In reacting to the recent U.S. Army report on the tragedy at Ft. Hood, Time magazine asks why Islam was not specifically named. At GetReligion, Mollie Hemingway echoes that sentiment, arguing that religion is an important part of the story.
Both seem to miss the point of the Army's report: that institutional failures allowed an unfit officer to advance through the ranks. The officer's faith is irrelevant; there was a systematic breakdown in the way the Army treats problem soldiers. But religion is not only irrelevant; injecting it into the conversation about Fort Hood is counterproductive. As Middle East expert Marc Lynch argues, the way we frame our discussions can help Al Qaeda; to make everything the fault of Muslims risks radicalizing a population.
While Major Hasan's religion seems important to some commentators, there's a real problem with religion in the military that continues to receive scant attention. As reported by Jeff Sharlet (Jesus killed Muhammad) and others, Christianist elements in the military seek to proselytize fellow soldiers and view themselves as crusaders in a religious war.
Last week's revelations that a supplier of gun scopes to the military has been inscribing New Testament verses onto its equipment is just one manifestation of religious fundamentalism in the military—not fundamentalist Islam, but fundamentalist Christianity.
One soldier says:
He was "ashamed" and "horrified" by the writings on the gunsights of weapons he used during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"There are many other soldiers who feel as I do. Many are Protestant and Catholic and they fear reprisal just as much as I do for trying to stand up to the Christian bullies in uniform who outrank us," he said in a letter dated January 14 and addressed to [Mikey] Weinstein and his [Military Religous Freedom] foundation [MRFF].
Another pens a lengthy letter to the MRFF about the scripture-inscribed sights. He writes:
Finally, the senior NCO said that the private’s rifle was also something else; that because of the biblical quote on the ACOG gunsight it had been "spiritually transformed into the Fire Arm of Jesus Christ" and that we would be expected to kill every "haji" we could find with it. He said that if we were to run out of ammo, then the rifle would become the "spiritually transformed club of Jesus Christ" and that we should "bust open the head of every haji we find with it." He said that Uncle Sam had seen fit not to give us a "pussy 'Jewzzi' (combination of the word 'Jew' and Israeli-made weapon 'Uzi') but the "fire arm of Jesus Christ" and made specific mention of the biblical quotes on our gun sights. He said that the enemy no doubt had quotes from the Koran on their guns but that "our Lord is bigger than theirs because theirs is a fraud and an idol."
After a public outcry, the supplier has agreed to remove the engravings from the gun sights. But more needs to be done. We in the United States are incredibly unsophisticated when it comes to talking about religion in the public sphere. But by focusing on the trees, we miss the forest. We are a country where religion is omnipresent, but cannot be discussed. If we are to address Islamism in the ranks, we also must address Christianism.
Tags: evangelism in military, fort hood, military
Your message is very well said. As a Muslim you don't want to offend, so you say the problem we must address is gunsight Christianism, and your message hints that the problems might also go deeper into Christianity. Since you are a Muslim, I don't think there is any chance they want to listen to you. I was a raised a Christian, but I turned into a non-believer. The problems seem so clear, and I would like nothing better than to explain it to them, but I don't think they want to listen to a non-believer either. I doubt even God knows how to reach them now because as the universe expands, Christianity is spinning in ever tighter circular reasonings, belief in the name of Jesus is proof of belief in the name of Jesus. They don't want to hear anything from anybody who doesn't agree. How can that cycle be broken?
IMO, Time is on our side (the side of the "NONES") vs. Fundamentalist Christianity.
THE fundamentalists must keep morphing (eg. New Apostalic Ministry)to keep trying to gain & maintain ground while many Progressive Christians remain as firm in resisting their world domination inclinations as do non believers.
Thanks, I hope so. The Nones are alligned with progressive Christians, but on the other side fundamentalist Christianity is allied with the party of the rich. It is an insane situation, but it almost seems like the greater the insanity, the stronger the belief and the faith. Perhaps that strengthening of belief and faith is really the result of the more rational Christians switching sides. Increased polarization might end up being the only path to salvation for society as we know it.
