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

[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.