JESUS KILLS

Let me start by saying that this is a difficult post to write. I am the son of a veteran of the conflict in Vietnam, my uncle was a chaplain in the military and I have relatives currently serving in the armed forces. I respect and thank them for their service and realize that to varying degrees, their faith played a part in their being able to endure that period in their lives. While there is some validity to the argument that it's their service that protects the constitutional freedoms that allow me to speak openly about my convictions the way that I do, there are just some things that I refuse to ignore.

It's 1967, and my Father has just recently returned from his stint serving the U.S. Marine Corps for eleven months building pontoon bridges in Vietnam. The Assemblies of God Church, the largest evangelical christian denomination in the world and the one I was raised in, takes notice of the social struggle internationally as well as domestically that the conflict is causing and changes it's longstanding position of pacifism and embraces the worldly support of war and the US military as a metaphor for their spiritual struggle. To that point in time, the religious life in the Military had been largely populated by moderate mainstream conservative denominations like the Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians. The evangelicals saw this as an opportunity to not only infiltrate this intended secular institution, but to turn it into a branch of their missionary work abroad. Flash forward to the 1980's and under Commander in Chief Ronald Reagan, The Pentagon began accrediting hundreds of Evangelical and Pentecostal Bible Colleges. This allowed graduates from these schools to dominate the ranks of the military chaplain positions. Schools that all too often preach that their faith is the one true way and all other faiths are nothing short of agents of Satan. (Ask a hardcore evangelical what he or she thinks of the Catholic or Mormon faith - odds are the word "cult" will be used more often then not). Today nearly eighty percent of the 2,900 chaplains in the US military are affiliated with Evangelical/Pentecostal denominations.

The Officer's Christian Fellowship (OCF) was an organization formed during World War II that once was a benign ministry group supporting a soldier's personal faith, but in recent years it has become much more Militant. It's the most organized fundamentalist group within the Military with 15,000 active members and a strong presence on over 80 percent of US Military bases worldwide. Their Executive Director Retired Air Force Lt. General Bruce L Fister, Calls the Global war on terror "a spiritual battle of the highest magnitude." Approximately 22% of the current US Military identifies themselves as evangelical. The Officer's Christian Fellowship calls them “ambassadors for Christ in uniform,” and the Campus Crusade Military Ministry called them “government paid missionaries". a book called "Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel", by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William McCoy has been promoted with the following: “Under the rubric of free speech and the twisted idea of separation of church and state,” and endorsed publicly by General David Petraeus (the senior US Commander in Iraq, until September when he was promoted to the top spot in the US Central Command, running operations from Egypt to Pakistan) saying "Under Orders should be in every rucksack for those moments when Soldiers need spiritual energy". When asked to retract his endorsement by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Petraeus claimed it wasn't meant to be a public endorsement. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is a group that has fought countless acts of religious intolerance. It's President, Michael Weinstein and his family have been the target of countless threats and acts of vandalism stemming from his investigation of the evangelical fundamentalist's actions. At a service at Fort Bragg promoting his book, Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom, retired three-star general William Boykin said of Weinstein's "attack' on Petreaus' comments. “Here comes a guy named Mikey Weinstein trashing Petraeus, because he endorsed a book that’s just trying to help soldiers. And this makes clear what [Weinstein’s] real agenda is, which is not to help this country win a war on terror.” “It’s satanic,” called out a member of the audience. “Yes,” agreed Boykin. “It’s demonic.” Then there's the Christian Embassy. Founded by Dr. Bill Bright who was was also a co-signatory of the Land Letter of 2002 which outlined a Just War rationale for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, providing a theological underpinning for the invasion being planned by President George W. Bush. The Christian Embassy is a group dedicated to the ministry of US leaders both political and military. They filmed a promotional video, in the Pentagon, using at least 4 uniformed officers, which is a direct violation of military protocol which prohibits the Military from endorsing any specific religion / faith. The Military repremanded all of the uniformed officers, but all were later promoted. Author Jeff Sharlet, wrote a piece in the May issue of Harper's Magazine titled "Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military". In it he details many examples of these actions that directly violate the current General Order Number One which specifically forbids "proselytizing of any faith, religion, or practice". An Easter morning in Iraq where after watching the widely considered anti-Semitic movie, "The Passion of the Christ" soldiers from the 1/26 Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division have an Iraqi interpreter spray paint the words "Jesus Killed Mohammed" in large red Arabic letters on a bradley armored fighting vehicle. This vehicle then did a "Run and Gun" mission through the city of Samarra to draw insurgent fire away from the camp. All while the same painting interpreter was commissioned with the task of chanting the same antagonistic message to the city via bullhorn. Assuming that all of the weapons fire trained on them was hostile insurgent action and not religiously offended Muslims, the bradley lays waste to the neighborhood. Later the driver of the bradley, lieutenant, John D. DeGiulio tells Sharlet that he had taken the movie earlier that day as a sign he would survive, and that "each time I go into combat, I get closer to God." Aljazeera television recently ran a story which showed footage of a meeting led by a chaplain in which they were discussing how best to distribute bibles translated into local languages. Stating that presenting them as "gifts" was a good way to circumvent the General Order number 1 prohibiting open proselytizing. Video from a Trinity Broadcasting network show showed two US christian missionaries being escorted and protected by Military personnel distributing bibles. Then there's the daily intelligence briefings that them Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, or The christian evangelists speaking at the Air Force Academy that preached that the only way to end terrorism is to "Kill Islam."

