Ed Brayton has posted a statement from an American military officer about his experiences in the military. Here are some highlights:
During my second year at the West Point, my Squad Leader for summer training expressed disapproval on numerous occasions with my being Jewish, and, during one mission, he grabbed my MRE (a military meal) as we sat down for lunch and handed me another. He ordered me to eat the pork chop and I reminded him that I refrain from pork for religious reasons. He told me that I could eat the pork or eat nothing…. The next day, my cadet Platoon Leader presented me with a written counseling statement detailing my signs of “anorexia” and a “troubling” refusal to eat which was detrimental to my health and indicative of “incapacity for leadership”…. When I explained the events in detail, he told me that my Cadet Chain of Command was right to be concerned, and spoke words I will never forget: “the Army is not in the business of catering to people like you”….
On a regular basis, I am confronted with being forced/coerced to partake in involuntary prayer. At change of command ceremonies, promotions, retirements, banquets, mandatory Officer/NCO call, the list goes on. What do I do when this happens? I see no reason why I should have to bow my head to participate in this involuntary prayer….
My Commander explained that, by not bowing my head in blatantly Christian prayer with the others, I was sending a message that I “want my Soldiers to die.” These words penetrated my core. What leader can imagine a worse accusation? Who wouldn’t doubt herself or himself when confronted with this message?….
I later contacted the Equal Opportunity Office to make an official anonymous report about the noxious, compulsive Christian, command climate. Shockingly, the NCO I filed the report with wasted no time in contacting my Battalion Commander directly, in complete violation of the privacy regulations and guarantees of protective anonymity attendant to such hyper-sensitive filings….
My experiences have shown that the inundation of invitations for fundamentalist Christian prayer and fellowship, “spiritual growth” and “moral development” that target fellow Soldiers tends to thinly mask an undeniable and comprehensive underlying propensity for aggression, hatred, and ambition to subjugate the United States Army to an official religion; fundamentalist Christianity. The result for the American military is a total destruction of esprit de corps, teamwork, morale, good order and discipline. The result for the fundamentalist Islamic enemies we fight is an immeasurable bonanza of emboldenment for their recruitment, propoganda and insurgency efforts to maim and kill our soldiers down range in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was there. I saw it. I lived it. I am still living it.
I’m sure we have some readers that have been involved in the American military — did you see an intertwining of Christianity with the military?
Tyler!: Sooooo who exactly are they taking our country back from??? And i am in the process of moving so... 
NoYourGod: Yerp – nuthin’ saiz “patriotic” like “love it or leave... 
LawnBoy: Gee.. when exactly was this golden age of pureness in politics and the reign of common sense? 
Daniel Florien: So why aren’t you out in Montana with a bomb shelter, stocked food, and tons of ammunition? 
nazani14: Things that can’t go on forever don’t. Following the record heat, the power outages in the D.C.... 
Nelly: my apologies for using “duplicate” way too many times………..I really wish... 
Ty: Please. A moon hoaxer talking about good science? “I personally do not believe that we can prove that... 
39 Comments
I’m a Navy vet (88-91) and am always shocked when I hear stories like this because twenty years ago religion wasn’t an issue in the Navy (Not sure how the rest of the services worked). Sure we had chaplains and the like, but I never ran into any coercion (even when I mentioned I didn’t believe in god). Officer’s in my squadron sure as hell didn’t bring it up.
It’s hard to believe the intervening 20 years have turned the military into a “Christians Only” club at the expense of morale and effectiveness. I’m sure eight years of W’s leadership only emboldened the fundies and if Obama tries to curtail it there will be the standard cries of “persecution of christians” from the shrill right, even though the their version of “persecution” is “I can’t force my views down your throat, so I’m a victim”
One of the commenters over at Brayton’s place said it still isn’t that big of a deal in the Navy. He seemed to think it had something to do with the education and experience of the average member of the Navy v. the average member of the Army. It makes a lot of sense. I’ve never been in either service, but I’d suspect the market for stereotypical grunts isn’t as high in the Navy.
