If I Hear One More Evangelical Christian Pundit, Blogger or Politician Whining About How Persecuted their Religion is, I Swear to The Flying Spaghetti Monster My Head Will Explode, Part 6,384
(posted by Mona)
[Important Addendum at End]
You might think that the United States Armed Forces — charged with protecting the Constitution and the rights therein for all Americans — might not itself discriminate on the basis of religion or irreligion. Yet the New York Times reports that when Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, an officer attended to berate him, shrieking (according to Hall and one other attendee):
“People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!”
Major [Freddy J.] Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, according to [Hall's] statement.
Since then, Hall says has was repeatedly threatened and his tour in Iraq cut short. He is suing on the basis that his right to be free of state-endorsed religion has been violated.
The Times article also notes an:
….incident involv[ing] seven officers, including four generals, who appeared, in uniform and in violation of military regulations, in a 2006 fund-raising video for the Christian Embassy, an evangelical Bible study group.
[...]
“Religion is inextricably intertwined with their jobs,” [Mikey Weinstein, a retired Air Force judge advocate general and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation] said. “You’re promoted by who you pray with.”
This, from those who are fighting those who “hate us for our freedom.” Pfffft.
***
I strongly encourage all to watch the video that begins when one visits the web site for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. This latest story about Specialist Hall is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the unacceptable military imprimatur given to a particular religion — evangelical Xianity.
(h/t Allahpundit writing at Michelle Malkin’s Hot Air blog — he doesn’t like the video and finds the first 20 seconds “disgusting.”)
April 26th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
If an interest in atheism is all it takes to get one’s tour in Iraq cut short, then the armed forces may soon be full of people claiming to be atheists.
“Don’t believe, do tell!”
April 26th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
That would kill the old saw about there being no atheists in foxholes.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
“Don’t believe, do tell!”
LOL. .
(One wonders how a guy would fare if he announced he was a gay, atheist, communist considering a conversion to Islam, but not until he has his sex change operation so his bra and matching panties would fit better.)
But really, this bullspit is serious, and has got to stop.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
It’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
The military has always been a separate subculture, much more closely connected to the Southern, red-state segment of the US than to the country as a whole. These tendencies have been exacerbated by the rise of right-wing xianity and the Bush regime. Here’s an 11 year old article on this rift, I’m sure things have gotten worse since then. The loyalty of the military to its civilan commanders is a proud tradition but not something that is guaranteed to hold in the future. There was tension there in the Clinton administration; in an Obama or HIllary administration I would expect those tensions to be even greater.
April 27th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Personally, while this is relatively shocking to someone with even the slightest belief in Seperation of Church and State, after the end of the State, what will it matter? Too often people waste efforts in my opinion arguing about women in combat or in this case atheists, when the more important issue is the abolition of the standing army and the replacement of it with citizen militias from voluntary communities united in common defense ala ARV or my rudementarily “newb” understanding of how a contractual B.Tucker-type society would defend itself. (The esteemed Mr. Carson please correct me on this if I’m wrong, I’m but a simple mind who has read your book and individual liberty online and found this website).
April 27th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
As a Christian I find this episode appalling, and the ignorance of the military officers more so, i.e. the founding fathers were largely NOT orthodox Christians (and that is why there is no religious test for public office).
April 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[...] writes about the effort to cleanse the Air Force of the scourge of atheism. Posted by Jim Henley @ 10:42 pm, Filed under: Main « « The Hoods of the Prisoners [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
To hear Evangelical Christians talk about persecution is so comical.
Who is it that hates the gays again?