I think this is the result of many complex factors, one of them being that the military is now drawing largely from the underclass, from which the evangelicals draw a lot of new recruits as well.

In this vein, I also remember reading that there are many places in this country where the military is considered as the primary career option for those getting out of high school who don’t have any specific goals. No surprise, since god and country seem to be inextricably intertwined in this country, those are also heavy bible thumping areas. There’s another source of the slant towards a christian army.

Sorry if that last phrase gives anyone nightmares….

I’m sick of it, I really am – and it’s time we stopped being civil and began decrying this belief publicly. They like to cry “victim”, yet they’ve been getting a free pass for years; everyone is scared to death of them now. It’s time we stopped tolerating it.

Absolutely!!!!!!

So if terrorists attacked – you could have just put a spell on them?

And for the record, my direct experience (from a long time ago), was that Atheism was not tolerated. I was required to put a religion on my dog tag, they would not even allow “none” at the time.

I put lawful good cleric – I wanted to die with my DM guide!

Interestingly, the Colonel in charge feels it necessary to tell incoming chaplains, “This is not a Christian summer camp.” And, of course, toward the end, there’s the obligatory evangelical just champing at the bit to tell the unsaved about “God’s word”.

Thanks for writing about this. As I said, it’s a serious problem.

I think this is the result of many complex factors, one of them being that the military is now drawing largely from the underclass, from which the evangelicals draw a lot of new recruits as well. They’re poorly educated, and it’s an easy theology for them to grasp, and many have hard lives, so it gives them hope.

As I said in the thread about prison evangelism, I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing, but I draw the line at salvific exclusivism. They want or need to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and that afterward they’re going to a beautiful place where God will make it up to them for kicking the crap out of them all of their lives? Fine; I wouldn’t be the one to take it away from them. But they can’t seem to do it without damning everyone who disagrees with them to hell for all of eternity. It’s a projection of their own self-hatred onto the archetypal sky god-father-creator figure, and it’s been going on since Augustine, if not longer. I’m sick of it, I really am – and it’s time we stopped being civil and began decrying this belief publicly. They like to cry “victim”, yet they’ve been getting a free pass for years; everyone is scared to death of them now. It’s time we stopped tolerating it.

I’m being ironic of course, but yes I understand the concern over religion and its influence over publically funded and federally governed institutions like the military.

What I do not approve is sweeping statements of the sort that I see so regularly of late: that the military is a Christian’s only club. It’s not the case and it hasn’t been the case for a very long time. It’s easy to be on the outside and look in and see the cases of bigotry and prejudice but on the whole I’ve found the people in positions of authority in the U.S. Army to be more balanced, accepting and honorable than any I’ve found working in the private sector.

I understand the passion that being discriminated against can create, but I also strongly believe in maintaining mental balance and trying not to get too wrapped up in our own side of an issue. I do think it’s important that these stories be told because without oversight the honor that I appreciate seeing can be eaten away by these other subversive religious elements, but again I wish I saw more objectivism and less activism.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/17380
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/25659

I was in the Navy for ten years and never experienced any discrimination. But there definitely seems to be groups that practice it.