It would make it easier to write it off to the stereotype of grunts not being the sharpest knives in the drawer, but the article mentioned this going on at West Point and in the commissioned officers corps, not exactly the dregs of society. Then remember the Air Force Academy’s scandal during the Bush years and it makes you really wonder. I hope its not that religious conservatives are now more likely to join the military than in the past.
Good point. The West Point connection apparently didn’t fully register between when I read the initial article and the comment from the Navy guy.
Now that it has, though, well, that’s even more disturbing.
Also, remember the thing a couple of years ago with the pagan soldier who died in one of the Bush wars? The government wouldn’t allow his widow to have a pentacle carved on his grave marker in the veterans’ cemetery. They said it was inappropriate. Is that even legal for them to make a judgment against his religion?
they sued and won: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/225898/families_can_finally_have_wiccan_symbol.html?cat=7
Guess it wasn’t legal then.
Thanks for the update. I’d heard they were suing, but I never heard how it turned out. It makes me happy to hear that they won.
I spent 15 years in the Air Force. While I was a Christian then, I did notice that very many of my comrades did not share my faith. They weren’t put under any pressure that I was ever aware of. I’m not saying this story is bogus. It’s probably true. I just don’t buy that this kind of problem is as pervasive in our military as it might suggest.
It may have something to do with 9/11 and dubya. I’d definitely put my money on both. Who instated the faith-based section of our government again?
That could be. I got out in ‘92. (They were paying us big bucks to leave.) Of course, I’m not arguing against what others have said here: that there were invocations and benedictions at certain events. I’m just saying it didn’t seem to be being forced down anybody’s throat. *At least in my experience.*
Who instated the faith-based section of our government again?
Well, the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 was the test-balloon for the idea, so you can blame Clinton for signing that (in case you’re wondering, he was quite supportive of that section; Congress didn’t twist his arm.) Bush II established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. It was later changed under Obama to be the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
From all I have heard, Obama is callously indifferent to this problem and, as with his embraces of Rick Warren and Francis Collins, more willing to embrace high profile religious “moderates” wherever he can than to make any active counter-religious steps. Obama seems to me nearly 100% about turning religion and theocratic thinking in this country left-wing, rather than reasserting any sense of separation of church and state. I could be wrong, but all his actions seem to point in this direction.
From the newsweek article a couple weeks back on aborted attempts of military men to proselytize Afghanistan with Bibles in the native tongue:
“MRFF is calling, in a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, to strip the CFGC of its endorsing authority and to investigate its chaplains for various code violations. But they fear the Obama administration will not press this issue given the announced replacement of Army Secretary Pete Geren with Rep. John McHugh, a New York Republican with a conservative record on church-state separation issues.”
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/newsweek_christian.html
Well, he isn’t an Atheist, after all.
The day you used to be when not only atheists cared about separation of church and state.
One of the consequences of the rise of the religious right and right wing populism is that they’re winning on the theocracy vs. secularism question by convincing the left wing to be ashamed of its secularist reputation and to see secularism as a losing strategy to supplement with their own left wing theocracy. They USED to get the need for separating religion and politics even though they (like the whole country) was majority theist.
Using tax payer dollars for free mission trips… awesome.
Welcome to Righteous America.
You don’t win wars by becoming just like your enemies.
It doesn’t matter what religion is involved. Whether you kill for Allah or for Jesus, you’re still a militant fundamentalist using blind faith to justify senseless slaughter.
gfish, you are so correct. I have a relative, by marriage, in the Army and he is the ultimate conservative/fundamentalist/fanatic christian/war-mongering/soldier. It’s downright frightening.
He absolutely believes this war (Iraq/Afghanistan) is a ‘holy’ war that must be fought for God. He doesn’t even attempt to sugar coat it; comes right out and says that.
One of my best friends from college joined the army back in Bush #1’s war. When we were at school, he was just an average guy. Christian, but not pushy about it. Didn’t even really discuss it. Now he’s an ultra-conservative right-wing Republican, who posts things on his Facebook account like “I am afraid of the ACLU.” Yeah, b/c we don’t want any people having civil liberties.