I could cite countless other examples of religious intolerance, bigotry, and complete disregard of our constitution. The radical evangelical movement within the military, concentrated in the officer ranks, is bent on spreading their special brand of religious nearsightedness around the world. As another Chaplain states in that Aljazeera video that while the special forces hunt men, they are "hunting souls." Driven by what they call the "Great Commission". Matthew 28: 19, 20 (19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. They are blind to the fact that these actions do nothing but support Al-qaeda and other anti-US groups contention that the United States is on a religious crusade. Giving them the greatest of recruitment tools. That these actions do nothing to separate us from the religious extremists that flew those planes into the World Trade Center Towers. The Oath of Enlistment states, "I, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." It says nothing about hunting souls, spray painting crosses on mosques, or getting into an argument over who's god can beat up who's. I was against the military actions to begin with. but now, when someone asks me to support the troops, there is no way I can respond positively. I'm not trying to deny a soldier the right to believe the way he wants. In fact, If a soldier's faith is what helps him or her get through the daily horrors of war, then that's great and within their constitutional rights but keep it to yourself. Nobody held a gun to their head and forced them to join the Military. If 80 percent of enlisted soldiers and officers consider themselves Christian, then they can rely on their god for support. But when the Military goes away from protecting my Constitution, and begins spreading ideologies and revisionist US History in some Christian Jihad wielding weaponized faith, then that's where my support ends.

In ? we Trust - or - One Nation Under Dog

"I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all." - The original Pledge of Allegiance, 1892

Statement:
We need to get back to the Christian ideals that this country was founded upon.

That statement, or a variation of it, is used countless times by the fundamentalist Christian right in this country. It's become a catch all cure of sorts for everything they consider wrong with society today. Abortion, the Gay Rights movement, the secularization of our public schools, and if you ask Oklahoma state senator Sally Kern, the economic state of this country. Quite possibly the most offensive example of this attitude occurred on the September 13th, 2001 episode of the Christian television show, The 700 Club. Pat Robertson, Founder of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) and the Christian Coalition, interviewing Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, where both men agreed that the attacks on 9/11 might have been allowed by god due to moral decay in this country.

It's a sentiment that annoys me like nothing else. I hear it repeatedly from christian friends, read it in research, see it on TV and in the newspapers spewed by conservatives religious and political alike. A prime example of Christian dogma and revisionist history. While I will concede that the majority of this country is of the Christian faith, that simple majority should, in no way, dictate the kind of change and blatant disregard for the Constitution that that has been allowed to happen. Again the arrogance of the western judeo-christian faith rears it's ugly head. It seems too many of them fall prey to that old axiom that if you repeat a lie enough times, people are bound to begin to believe it.

FACT: Nowhere in the Constitution are the words God, Jesus, Christ, Christian or Bible found. Not even in the Amendments.

Don't you think if the intention was to establish this country as a "Christian" nation that one or two of those might have been thrown in there? This was intentional. If you define Christianity as one who believes in the divine works of Jesus Christ, then one could say that some of the more prominent founding fathers were not Christians at all. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were outspoken Deists, believing in a "supreme being" who doesn't concern itself with the daily lives of humans or communicate with humans in any way. Nor did they believe in any of the supernatural events (miracles or revelations) described in the Bible and lived without a need for faith or organized religion. George Washington and James Madison were also Deists, though both went out of their way to avoid religion in most matters. Thomas Paine was also described as a Deist, though became much more of an atheist in his later years. John Adams was a liberal Unitarian, though in much of his writings seems to share many of the themes of Deism. Jefferson even went as far as re-writing the Gospels without any of Jesus' superpowers called "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". He was once quoted as saying "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." Unfortunately, that has not yet come to pass.

FACT; The 1797 U.S.A. treaty with Tripoli George Washington writes that the United States was "in no sense founded on the Christian religion". This treaty was presented to and ratified unanimously by the US Senate and signed under the presidency of John Adams.

FACT: The Constitution of the United States declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) ensuring that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had.

FACT: The Very amendment to the Constitution that allows us all freedom of speech addresses this as well. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Thus preventing there from being government sponsored religious practices or activities. The Basis for the principles of Separation of Church and State. In his letter to the Danbury (Conn.) Baptists Association shortly after his election, Thomas Jefferson reiterates "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

FACT: Our Nation was founded in 1776 but "In God We Trust" doesn't appear on U.S. coins until 1908, and paper money not until 1957 in an act of religious and political propaganda to counter the threat of those godless communists. Thank you Joseph McCarthy . The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 and was just fine "God" free until 62 years later in 1954, when ‘under God’ was added at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (A Catholic fraternal organization) who felt it wasn't right that it was left without reference to a deity like other countries in Europe.

FACT: Supreme Court Decision Engel vs. Vitale (1962) found that Any kind of prayer, in public school districts, even nondenominational prayer, is unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion on the basis of the First Amendment.

When reviewing all that, remind me again why Christians still believe their repeated rhetoric? I understand that they contend that their faith is based on the "one true god". Don't you Christian's understand that we are both atheists, I just happen to believe in one less god than you do? Your arrogance and sense of entitlement aside, does it mean anything to you that the fact remains that that this country was based in a spirit of freedom from religious oppression with guidelines meant to strictly maintain those boundaries, while still allowing you the right to believe and worship any god you chose in any way you chose so long as those boundaries are respected? Obviously not or we still wouldn't have to worry about fighting the attempts at public displays of prayer in schools. Read Matthew 6:5-6. In it Jesus states “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say ... Read Moreto you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you”. Obviously not or my children wouldn't have to say the phrase "under God" every morning in school. Obviously not or I wouldn't have to see the phrase "In God We Trust" on ever piece of money I touch. In a sense, we agree on one thing...that this country needs to return to the basic fundamentals on which it was formed. Only problem is that my desire is based in historical fact, backed by the Constitution of these United States of America. While yours is based in the same fairy tale make believe land inhabited by your god.