“has been warning for years about the influence of evangelical Christians in the U.S. military.”
Someone should be warning about the influence of evangelical Christians in the U.S. SOCIETY.

Careers should roll for this kind of thing. No one should be forced to attend someone else’s proselytization.
And thanks for putting this up.

More Fundamentalist Christian influence raising it’s head in a country that is supposed to have “Freedom of Religion”. If the people who don’t agree with this don’t start making more noise about this we’ll have more judges like the one that just put Embryo testing for catastrophic diseases on hold because of a law that someone passed in our Congress that noone caught. See CNN.

In Marine Corps Bootcamp in 2005 we were told on Sunday’s that either we go to some service wether you believe or not, or else your going to spend your time here cleaning. Also on Easter Sunday we were given the “option” of going to watch the Passion of the Christ while at Camp Pendleton. Especially in situations like that, any deviation from group expectations ends up just skylining yourself. I was also advised at one point that, if you want to get ahead, even if you don’t believe a single thing said in or about church, that it definetly helps if you go and are seen by some higher ups attending service. For good or ill, this is the way it is.

Throughout all of our military services there is a pervasive problem of arrogant high ranking fundamentalist Christians who see it as their “evangelistic” duty to misuse their power and authority to coerce those under their command to attend fundamentalist religious services, meetings, and concerts and force them to hear the fundamentalist message and thereby proselyize them.
These same officers denegrate any version of Christianity that isn’t there version as well as any other religion.
Their goal is to make the majority of our military personnel fundamentalist dominionist Christians. They are helped by such groups as the Navigators, and Campus Crusade for Christ among many groups. These people are anti-American, anti-Conatitutional, violators of their subordinates 1st Amendment rights, and dangerious. You do not want them controling the lethal weapons of this country.
Anyone who is concerned, and all of us should be,should support Mikey Weinstain and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org.

I was a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain back in 1985 to 1991 and this was just beginning. Chaplain quotas on denominations based on their numbers in the armed service were lifted allowing for fundimentalists to flood the armed services with their narrow minded religious bigots who saw the armed services hanging with low fruit potential converts. These chaplains denegrate other Christian traditions unlike their own and other relgions. The chaplain is supposed to defend the religious rights of the troops and protect them from coercive proselyzing, not promote it.

And people wonder why the evangel/conservative Christians are catching so much flack. As someone pointed out, ‘it’s their duty to proselytize’.
Personally, I think it sucks! These people are only concerned about religious freedom as long as they can do what they want but everyone else doesn’t matter.
I saw this bumper sticker and it made me laugh. “So many conservative Christians, so few lions.” I’m beginning to think that conservative Christians are going to push this conflict to a state of civil unrest. Perhaps it’s time.

also,
imo, it’s the same kind of Christian who is complaining against Islam and the Sharia law out of one side of their mouth while at the same time pushing for a Christian theocracy. Apparently they haven’t figured out that people do not want either but when has what the people ever wanted been their concern?

Rev. Rob interesting post, thanks for making a little noise. When my husband and many friends were in service in the second WW, and in the Korean war being in camps and forts as soldiers, marines, etc. you were not forced by bribing to get “thee” to a church. This blight started with Reagan who was helped to get in by the Fundamentalist Christians. We can thank them for all the comments after online news, etc. for being called the nutty Christians. It’s time Christians who don’t subscribe to this type of interpretation of Christ to stand up to them. My cousins United Methodist Church back in L.I. had a few join their 100 yr. old church and try to incorporate their interpretations into the doctrines; it didn’t work the Pastor told them to conform or ship out, they left! They call every Christian who is not a fundamentalist wrong in their beliefs, and warn us we’ll not be rec’d in heaven. You all know this if you’ve been posting on Beliefnet for awhile. Rev. Rob you are right, they are a danger just as the extremists of Islam are a danger. Thanks for your input Marinecorpstim.

Quite a report Nicole! Thanks.

Henrietta said, “They call every Christian who is not a fundamentalist wrong in their beliefs, and warn us we’ll not be rec’d in heaven. You all know this if you’ve been posting on Beliefnet for awhile. Rev. Rob you are right, they are a danger just as the extremists of Islam are a danger. Thanks for your input Marinecorpstim.’
Curious Henrietta what you think keeps people from heaven? For you to even compare fundamental Christians who stand on the Word and who only witness to people about Christ….to radical Muslims is absolutely absurd. It is beyond belief.
Henrietta where on earth today are Christians beheading people because they are not worshipping Jesus? Where are Christians blowing people up with suicide bombings? And where are Christians honor killing and forcing women to cover up or else? And where are Christians trying to ban other religions from worshipping? Who said…kill those who do not believe Jesus or Muhammed? MUHAMMED.
The fact is where there is violence in the world…….Islam is there.
There is freedom in Christianity not ISLAM.
Obviously anyone can become a chaplain.

cm you paint with way too broad a brush. Many places Muslims are those things are not happening. And alas there are plenty of fundamentalist Christians who think they should be in charge of the country, and if they were such things would be happening here.
But this is about freedom from proselytization for our service men and women, and those fundamentalist officers and chaplains who want to use their power over our sons and daughters to force them into places they can be brainwashed.
I applaud the brave soldiers who went public with this. Those responsible for it should be drummed out of the service.