I spent five years in the Marine Corps, and most of that time was in various multi-service environments. It’s very true that that there are prayers for everything. Almost any official function included a benediction, and there was definite incentive to play along. In addition to the “no atheists in foxholes” trope, many of my fellow service members seemed to believe that faith (especially of the fundamentalist Christian variety) was what we were defending, rather than the American people and Constitution (which is what I remember from my oath of enlistment).
Bryan, you just described the relative I mentioned above. My husband and I have tried, numerous times, to no avail, to point out the thinking errors this person has when referencing the war and what it’s all for. This person is definitely more concerned with protecting Christian ‘ideals’ and somehow how has come to equate the Constitution with his fundamentalism like they are one and the same.
Coast Guard, ‘93-’97. Never saw anything like that at all.
Hey, hey, a fellow Coastie. 86-94 for me.
There was an article out last year about the influx and take over of the military services/academies by the rabid religious reich. The ONLY service that seemed immune was the USCG.
I guess when you’ve driven a boat into enough hurricanes, you tend to stop believing in fairy tales, and start trusting in your own training and shipmates.
One would think that being shot at in a swamp or desert would have a similar effect…
The Coast Guard, though, has a reputation (at least among the non-military folks that I hang out with) of being the most civilized of the military branches. Less fundamentalism, less sexism, more meritocracy.
And it’s not technically part of DoD, it’s under DHS now. (Homeland Security)
It’s very real in today’s military. Including the academies and the Pentagon / right to the top. I used to work (retired in 2008) for an Admiral at HQ in DC and saw it up close.
For good backround, here is great piece from Newsweek with lots of useful links:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/202734?tid=relatedcl
I was in the US Army from 81-91. I seldom saw any forced religious participation other then at ceremonies. We had our oddball religious freaks but they tended to be put in positions that had little effect on the actual troops and their training. I was never forced to attend any sunday services.
I have to agree with DDM that 9/11 has more to do with why the military has gotten more religious then most anything else. If you look at the history of the US Military, it tends to lean to the religious side when we are attacked or at war.
I retired from the Air Force last year as an Intelligence Analyst. Most of my time was spent in joint service environments, meaning I worked alongside members of the other services. As an atheist, I never felt any pressure to convert, and in fact religion rarely came up. About the only times it was mentioned were during the rare chaplain visit, and by the unit commander during a Thanksgiving meal or that sort of holiday event. I know that every unit I served in had a diverse range of adherents, mostly Protestant or Catholic, but there were always a few Jews, Mormons, pagans (usually Wiccan or Asatru), as well as agnostics and atheists. Very few of the non-believers I met over the years actually called themselves atheists, though, perhaps owing to the stigma which is unfortunately still attached to that label, but they were there. In Basic Training (this was way back in 1988), one fellow trainee claimed to be a Satanist, and no one said he couldn’t serve. During the First Gulf War, one of the NCOs in our squadron was a Muslim, and held a high security clearance, and no one thought anything of that. So, I don’t know what to make of these stories that have been coming out over the last several years. They do not jive with my experience, but I have noticed that they tend mostly to refer to the Officer Academies and to Army and Marine combat units. I suspect that these events are being spawned by overzealous individuals in specific units, sometimes in positions of authority, who are on personal crusades. Having Bush as Commander-in-Chief gave them a sense that they had a green light to Christianize the Military, and not enough has been done at the top to put a stop to this nonsense.
“I refrain from pork for religious reasons” should read “I refrain from pork because I was programmed and indoctrinated as a child to blindly believe it was wrong for me to eat this type of meat. Since I never ate it growing up I have a strong distaste for it and will never eat it as long as I live due to my childhood upbringing.”
btw my experience has been that they dislike those in other forces way more than those with different religions. He could have made the same exact complaint saying “so and so made me feel bad because I was a marine and he was in the air force”
“I don’t dig on swine, that’s all.”
not having been in the military, i can’t comment on what is or isn’t the norm but I’ve had several instances of religous interactions related to me. My uncle who was an atheist (passed away a couple of years ago) served in the air force and was also head of computer security as a civilian at leavenworth, said he had some issues with superiors who seemed to press their faith too much for him. It didn’t seem to affect his promotions though, even to his own telling, but it reinforced some of his opinions of Christians, especially those who hadn’t thought about their beliefs much.
