The Christian Right Assault on America – Government and the Military

Here I am again reminding you all of the dangers this country faces if the Religious Right ever takes power. I recently read a book, The Baptizing of America by Rabbi Jerry Rudin. In his book he states his qualifications to write on the subject then goes in to detail on all the facets of our society these people plan to dominate. As most who have read my writings on this subject know, those areas are Government, Education, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Religion, Family and Media. I have written on this before but in reading the Good Rabbi’s book I realized just how deeply these people could threaten not only our country but the world. Rabbi Rudin got down to the nitty gritty in each area of cultural influence so I decided I would write again and use his book as a template. In the first installment, I will cover Government.

IMHO, Iraq and Afghanistan were “tests” to determine how proselytizing would work in the ME or another country but with the use of a military. What other reason could there be for handing out propaganda to our servicemen and women, using religious media by the Pentagon for White House memos or for turning the Air Force Academy into a religious institution? It is well known these people are out to turn the world to Christ and what better way to do it than with the biggest and strongest military in the world? Can you imagine a despot like Kim Jung Il having our military at his disposal? The damage he could do? The reach of his arm? Well why not the Christocrats(this is the name Rabbi Rudin has assigned to them so I will follow his lead)? We already know Iraq was a war for god, Israel is being courted with Evangelical money, donating buildings and such to curry favor there, why not use the Military as your “missionairies for God”?

Chaplains in the military have seen a decrease in Mainline Christian representation as opposed to Evangelicals in the past decade. While just 3 percent of the military’s enlisted personnel and officers call themselves Southern Baptist, Pentecostal or a member of a denomination that’s part of the National Association of Evangelicals, 33 percent of chaplains in the military are members of one of those groups, according to Pentagon statistics. And the disparity could soon widen. Data from the Air Force indicate that 87 percent of those seeking to become chaplains are enrolled at evangelical divinity schools. If that is not enough to keep you up at night then nothing will. We are seeing situations in Afghanistan right now that would reinforce this school of thought. The burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Force Base, I believe, was not a mistake. And the perceived insults are many: not only troops’ sometimes heavy-handed treatment of ordinary Afghans, or the video that surfaced last month of U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of Taliban fighters, but also men and women consorting freely in heavily guarded international compounds, or the consumption of alcohol at restaurants with a mainly non-Afghan clientele. And just this weekend a soldier left his base and went on a shooting spree killing 16 Afghans. Any of these incidents by themselves would be bad but in total they point to a serious problem for non-Evangelicals who are serving as well. If I were an Afghani would I know the difference? Most likely not. But instead of training our military in the culture of the country they will be in, the Evangelicals are more worried about Jesus Tracts, Jesus on military hardware and encourgement by some leaders to actively proselytize in country.

“This is not just about relations with the U.S.,” researcher Martine van Bijlert wrote on the website of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in the first days of the Koran-burning protests. “This is part of a wider struggle over what kind of society Afghanistan is becoming, over who the custodians of religious power will be and what they will use it for.”

The Bible initiative in Iraq was handled by former Army chaplain Jim Ammerman, the 83-year-old founder of the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC), an organization in charge of endorsing 270 chaplains and chaplain candidates for the armed services. Ammerman worked with an evangelical group based in Arkansas, the International Missions Network Center, to distribute the Bibles through the efforts of his 40 active-duty chaplains in Iraq. A 2003 newsletter for the group said of the effort, “The goal is to establish a wedge for the kingdom of God in the Middle East, directly affecting the Islamic world.” Wedge issues seem to be the favorite of Evangelicals and quite frankly they are gaining in their efforts.

