize the unchurched.”
The Air Force’s participation in a three-day evangelical event in Georgia last May raised Constitutional questions according to Americans United.
The event is being hosted by Task Force Patriot USA, as well as LifeWay Christian Stores, the publishing house of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and Holman Bible Outreach International.
According to Task Force Patriot USA’s Web site, the organization exists “for the purpose of sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all U.S. military, military veterans and families,” and “Christ is our Commander-in-Chief.” The group’s logo is a shield centered with a Christian cross with its sides bracketed by an American flag and Christian flag.
The May 26-28 event at Stone Mountain Park is billed as a “Salute To The Troops, Memorial Day Celebration,” but the program includes a Christian worship service and heavy emphasis on evangelical outreach.
The event will feature hourly flyovers by Air Force Jets, including B-2 stealth bombers, parachute jumps by the U.S. Army’s Silver Wings Parachute Jump Team and speeches from top military and former military officials and evangelical Christian preachers, including the former SBC president, Bobby Welch.
An events schedule from Task Force Patriot USA’s Web site lists as speakers military officials, such as U.S. Air Force Major Brian “Jethro” Neal, a B-2 pilot, who is to give his personal “testimony” during a worship service that is to feature a B-2 flyover.
A few months later the Military Religious Freedom Foundation had to take the Pentagon to task. Apparently the Pentagon had planned to send American soldiers in Iraq “freedom packages”.
What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which “soldiers for Christ” hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU. Headed by former kickboxer Jonathan Spinks, OSU is an official member of the Defense Department’s “America Supports You” program. The group has staged a number of Christian-themed shows at military bases, featuring athletes, strongmen and actor-turned-evangelist Stephen Baldwin. But thanks in part to the support of the Pentagon, Operation Straight Up has now begun focusing on Iraq, where, according to its website (on pages taken down last week), it planned an entertainment tour called the “Military Crusade.”
Apparently the wonks at the Pentagon forgot that Muslims tend to bristle at the word “crusade” and thought that what the Iraq war lacked was a dose of end-times theology.
In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.
The MRFF finally laid it all out with a lawsuit (actually a wave of lawsuits) that definitively alleged that Christianity is mandatory in the US military.
INFLUENCE OF THE FUNDAMENTALIST & APOCALYPTIC CHRISTIAN RIGHT IN THE US MILITARY
1. Uncovered preliminary evidence that top Pentagon officials who appeared in the Christian Embassy video, the subject of a Pentagon Inspector General’s report, may have lied in their testimony to the inspector general.
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3. Documented the apocalyptic theological views of the US Army’s new head of chaplains, Douglas L. Carver.
4. Discovered that, in 2005, the Pentagon invited evangelist Dave Kistler into the Pentagon, along with ministry volunteers who brought Kistler’s ministry PA system, to give two consecutive sermons in the Pentagon courtyard at lunch while Pentagon employees were eating their lunch. The Pentagon’s head chaplain called this “cutting edge evangelism”.
5. Uncovered a pattern of Christian nationalist public events held last summer, across the US (details to be released in upcoming MRFF lawsuits) which featured Pentagon endorsements of various kinds violating DoD regulations on the endorsement of religious groups.
6. Investigated alallegations of anti-Semitism at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. That research, in turn, led to the exposure of an egregious anti-semitic incident at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
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8. In general, conducted an unprecedented survey into the influence of the Christian right in the US military, that we’ll soon be publishing, provisionally under the title “The MRFF report” (stay tuned). Never before has anyone attempted even a remotely comprehensive survey of this research area. Jeffrey Scahill’s book on Blackwater was a fine piece of work… But, this is more central still - Blackwater is big, but the Pentagon is truly vast, and the work Chris and I have done, for MRFF, has demonstrated an extent of influence never before recognized.
But the Christian extremism and intolerance has yet to end. Case in point,Jeremy Hall.
Remember the story about the soldier in Iraq who tried to organize an atheist group at his camp and had the first meeting broken up by an officer? His name is Jeremy Hall and he is now suing the Pentagon, backed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. And it looks like that was not the only incident where officers mistreated him because of his atheism:
“Immediately after plaintiff made it known he would decline to join hands and pray, he was confronted, in the presence of other military personnel, by the senior ranking … staff sergeant who asked plaintiff why he did not want to pray, whereupon plaintiff explained because he is an atheist,” says the lawsuit, a copy of which was provided to Truthout. “The staff sergeant asked plaintiff what an atheist is and plaintiff responded it meant that he (plaintiff) did not believe in God. This response caused the staff sergeant to tell plaintiff that he would have to sit elsewhere for the Thanksgiving dinner. Nonetheless, plaintiff sat at the table in silence and finished his meal.”
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Moreover, the complaint alleges that on August 7, when Hall received permission by an Army chaplain to organize a meeting of other soldiers who shared his atheist beliefs, his supervisor, Army Major Paul Welborne, broke up the gathering and threatened to retaliate against the soldier by charging him with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The complaint also alleges that Welborne vowed to block Hall’s reenlistment in the Army if the atheist group continued to meet - a violation of Hall’s First Amendment rights under the Constitution. Welborne is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Spc. Hall since then.
TOPEKA, Kan. - A soldier claimed Wednesday that his promotion was blocked because he had claimed in a lawsuit that the Army was violating his right to be an atheist.
ADVERTISEMENTAttorneys for Spc. Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation refiled the federal lawsuit Wednesday in Kansas City, Kan., and added a complaint alleging that the blocked promotion was in response to the legal action.
The suit was filed in September but dropped last month so the new allegations could be included. Among the defendants are Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
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According to the lawsuit, Hall was counseled by his platoon sergeant after being informed that his promotion was blocked. He says the sergeant explained that Hall would be “unable to put aside his personal convictions and pray with his troops” and would have trouble bonding with them if promoted to a leadership position.
Hall responded that religion is not a requirement of leadership, even though the sergeant wondered how he had rights if atheism wasn’t a religion. Hall said atheism is protected under the Army’s chaplain’s manual.
“It shouldn’t matter if one is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist,” said Pedro Irigonegaray, an attorney whose firm filed the lawsuit. “In the military, all are equal and to be considered equal.”
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Hall’s attorneys say Fort Riley has permitted a culture promoting Christianity and anti-Islamic sentiment, including posters quoting conservative columnist Ann Coulter and sale of a book, “A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam,” at the post exchange.
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If I had my druthers I’d do this. Given that the military is hell-bent on discriminating so strongly against not only gay people but non-Christians, I would advocate for anybody who fell into that category to simply not enlist or get out at their earliest opportunity. The military is already hurting for recruits regardless of whatever monetary bonuses and other incentives they offer. Imagine how much more they’d suffer if their candidate pool dropped by the number of gay and non-Christian people that would be choosing not to participate in their discriminatory organization.
Of course I know my fantasy is impractical for a number of reasons. There are a variety of reasons non-Christians and gay individuals choose to serve in the military despite the bigotries they face. Nonetheless I can envision a mass boycott if for no other reason than for my own personal satisfaction.
But, of course, legal and advocacy organizations will keep up the good fight to end the bigotry against non-Christians so that all may serve openly and equally. As it should be.