My favorite story just came from a friend of my who just graduated from boot camp in the Army. I go to church with him and he was telling me about an encounter with one of DI’s, and it seemed out of the norm from what i normally hear. The soldiers were going to chapel on Sunday morning and as the DI released them to go, he shouted “go on now, go get your crutch on, get ya some Jesus time in” and my buddy started smiling. The DI saw this and confronted my friend and said “what Russell, you think I ought to join you in some make believe time?” My friend came back with as good of comeback that he could of in the situation. He said “No sir, I don’t” and the DI replied “why not, don’t you want me to change my mind about Jesus” and my friend replied ” Sir I didn’t join the army to change your beliefs.” The DI seemed to respond positively, and he said they had a better relationship after that exchange.
I spent four years in the USCG during the 70s as a Mormon atheist (long story on family pressures so let’s not go there). I made it quite plain that I was an atheist but had no interest in changing others beliefs. At one point my superior officer was a fundamentalist Christian. We had long religious and political debates during lunch. He was always respectful of my beliefs as I was of his.
However, this officer ran into some nasty anti-semites and should view it as such. This may be problematic if the military has Christianized with the wrong sort of Christian, which does not mean fundamentalist per se. The Christians I know would never attempt to force a Jew to violate Kosher, nor would I.
There was a news story about a month ago about how evangelical Christians were taking over the thinking etc of the U.S. Military – particularly in Afghanistan. There is more here including videos.
I too am a 20 year military officer, although I served in the Air Force. I too found that theism was very overt, and even “rampant” in the military of today. I often had commanders give their first commander’s call and spend an innordiante amount of time talking about their faith and religion as opposed to the mission and what they would do as commanders… I always wanted to get up and say something really crude and innappropriate at those times, and then say, “Hey, the CC is talking about innaporpriate subjects, I thought that this was his cue to do so for everyone else!” But my logic and good sense kept me quiet. :)
By the way, you may be interested in this gem: http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/foxholeatheists/forum/topics/an-open-letter-to-charles Basically again highlighting how different theists think about their military service (Crusade?) versus atheists. My favorite line: “The apparent difference between us, Chuck, is I meant it when I swore to uphold the Constitution.”
Former Air Force, enlisted. That line is now my favorite as well. I had a couple run-ins with some crazy Christians, but I was in a fairly intelligent career field (software engineering), so my stint in the service was fairly smooth in regards to my atheism. Now my army friends on the other hand, had some really rough experiences.
Thanks for sharing that. Ron Garrett is going straight on my hero list.
http://www.military.com/news/article/August-2009/ermey-says-hell-square-away-birthers.html
While we’re on the topic of the military, it’s nice to see R. Lee Ermey on the side of logic and reason. I can only hope when he meets a birther he uses one of the classic lines he made famous:
“Did your parents have any children that lived?”
In my 22 years, I only experienced this once. When I was stationed in the Philippines, I was a member of a meditation group. The base chaplain, who was a Southern Baptist, denounced our group during one of his sermons as “satanic”, which was as gross and ignorant an accusation as I have ever heard. H eknew nothing about our group except his own prejudices. Some time after I transferred, he banned that group. No one there knew how to fight this abuse of power through the system,so he got away with it.
On another front, my son-in-law, who is Jewish and an Air Force officer, has more than once been accosted on the street and told by fellow airmen (officer and enlisted alike) that he is damned to hell. Why he doesn’t report these hate crimes is beyond me. Probably something to do with not making waves, but at the expense of suffering abuse…
I find it interesting that the reports of “I was in the military, I didn’t see any evidence of Christianity being the official religion” come from before 2001.