So, while the Wahabi Muslims recruit in U.S. prisons, “Wahabi” Christians (their equivalent) are recruiting in the U.S. military. Scary.

This sort of “christian” is simply a modern day Sadducee – and we know Jesus had little use for them. They are as hard on a community as any other sort of taliban-esque group. It is a reflection of the officer’s leadership style when he feels that everyone has to conform to his beliefs in their off hours. He is over compensating for some otherwise unseen shortcomings of is own. Providing opportunities is one thing, but requiring attendence accomplishes nothing useful.

CM, Read Rev. Robs comments again and everything Nicole has reported on. I didn’t write this news. Rev. Rob is an ordained Lutheran Minister, talk to him, not me. I wouldn’t even pretend to tell anyone what will take them to heaven, much less keep them out. But I’ve been attacked by fundamentalist Christians for standing up for Christians who do not believe as they do, and I’ll continue to do so.

Just read all the articles you posted Nicole. The Dept of Defense pd. 23,000 for two shows of the Barlow Girls,300,000 was pd by DoD for Christian Musical Acts, and 125,000 more on a self-described rock show, called “Christian Radicals” and others. At the National Prayer Breakfast, Congressman J. Randy Forbes-R. of VA gave praise to Major Gen. Chambers who says all religions are incl., but nobody can remember anyone but Fundamentalist Christians being at them. Question: Where does this money from the Dept. of Defense come from? The taxpayers? Next question is congressman Forbes a member of The Family or “C” St. Christians? From Jeff Sharlet’s report. Does anyone know?

Get them evangelicals out of all our barracks ! This is an affront to our constitution ! Let them proselytize ONLY THEM THAT WANT TO STOP AND LISTEN ! What – we gonna make the Fourth Reich out of our country ? No way ! ( and I’m a deeply involved Christian, but i respect other peoples choices.)

Actions like this must be investigated and severely punished according to the law. Each time an oficer of the US military abuses his authority like this and gets away with it only encourages the next.

Today’s fundamentalist Christians want to claim that Islam is the most violent religion. Howerver, they ought to look to the past of Christianity. This op ed piece from Religious Disptaches and the book it promotes is a good reminder of the violence and destructiveness of Christianity. This is why it that the “fundamentalist Christian parachurch-military-corporate-proselytizing complex,” as Mikey Weinstien calls it, is so dangerious. They would have lethal weapontry to enforce their religious beliefs on others and would feel justified in doing so because they see themselves as “God’s warriors.”
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/3138/dangerous_religion/
Dangerous Religion Which religion has proved the most violent and destructive in US history? The answer should not be a surprise. By Gary Laderman
“Christianity” of course is a meaningless label, as I’ve written before. Like “Islam” it is too broad a category to cover the radically diverse practices, beliefs, and interpretive communities associated with it. So let me be even bolder and say that Protestants, and even more specifically, Anglo-European Protestant men, would appear to be the most dangerous religious individuals in American history. Without question white Protestant males from the colonial era to the dawn of the twenty-first century have inflicted more pain, more suffering, more terror than any other individuals in this so-called “city on a hill.”
Religious Intolerance in America: A Documentary History, edited by John Corrigan and Lynn S. Neal,

The publication The Jewish Week asks a very good question about this problem of overzealous fundamentalists in the U.S. military.
Obama administration: asleep on issue of religious coercion in the military? Submitted by James Besser on Wed, 08/25/2010 – 09:54
http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/political_insider/obama_administration_asleep_issue_religious_coercion_military

“There is freedom in Christianity not ISLAM.”
1.) There is NO “freedom” in most “Christian” churches for God’s gay and lesbian children.
But, (and far more importantly) …
2.) There is supposed to be freedom – in the United States of America – for ALL of its citizens, ‘religious’ or not.
The appropriate question then is, why do some “Christians” hate freedom of religion so much that they must force others to conform to their particular beliefs?

@Grumpy Old Person
“There is supposed to be freedom – in the United States of America – for ALL of its citizens,”
I am completely outraged that my freedoms in this country are so oppressed. I should have the freedom to pee and poo on the sidewalk or anywhere else I feel the need to relieve myself. It is a perfectly natural act and should be ok where ever I want to express myself. I should be able to pee and poo within my own home in the living room, in the kitchen, in the bedroom and anywhere else and no one should be able to come in and tell me how wrong I am or threaten to take my kids.
I should be free to kill someone if they look at me wrong, smell wrong or listen to their music so loud that it disturbs my peaceful bliss.
I should be free to yell “FIRE!” in the movie theater for laughs.
I should be free to drink and drive. It is my car…my booze….my body!
Hey morons, you think this nation might have laws for a reason? You think G-d might have laws for a reason?
Stop thinking like a selfish, arrogant little child who is angry anytime they can’t do whatever they want to do. That attitude among the gay and atheist communities sickens me to no end.

That was one of the more childish nd moronic posts ever to appear on B’net.
All of your, er, ‘examples, cause harm to others. Being gay does not.
Americans are, in fact, supposed to have the freedom to do what they want to do – so long as it harms no one nor infringes upon their right to do whatever they want to do. Ever hear of a thing called the pursuit of happiness?
People like you sh!t on others’ freedoms.