W.J. Astore
Disturbing, upsetting, baffling: these words often apply when young troops face religious pressure or discrimination for the first time.
And it disturbs, upsets, and baffles me that a nation founded on religious freedom produces people that want to abridge or eliminate that freedom in the (false) name of following Christ.
It also disturbs, upsets, and baffles me that a military that is supposed to defend our Constitutional freedoms, to include freedom of religion, occasionally works in ways that undermine that very freedom.
I was born and raised within the Catholic church, but I would never push my religious beliefs on someone else. Certainly not in a military context, in which supervisory authority is nearly absolute.
I believe there is a place for God (or gods, or no god) in the military, and a place for chaplains. Troops should be able to worship freely in the military, as is their right as American citizens. But there’s no place for proselytizing, pressure, “mandatory” Bible studies, and all the rest of that.
I remember how much Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy changed between my first tour there (1990-92) and my second (1998-2002). Lots of evangelical organizations (like Focus on the Family) built headquarters just to the east of the AF Academy. I started to see that evangelical influence permeate the Academy. I suppose I was lucky I left in 2002, just before the scandals involving religious discrimination broke.
The military attracts many young people looking for certitude as well as a mission, a calling. Some of these young people come to espouse a narrow form of “Christianity,” one that sees itself as uniquely American and uniquely suited to a military context.
Yet how can troops take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, which enshrines freedom of religion, and then work to curtail or offend the religious freedoms of others?
Here’s what people need to remember about military settings: the authority of your direct supervisor is nearly absolute. If your drill sergeant, your platoon commander, your company commander, makes it obvious that he or she favors Christianity, it puts enormous pressure on subordinates to conform, or at least to fake it.
If your boss in a civilian setting is an assertive Christian evangelist, at least you have the option of quitting (however painful that might prove). There is no option in the military of “quitting” your platoon, your company, your unit. Furthermore, in a war zone, refusing to conform to an evangelical zealot as a leader could literally become a matter of life and death. Hey, Private Jones, you’re an atheist: go ahead and walk point again, i.e. take the lead as the unit walks through dangerous enemy territory infested with IEDs and snipers. Maybe that’ll give you some faith in God. Ha ha.
Again, the U.S. military must remember its purpose: to support and defend the Constitution. In fulfilling that purpose, there is simply no place for evangelism of any religion, Christian or otherwise.
Note: Since 2005, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has fought to ensure religious freedom within military settings. The foundation represents nearly 45,000 service members, 96% of whom identify as Christian. Find out more about the MRFF at http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org.
Bracing Views 
Associating religion in any form with the power of the state — especially its military arm — violates the Constitution. Nevertheless, both civilian officials and religious hucksters have historically found in each other a kindred soul whose own political and economic self-interest prospers most in an atmosphere of unquestioning obedience to “authority.” Thus, each head of the totalitarian Siamese twin eagerly provides the other with a different side of the blind-obedience coin. As Thomas Jefferson put it:
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814
Putting professional religious persons into a military uniform obviously violates the Constitution, but since when have either civilian or military “authorities” worried about violating that which they proclaim most “sacred”? Unfortunately for easily terrified Americans, the mutual back-scratching of he “commander in chief” and his military/religious minions works quite well for them both due to its deep psychological basis in:
Boobie Unconscious Projection
(from Fernando Po, U.S.A., America’s post-literate retreat to Plato’s Cave)
The Boobie Grand Ventriloquist
Put on a sight to see
He showed just how projection works
And did it all for free
(Except for a “donation” that
He called “gratuity”)
A giant statue sat on stage
As huge as any tree
A little man then sat upon
A giant wooden knee
And threw a voice out of himself
Like it had come from “HE”
In normal tones of voice this man
Impressed no one at all
But when he shouted “GAWD IZ GRATE!”
A hush consumed the hall
And into Boobie minds there seeped
A sick miasmic pall
The statue never moved an inch
As wooden things don’t do
But on its knee the little man
Had started turning blue
(It seemed that he had held his breath
And counted up to two)
“Don’t let him die!” the crowd beseeched
In rapt insanity
Then color came back to his face;
He breathed more easily
(It seemed that he had exhaled once
He’d counted up to three)
“HE heard your prayers!” the man rejoiced
“As you can clearly see!
And what is more, you’d best believe
That HE looks out for me.
I’m just HIS trusted messenger
Who brings HIS plans for thee.”
“I cannot move but by HIS will.
I serve at HIS command.
This BIG GUY that you see right here
Would rather not demand;
But if HE has to, you can bet
That here’s what HE’s got planned …”
The little man brought down the house
And as the curtain fell
The Boobies clapped and danced and sang
Enchanted by the spell
They’d all heard GAWD HIMSELF dispense
Commands that went down well
In Boobie red-state USA
The trick works quite the same
Where Boobie George has jury-rigged
A “GAWD” that “hears” its name
Invoked each time that Boobie George
Desires to light a flame
But out in “heartland” USA
Where trees and acres live
A different symbol scheme requires
The Boobies to forgive
The Boobie George’s brain that leaks
Much like a mental sieve
You see, with all the things gone wrong
At home and overseas
The sacrilegious thought might grow
That GAWD had heard no pleas
From wounded, dying soldiers or
Those looted Iraqis
So bumbling Boobie George ginned up
A Rube Goldberg machine
That cranked out TV symbols of
A patriotic scene
Implying GAWD had exercised
HIS choice to intervene
One symbol looked just like a flag
The old Red-White-and-Blue
But blown up to gigantic size
So none would miss the cue
That GAWD and FLAG had just conspired
To make one thing from two
The GAWD-FLAG that George had designed
Contained no flaws or blights
Its crude associations let
No mind elude its slights
As Boobies found their simple thoughts
Compressed to rude sound-bites
The image of the little man
In GAWD-FLAG’s awesome lights
Consumed the Boobie targets who
Could not escape its sights
It hit them, like the sailors say,
Between the running lights
And Boobie sailors in the crowd
Went psycho — lewd and hushed:
They spent like drunken Reagans and
At Cheney’s language blushed
They didn’t know to go hog-wild
Or just feel simply crushed
And Boobie soldiers looking on
In groups of two’s and three’s
Morphed suddenly in Photoshop
To number as the bees
That swarm about a honey comb
Adoring queens who tease
And Boobie airmen out on leave
From their academy
Felt suddenly compelled to stop
Harassing property
Preferring to assault fellow
Cadets, both he and she
And Guardsmen working at the jails
Saw all of this and more
They took it in and then commenced
To beat their charges sore
Why not, when all their leadership
Had gone to sleep to snore
Associating little man
With GAWD-FLAG has its price
Convincing fearful Boobies that
They needn’t act so nice
Combining fright and power to
Turn humans into lice
Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright © 2005
Yes, fellow Crimestoppers, I think that about covers the subject for today.
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