Religion, Government, and Military

[mijan]

I've launched upon a personal mission this year.  I'm investigating the ways in which the evangelical and fundamentalist Christians are taking over our government and its agencies, forcing their beliefs down the throats of our troops (whether they want it or not), gaining special privileges, and enacting prejudice and discrimination against those of other faiths.  Even non-evangelical Christians are targets.  Pagans are the Devil-worshippers, and Atheists... don't even go there.

Before I go any further, allow me to post a disclaimer here:  This is NOT anti-Christian.  NOT at all.  What I'm doing is pointing out a gross violation of the principle of separating church and state.  TAX DOLLARS are being used to fund an EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN group, which then goes and force-feeds their religion to soldiers without restraint.  I have no problem with people believing in God, Allah, Jehovah, Apollo, the Green Man, the Goddess, the Maiden-Mother-Crone, Zeus, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  I don't care if you want to cover yourself in finger paint and dance the tango in honor of your preferred god-form.  GO FOR IT.  You can even print out "information" pamphlets for your religion and hand them out on the sidewalk if you wish (using your own money, of course, not tax dollars).  Just don't do it on government time.  Don't use the military to evangelize a captive audience.  And don't do what the Department of Defense is doing now with "Operation Straight Up", or "OSU" as I'll call it here:

There's a group that sends "entertainment" troupes to "boost morale" for deployed soldiers and marines.  This group is called the OSU, and they're basically an evangelical cover-group.  They're actually an OFFICIAL arm of the "America Supports You" group, which is part of the Department of Defense.  Non-religious entertainment isn't an option either.  The OSU is basically a government-sanctioned evangelizing force.  They even have a page on their website telling people how to get out of paying taxes.  It's NUTS.  Look:

The main page of America Supports You.
The Cover Page of the OSU.

The article in the Army Times, which is the big Army newspaper, and generally unbiased and reliable.  If anything, they're sometimes biased towards the conservative-Christian slant, but even here, they're neutral-to-disapproving of what the OSU is doing.  The facts are presented in a very straight-forward manner.
To quote my old Drill Sergeant: "What's REALLY going on here?"
The Evangelical Video Game BARELY stopped from being sent to all the troops.
Some insight and information.. well-written article.

This stuff is being paid by the government.  Your tax dollars are supporting an evangelical Christian propaganda group.  And they're force-feeding it to the troops to the exclusion of all other religions or beliefs.  In fact, most of the complaints have come from Christians of other denominations who are tired of being fed such offensive rhetoric.  Please, for the sake of the Soldiers, call your congressmen and senators.  Write some letters.  You want to support the troops?  Then help them to exercise one of the most basic freedoms of all Americans: freedom of religion.

Comments

[fleurdeliser.livejournal.com]

Bah.

I hate this crap. There are many things that I am unhappy about regarding the denomination I grew up in, but at this moment, I am quite proud that they've always taken a stance against this melding of church and state and have fought with the ACLU and other organizations against it.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

There are many Christians who are unhappy about, and embarrassed by, the evangelicals who are using the government to push their agenda. Most of the complaints about these groups in the military are lodged BY Christians. Like I said, this is NOT an anti-Christian thing AT ALL. It's against those select groups that are using and abusing the power of the government to preach.

I thank you for being one of those who believe that faith and government shouldn't mix. *sends cookies*

[fleurdeliser.livejournal.com]

*eats cookies happily*

I'm not really sure what I believe anymore, but one of the few things I'm certain of is that whatever religion I choose (or don't choose, as the case may be), it shouldn't mix with government. At all. Ever.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Exactly. People need to come to their own conclusions about god, faith, spirituality, or lack thereof on their own. Anytime you mix government with religion, it automatically becomes an abuse of power OR a means to control and subdue the population. It's never about God. Just power and control.

*shares the cookies*
*nom nom nom*

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

This seems outrageous. I don't know how things work in the US - isn't it possible for other religious organizations (non-evangelical christians, non-christians) to claim equal amounts of money from the same governmental board on the grounds of equality - and (as soon as this is denied as it will be, because no government on earth will have enough money to endow every religion including the flying spaghetti monster)go to court for it, claiming a violation of your constitution?

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Well, technically, that's the way it's SUPPOSED to be, but the evangelical leaders have SO much money, power, influence, and insider-privilage, it would never work. They're almost ingrained into the government at this point, and they feel that it's their DUTY, as assigned by God, to evangelize, convert, and control the world. It's really fucking scary. We're heading for a holy war.

[estellye.livejournal.com]

Amen sister. ;) It's absolutely outrageous the extent to which our right to freedom of religion has been ignored and trampled in favor of a conservative Christian political agenda. "Christian" and "political agenda" should be completely antithetical, and yet...

The fact that you even need to post a disclaimer that you are not anti-Christian in order to support separation of church and state is an alarming state of affairs. Heaven (or whatever, lol) knows if you hadn't, somebody would have jumped on you for it. In fact just writing here I have this almost uncontrollable urge to shout I am Christian (though of such a spiritual and non-religious point of view I would no doubt be glommed into the category of Pagan or New Ager ie: going to hell). These days any hint of disagreement with the propaganda of the conservative Christians is suddenly perceived as Christian bashing and un-American of all things. How did that faulty logic become acceptable? Never mind, I was here and I saw it happening after 9/11 but I hoped it would level off.