The effort is an example of what critics call a growing culture of militarized Christianity in the armed forces. It is influenced in part by changes in outlook among the various branches’ 2,900 chaplains, who are sworn to serve all soldiers, regardless of religion, with a respectful, religiously pluralistic approach. However, with an estimated two thirds of all current chaplains affiliated with evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, which often prioritize conversion and evangelizing, and a marked decline in chaplains from Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches, this ideal is suffering. According to Mikey Weinstein of the MRFF(Military Religious Freedom Foundation), “The vast majority of chaplains now see the military as a mission field with a lot of low-hanging fruit.” A significant MRFF victory arrived in 2011 when the US Air Force, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Foundation, revised its training course taught to nuclear missile launch officers. The course, defended by a spokesman for the Air Force’s Air Training and Education Command as meant to ““help folks understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. In the missile launch industry, it takes a certain mindset to be able to walk in the door and say, yes, I can do that” included a presentation, Who Are You When No One Is Looking: Five Ethical Principles For Service To The Air Force, which largely revolves around Biblical imagery and scriptural text as well as prominently-featured quotations from the Christian Just War Theory of St. Augustine of Hippo in addition to former Nazi Party member and SS Officer Wernher Von Braun, who is quoted as stating that “We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon (the ballistic missile) to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world best be secured.” MRFF client and missile officer training attendee Damon Bosetti recounted to the media that he and his Air Force colleagues would refer to the religious portion of the ethics training course as the “Jesus loves nukes speech”. How much clearer can the Evangelicals make their intentions should they gain the White House again? Nukes in the hands of religious fanatics is never a good thing. Isn’t that precisely what Evangelicals keep telling us about Iran? I doubt if it would be much of a stretch for them to revamp their policies and come up with another false flag operation to justify going to war with another country they feel is not sufficient in their religious practices.

The other piece of their government renovation is city, state and national offices filled with Evangelicals or republicans that are sensitive to their agenda. This has happened all over the country as can be affirmed by the number of wedge issues being taken up by the local, state and national levels. Congressional Republicans or Teapers ran on a platform of jobs jobs jobs. NOT one single jobs bill has made it out of the House but plenty of wedge bills have, mostly targeting women or minorities. In their world women are subservient and minorities just do not count unless they are in alignment with Evangelicals.

And make no mistake their full intention is to change the rules of the road so that they can install a Despot for God in the White House with no term limit. House of Representatives, the Senate and the court systems to boot. What are you currently hearing from Republican candidates with regard to the constitution? From The Nation’s John Nichols:

Embracing a fringe interpretation of Constitutional mandates regarding the scope and character of the federal government, Santorum argues that the judicial branch should be seen as being subservient to the executive and legislative branches because—and Santorum really is serious about this—the section of the Constitution that outlines the plan for a federal judiciary comes after the articles that conceived the presidency and the Congress.

Santorum’s view, which roughly parallels that of Gingrich, represents a radical reinterpretation of the existing power of Congress to create new courts—a necessity in a growing country. It would give members of the House and Senate sweeping authority to police and punish judges who respect the law, as opposed to the demands of political partisans and extreme ideologues.

That, of course, is the whole point of Rick Santorum.

He is not a “constitutional conservative.” And he is certainly not a proponent of the principle, advanced by the founders, that the United States should be governed by the rule of law, not the rule of men. Quite the opposite. For Santorum, it is the rule of men—particularly right-wing evangelical men—that supersedes the rule of law as outlined in the Constitution.

That Constitution has been assaulted all too frequently in recent years by Republican and Democratic presidents. But the battering it would take from Santorum, whose candidacy has been built on a promise to radically rewrite and even more radically reinterpret the document, would be unprecedented.

One thing I have still not figured out is Mitt Romney. While he is a “compliant” candidate, he too has a strong Mormon background and they have their own issues with the constitution that do not mix well with Evangelicals so it is somewhat of a dark horse. Some would ask the question, How would they go about accomplishing a feat like changing our constitution? It is really pretty simple. Look around the country and just think about how many states are currently sponsoring some type of bill designed to erode either minority or women’s rights? Then think about another disastrous election like 2010……that is how it is done. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable regarding these people but when I think of all the years they have had working on their plan I feel like a very small fish swimming in a tank with great white sharks. But I will continue to talk to people. Even if I have reached a small portion of the country it is better than to have remained silent.

I know I do not have to convince most of the readers here however there are still many people in this country who are not sufficiently informed on the issue. I know it is not anywhere near the same thing as the Holocaust however I can still draw parallels to the overall idea. Will they proceed with a systematic killing of Americans? Probably not, but non-believers will certainly not receive the same benefits as believers and will most likely be relegated to the inner cities or rural areas where they can be invisible. Should they have their way most people will shake their heads and ask why? I would not like to be around to tell them exactly why. Truth be told I will probably get out of the country if that happens.

The next segment will cover education. Until then have a great week.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165371/rising-rick-santorum-would-rewrite-constitution-abolish-courts