The minions of Republican Supply-side Jesus (the exact opposite of the real Jesus) are hard at work trying to indoctrinate our military in Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christianity, and the Republican gospel of hate. Their problem is that coercive proselytizing the troops is illegal, so they are calling the enforcement of that law persecution.
Fox News pundit Todd Starnes made waves last year when he claimed that the Air Force was preparing to “court martial” Christians as part of an Obama administration “religious cleansing of the military.”
As it turned out, the policy on proselytizing that Starnes cited to make these claims [PDF] was crafted in 2008 – during the Bush administration – and in no way calls for the court martialing of Christians.
The regulations do stress that “leaders at all levels” should “avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion. Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectivity. The potential result is a degradation of the unit’s morale, good order, and discipline.”
But the facts didn’t stop Republicans politicians and conservative activists from using the Bush-era policy to attack President Obama and to push for looser restrictions on religious proselytizing in the military.
And now, the Religious Right’s campaign may be succeeding in pressuring the Air Force to water down the 2008 policy. McClatchy reports today that while Air Force officials maintain that the accusations of religious persecution in the military aren’t true, they are considering altering the rules on religious coercion in response to pressure from the Right… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>
Everything that the Republican Party does relates to one of two goals: redistributing wealth from the poor and middle classes to the 1%, and establishing a permanent Republican Regime, a totalitarian plutocracy in which elections exist for show only. I think this relates to the latter. Republicans have seen that totalitarian governments fall when troops refuse to kill their own nation’s citizens during demonstrations. That makes indoctrinating troops a Republican priority.
15 Responses to “Convert or Else!”
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You for got the goal to destory Obama and the 2016 election
Mama, that's part of their second goal.
Unfortunately the latest ruling by the SCOTUS to allow prayer in governmemt sponsored gatherings, i.e. town council meetings, government conferences, etc. opens the door to subtle proselytizing. In spite of regulations this has been going on for along time in the military. In my 39 years with the government, every conference I've ever attended sponsored by the military, an invocation has always, always been given by a christian clergyman and most of the time ending "in the name of Jesus Christ". And the stares of hostility I've recieved when I don't stand or bow my head or walk out are quite physical.
Welcome Phil! 🙂
Thank you for sharing what it's like to be the the target od government-sponsored pseudo-Christian conversion.
TC, your last paragraph on PP made me utter an expletive – as I went cold and realised you were correct.
Thank you for pointing out to people who the real Jesus is (and what his followers do and don't do)!
Pat, I have no smoking gun here. It's just the only reason it makes sense to me.
The Military Religious Feedom Foundation has put a couple of good diaries on Daily Kos this year on this subject.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/08/1297967/-The-Last-Lie-of-an-Air-Force-Academy-Cadet
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/07/1275920/-Lying-to-Survive-at-the-Air-Force-Academy-An-Open-Letter-to-Lt-Gen-Michelle-Johnson
Thankjs Jo!
This must be another imagined war Pres. Obama is supposedly waging against "Christianity".
I still want to know what happened to the separation of church and state as guaranteed by the Constitution. SCROTUS is really messing up royally.
Of course Patty! After all, he is a Muslim isn't he? 😉
I agree . . . the separation of church and state MUST be adhered to!
Republi-speak Dictionary
Establishment Clause: The separation of YOUR church and statem not OURS!
The thing that really worries me about this is that so many are willing to believe the propaganda put out by the Republicans without question. We have separation of church and state, period. That means that NO religion can control our government, and none should. I have mentioned this before on here, but I will again. My parents belonged to a minority religion and we lived in an area that was primarily Baptist or Evangelical. A preacher was allowed to come into the class room once a week and give a talk. I was singled out repeatedly for being different by the preacher. When my parents complained about it, I was sent out of the room when the preacher came. Wow, did that make me feel special!
Thanks for sharing your experienve with coercion!
What better group to prosletyse to! The military are trained to follow orders with with few questions, especially at the lower ranks. But what happens when, in a multi cultural country, you have "Christians", Muslims, Jews, Hindus etc all in the same unit. To prosletyse to convert is just wrong. That's when you could get "Major Hassan"s.
Further, to my knowledge, going to war is inconsistent with each of these faiths.
I knew a church musician when I lived up north that would not play the song "Onward Christian Soldiers". When I listened to his reasoning, he was so correct. Church and state MUST remain separate.
Amen Lynn!