This problem has to be addressed by Christians joining in an effort of non-hypocritical dialogue with members of other faiths, including atheism, as well as the agnostics or "uncertains" out there.
The "persecution complex" that is being cultivated by Political Christianity (as opposed to personal faith) is responsible for this perverse element in our society, and as a result, our military. People will remember that this reactionary righteousness got a big shot in the arm during the Iranian hostage crisis.
I think this issue in the military and society needs to be drenched in daylight on a sustained basis.
The military, good and bad, is the world's largest bureaucracy, and it will take time to make all the necessary changes in personnel. In the meantime, there should be a clear understanding that military effectiveness and cohesion should not be undermined by members of any sect or cult. Strategically, the Pentagon has already recognized that humanitarian issues related to climate change/population growth/etc. will be our major "national security issues", that we need Muslims and Arabic/Urdu/etc.-speaking personnel in the military,and that we can easily create more enemies than we can destroy by how we present ourselves to the world. We need to remember that the military is struggling to change with regard to gender as well as ethnicity/religion. Externally, we have to keep the civilian pressure on the religious bigots, and internally, there are soldiers who must be retired and replaced.
We also need to occasionally ask ourselves this question, "What kind of reaction was bin Laden trying to stimulate in the "capitalist", "Christian", "developed" world? Looking at the apesh*t hysterical fearmongering of the Cheney/Neocon crowd and the paranoia of the religious right, it would seem that he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
According to "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright, bin Laden wanted to draw the US into the hopeless quagmire of fighting in Afghanistan in the hopes that it would be a military and financial drain that would weaken our nation. Looks like he succeeded in that... and more.
Somewhere in all this discussion is a kind of "two wrongs make a right" reasoning. That is, the terrorists want to kill us for religious reasons, and probably because our religion is different from theirs. Therefore, this reasoning goes, it becomes acceptable for us to predicate our response as a religious one. Including making that response into something of a counter-crusade.
That al-Qaeda's attacks are predicated on their extreme version of Islam, however, cannot justify Christians responding in kind, making their own religion into a militant one, when it was never designed to have been a violent faith. These Christians need to crack open their Bibles again and really read it this time. They should probably start with Matthew 5-7, as well as Matthew 26:52. If, after that, they can still justify embedding scripture citations on gun sights to make them into "spiritual weapons," then we'll know they've lost their minds and are no longer to be listened to.
As a regional coordinator for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, I can assure you that coercive, command-centered Christian proselytizing continues to be a severe promblem for our young men and women in the armed forces. The Dominion Christian movement spearheaded by Campus Crusade for Christ Military Mission, Officer's Christian Fellowship, Christian Embassy, The Navigators, Focus on the Family and others have generated over 16,000 compliants from armed forces members, mostly non-evangelical Christians. These soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines, national guard, reserve, Coast guard
and Service academy cadets are subordinate
to superiors who say they are not "Christian enough. In light of the recent "Jesus Rifle" reports it is clear that the Dominion Christian cabal is quite advanced.
You can find more info and hate letters to MRFF for exposing this story: militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Thanks for the link and the update.
There would be no problem if there were no religions. People could just be people then.
Not to say there wouldn't be arguments but those would occur over more universal matters.
I wonder if evangelical Christians ever read the Bible where it says Thou shall not kill, and where Jesus says, "Turn the other cheek."
Just wondering.
"...but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matt. 5:39)
Anything coming from God (his teachings) will be associated with His right: right eye (Matt.5:29), right hand (Matt.5:30), right cheek...
The scroll in Revelation is in God's right hand.
God's law is in His right hand:
"From His right hand went a fiery law for them." (Deut. 33:2)
God's left is always associated with His enemies.
The real meaning is, "If someone smites you on your right cheek (God's law) - turn to them your left cheek."
The other explanation is back then they were slapping equals with the open hand, and slaves with the back of the hand. Turning the left cheek was saying treat me as an equal, not a slave.
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