The whole thing is unconscionable and you better believe I am going to take a closer look at the articles you linked and let my reps know what I think. Thanks for the post!

[multiclassgeek.livejournal.com]

I've probably mentioned this before, but in the context of what you're mentioning here, I recommend dark_christian as an excellent resource. It deals with the whole Dominionist Evangelical Agenda, from the Army Chaplaincy business, right up to how certain denominations in the US use mentally coercive techniques to influence their flock.

Also of note are Theocracy Watch and (more specifically to this) Mikey Weinstein's Military Religious Freedom Foundation - There are more good links over at DC

[multiclassgeek.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I should mention DailyKos as well

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

One of my favorites is <a href="http://www.wildhunt.org/2007/12/top-ten-pagan-stories-of-2007-part-two.html>The Wildhunt Blog</a>, which keeps tabs on pagans in the military and the incursions of evangelicals into the US military.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I already watch dark_christian on my f-list. I've already been watching Mike Weinstein's site, and have registered on his message boards. I'll check out Theocracy Watch, too. Thanks!

[kuiskata]

Hear, hear!

I'm not American, but hearing the election campaigns, and people in government, and things like this - it scares me. The church should be completely and entirely separate from the government, no matter the country or the government. When church starts creeping into government with a bias towards a single religion or religious denomination, then it is time for people in power to stop and say: "something needs to change," as unlikely as that is to ever happen.

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

It is increasingly scary that the Army has become a recruiting site for evangelicals with the seeming blessing of the government. I have seen articles saying that pagans and other non-mainstream folks in the military sometimes fear for their lives because they refuse to convert.

I know people are not nearly as interested, but the same sort of thing is happening in prisons. Under the guise of removing material that might incite violence, the Bureau of Prisons sent out lists of approved books early last year. When those book lists surfaced, it was found that they were heavily biased toward evangelical materials, and contained no materials for non-mainstream religions. The Bureau had to back off and make another list, but signs are that this one is not much better.

[aidenfire]

The link to the OSU doesn't seem to be working? This seems like an important issue; I wanted to check it out for myself.

ETA: I found the page, and under Live Entertainment it says "We receive no funds what-so-ever from the government and they have made it clear to us that they cannot support us financially. "

Is this because they receive funds from the ASU, as opposed to the DOD directly?

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I would guess so, yes. It's a two-layer separation, but that doesn't negate the original source of the funds. I'll have to look into it more, but it seems very cut-and-dry. Of course, there's a chance that there's no FINANCIAL affiliation with the government, and that the OSU gets its money from other sources... but regardless, it's STILL an official branch of an official branch of the Department of Defense. To me, that makes it officially sanctioned and supported by the government. I still think that's where they get their money. I'll have to look closer. I don't want to spread slander... I just want the truth, one way or another.

[dracavia]

I can't seem to find the "What We Believe" page or the verse that the Axis of Logic article references. I'm going to suspect OSU took them down because they were being pointed out. However, I found some other pieces on the founder's page that bother me.

Apparently the group was spurred out of the fellowship that developed around the CEO's son's fight and loss to cancer. That's all well and good, and understandable, but to actually write this:

His life proves, like many heroes in our military, that sometimes people have to die so that others may live.

Whether you believe that sentiment or not, writing it about a 3 year old boy? Far from what I'd call kosher behavior really. But what bothers me more is further down the page. In the CEO's bio near the bottom in the section addressed to the "Military Churched & Un-Churched" he quotes the following:

Rev. 12:11 “…they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony."

If you look that passage up for the full text you find out it's about the violent casting down of the dragon that represents Satan in chapter 12 of Revelations... Now personally I'm not sure whether to be more annoyed/worried that this is yet another example of quoting pieces of biblical text out of context for one's personal purposes, or worse yet that he's actually alluding to Armageddon-esqu fighting as described in that text.

These people really are the scary kind of nuts. My mother's conservative Presbyterian church that I grew up in actually politely asked a small group that was heavily into the Revelations extremism to leave their congregation because they didn't feel the group held with traditional Christian values. I don't consider myself Presbyterian anymore, haven't for a few years, but I can't help but feel proud of them for that, given the increasingly accepted prevalence these Revelationist attitudes have been having.

Edit - fixed a couple typos I missed

[tsuj.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, we live in a scary, scary world.
Why just check out what presidential hopeful, Mike Huckabee, has to say about homosexuals and abortion:
http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=0287e68b-f783-46ad-9445-f3fd31c008ca

Be afraid. Be very afraid...

*tries to stop knees from knocking together*

[mijan.livejournal.com]

And he tries so hard to sound like a compassionate bigot, too. A bigot can't hide his stripes unless he actually changes his stripes. I can't picture him getting elected.

...

But then I couldn't picture Bush getting re-elected.

I think I might join the Lakota Nation. Did you hear about that? The Lakota Indians of the northern plains have SECEDED from the United States. They've declared themselves a soverign nation, apart from the USA, and have invited people to join them. I'm tempted. I'm really tempted.