We currently have 737 U.S. military installations that the Pentagon acknowledges. It’s actually closer to a thousand military installations scattered around the globe -- in 132 countries. On every one of those military installations, we have something called the Officers' Christian Fellowship, for the officers, and for the enlisted folks, the Christian Military Fellowship.
They have a three-part goal that they are completely unabashed about –- it’s right on their website -– a goal they view as much higher than following the oath they have sworn, to support, defend, protect and preserve the Constitution. Their goals are, A, they want to see a spiritually transformed U.S. military; B, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform; and C, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
How does this manifest itself? It’s everywhere. It’s like gravity. To quote a senior official at West Point who told me the other day that they’re terrified to come forward, it’s like radio and TV waves. It bathes everything.
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Clearly, this could not happen without approval from the hierarchy in the Pentagon.
Michael L. Weinstein: Actually, it’s happening top-down, I think. And it’s been going on for quite awhile. We think it started in 1972 when the draft ended.
The theory for having a draft was that we were pulling from what we now call blue and red states, conscripting people into the military. Of course, a lot of them were pissed off coming in, and when you’re pissed off, even a spoonful of sugar doesn’t make the Jesus go down. But since we ended the draft, going to the full volunteer force in 1972, now we’re pulling mostly from what we call red states, where there’s a lot of this blending of a virulent form of dominionist Christianity –- essentially predatory Christianity -– with patriotism.
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Do you know that in this country in 1970, we only had ten mega-Evangelical churches, meaning those with 2,000 or more members? But after 9/11, a new mega-Evangelical church has opened up in our country every 48 hours.
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Michael L. Weinstein: Exactly. This is not a Christian-Jewish issue at all. This is a dominionist Christian versus the Constitution issue.
We have a social contract in our society. In America, if you’re angry at your neighbor next door, you’re not allowed to pick up your fellow citizen and crush their head in. We have laws that are all derived from our U.S. Constitution. When you look at the Bill of Rights, which was passed in December of 1791, it was not at all created for the convenience of the majority. Quite to the contrary –- it was created to prevent the tyranny of the majority over the minority –- an amazing social experiment in America.
Whenever a virulent form of any religion has engaged the machinery of the state -– and by that, I’m talking about the armed forces, where the sticks and stones are that break our bones -- we end up with oceans and oceans of blood. And it’s happening again now. Right now, we have the nuclear weapons.
The train has left the station many times over and over and over again, and it always goes to one town, Slaughterville. Average Americans, docile and supine, need to get off their asses and realize that this is happening. We have to take our country back, which means simply following our Constitution of 200 years -- and Constitutional U.S. Supreme Court case law.
Also see, Justice Dept. Reshapes Its Civil Rights Mission Civil Rights and DOJ: All About God Now.
According to the article, the changes are evident in a number of areas including:
* Intervening in federal court cases on behalf of religion-based groups like the Salvation Army that assert they have the right to discriminate in hiring in favor of people who share their beliefs even though they are running charitable programs with federal money.
* Sharply reducing the complex lawsuits that challenge voting plans that might dilute the strength of black voters. The department initiated only one such case through the early part of this year, compared with eight in a comparable period in the Clinton administration.
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