religious right watch

More exposure of Dept. of Defense grotesque Christianism

Chris Rodda of the Military Religion Freedom Foundation (MRFF) applauds the fact that GQ has helped further expose "Donald Rumsfeld's Bible verse riddled Worldwide Intelligence Update cover sheets," which, as accurately expressed by GQ, "represented a mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery," and that "had become routine."

If is unfortunate, however, that GQ also positions their coverage as revelatory. In fact, the MRFF has been monitoring such Christianist excesses in the military for years.

Rodda also notes that:

Jeff Sharlet's eye opening article, "Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military," in the May issue of Harper's Magazine, clearly sparked a sudden interest in a battle that MRFF has been fighting for years....

You can listen to this audio file of The Leonard Lopate Show's broadcast featuring a segment of Jeff Sharlet discussing his article.

Chris Rodda provides a list of links to her articles of the past several months about "our military's 'holy war....'"

They impress themselves by using the big word, "imprecatory"

From Dispatches from the Culture War:

Uber-wingnut Gordon Klingenschmitt is now praying -- in Jesus' name, of course -- for God to strike down Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

You might be next! Purchase your own magical imprecatory prayer shield here. (What? It's only a lapel pin? Well...it's a nice pin in aid of a good organization.)

Evangelical Proselytization Still Rampant in U.S. Military

From the Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

The May issue of Harper's Magazine (www.harpers.org) reveals the continued practice of Christian evangelical proselytization in the American military and a lack of recourse within the Obama administration, according to a leading civil rights watchdog group prominently featured in the magazine's cover story.

The May issue goes into general circulation on April 28.

MRFF on Nightline

Military Religious Freedom Foundation MEDIA ALERT - ABC Nightline. Currently scheduled for TONIGHT - February 2nd, 2009. Subject to last minute programming changes. In this Nightline segment MRFF is critical of U.S. troops assisting missionaries in proselytizing to Muslims in Afghanistan. Airing at 11:35 PM in most regions. Check local listings.

Soldiers pressured to applaud Warren

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) routinely received reports from soldiers pressured to conform to commanders' religious beliefs. The prayer of Rick Warren at President Obama's inauguration occasioned more instances of such pressure.

Chris Rodda highlights a letter from a decorated combat officer. From the letter:

after Pastor Warren ended his invocation by praying in the name of his personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our Commander jumped to his feet clapping and yelled "God Bless him for having the courage to pray for all of the lost souls in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!" About a third of those attending also clapped. I did not. That was until our Commander turned around to survey everyone's reaction to his statement. When that happened, the officer next to me started to clap and the one to my left clapped too. I felt like I was in a spotlight as the Commander looked at me and the female officer in front of me who had also not clapped. Then she clapped. And then I clapped too. I tried not to but could not muster up the strength to be the only one in the room not clapping in support of our Commander and Warren.

Rodda uncovers rank religious bias in US Armed Forces

Chris Rodda of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and Talk To Action (talk2action.org) has uncovered yet another instance of unconstitutional religious proselytizing in the US Armed Forces. In her article, "Creationism: The Latest in Military Suicide Prevention," she outlines a PowerPoint presentation, "A New Approach To Suicide Prevention: Developing Purpose-Driven Airmen," that

was shown at a commander's call that was mandatory for an estimated 1,000 of Lakenheath's Air Force personnel, and sent out by email to the entire base of over 5,000 the following day. As the use of the phrase "Purpose-Driven" in its title implies, also incorporated into this presentation is the wisdom of presidential candidate inquisitor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, a book that, second only to the Bible itself, is the most heavily promoted religious book in the military.

There is a great deal of religious proselytizing in the US Armed Forces, segments of which are also hotbeds of Dominionism. Learn more through Talk To Action's ongoing coverage of Dominionism in the military.

They'll pray away Obama's flirtation with an anti-Christ army

From PFAW's Right Wing Watch blog comes this starkly predicable fear-mongering idiocy(nonetheless likely to convince many) from one corner of religious right in response to a set of policy recommendations to President-elect Obama (D) from the Secular Coalition for America and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers:

[T]he Secular Coalition for America will eventually get its way. "There is a day coming in the end times when the military will be forced to be atheistic because, in order for the eventual man who is the man of sin -- the Anti-Christ -- as it is describe in the Bible, for him to come to power and to stamp out Christianity around the globe, he's going to need a good strong atheist military," he contends. "That is the first step toward Armageddon, and I'm concerned about that. And I pray that President (elect) Obama is not foolish enough to lead us down that road."

There's no suggestion in the above myth-based warning that Obama might actually be the Anti-christ. Perhaps the reality of Obama's long-ago established political centrism is actually sinking into the apocalypse-obsessed conscience of some religious right leaders. That would be impressive.

(Image: Giant Cobra Commander hairy atheist attacks polluting factories someplace.)

Beating of Jewish soldier turns friends into foes

Chris Rodda has an updating regarding the anti-Semitic beating of the Fort Benning soldier:

At issue here is not just the inadequate response by the Army, but the gross mishandling of Pvt. Handman's beating by Fort Benning Jewish lay leader Neil Block. While Block should have been an advocate for Handman, he was anything but -- actually implying that Handman somehow brought the beating on himself, using phrases like playing the "Jew card," saying that "Any young Jew who uses his minority status to play the system is villainous," and writing in an email to Mikey Weinstein, "You give comfort and sanction to those who would really try to marginalize us and an excuse for those of us who don't or won't measure up and use our ethnicity as their excuse."

MRFF letter to Sec. of Defense calls for firing of lay Jewish leaders for enabling anti-Semitism

From the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF):

Two national anti-discrimination organizations joined together and sent a formal letter* to the Secretary of Defense asking that two lay Jewish leaders in the U.S. Army be immediately fired for making excuses for the attackers of a Jewish soldier after the brutal beating left him hospitalized with serious injuries, although the full extent of his injuries are still being assessed by military medical personnel.

More here.

*Will open as a .pdf file on your computer.

Gen. Petraeus endorses Christianist book. Chris Rodda's take-down.

The Gen. Petraeus' betrayal of 1 out of every 5 American soldiers has made it as a segment on Keith Olberman's MSNBC program, Countdown, only days after Chris Rodda on the Huffington Post wrote a great piece on the emerging scandal that is yet another piece of the swelling stink of evidence that the US military endorses discrimination against any soldier who is not a conservative evangelical Christian.

Rodda:

Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel [is] a pro-Christian, anti-atheist book heartily endorsed by none other than Gen. David Petraeus, a slap in the face from the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq to the 21% of the men and women fighting there who define themselves as atheists or having no religious preference. Contrary to the old "no atheists in foxholes" movie line, the percentage of non-theists in the military, according to a report from the Population Reference Bureau, is actually somewhat higher than it is among the civilian population. For Petraeus to endorse a book disparaging this segment of our military population is a reprehensible betrayal of all of the non-theists who are putting their lives on the line for our country with every bit as much bravery and dedication as their religious comrades.

Rodda rightly highlights the work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) in her article as well.

Petraeus' action is a disgusting violation of the spirit of the U.S. Constitution as created by our nation's Founders who--it cannot be repeated often enough--included a large number of men who valued science and were not orthodox Christians (let alone evangelical!), but deists. Apparently, Gen. Petraeus would find unfit for service the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, John Adams, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, and, arguably, the ardent Mason and Communion-avoiding Gen. George Washington.