Monday, August 23, 2010

Did You Know There Are Non-Christians In The Army?

Apparently, some evangelical captain thought all his troops should get a bit more Jesus in their training, so he ordered the entire group under his command to attend a concert by an overtly Christian rock group, BarlowGirl.  When between 80-100 troops refused to attend (mostly because they recognized it was a Christian evangalization event), they were ordered back to the barracks for what can only be described as punitive action.

While not often this blatant, I did see a lot of this sort of ignorance and bigotry by the senior leadership when I was in the service.  Rarely did soldiers get punished for refusing to attend a religious event or service, but they often felt ostracized and ignored -- not a good feeling in an organization that depends on camaraderie and teamwork to function and survive.

This type of proselytization and religious indoctrination is highly illegal and irresponsible, and there is absolutely no place for it in the US military.  Several of the punished soldiers were Muslim, so I have to wonder if there was an additional bias in the application of punitive action on their account.  We've spent years overtly declaring that the war actions in Afghanistan and Iraq were against specific terrorist and radical groups, not Islam in general.  Actions like this, as well as the protests for the Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, show what liars and hypocrites the people pushing to continue the wars are.

18 comments:

www.KCFreeThinkers.org said...

This is about 30-40% of soldiers who did not want to go. A remarkable number.

Also, reports say that they were marched to the concert and NO CHOICE WAS GIVEN TO THEM AFTER THE CHOW OR BEFORE THEY WERE MARCHED.

The band apologized for this as they did not know.

These things are "elementary", I cannot believe that the CO would not know it.

It would NEVER even occur to me "not to give options".

May god clone his Xian followers a new brain.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

What about Christians in the military?

Do they have any rights?

Or should they just SHUT UP and DIE like the Kentucky Fried Thinker has kept telling us?

Emanuel Goldstein said...

I also always supected there were a lot of non Christians in the military.

Given the revelations of war crimes, torture, etc. that were rampant in the past decades conflicts, I am not suprised.

After all, some of the most brutal crimes in history have been carried out by Militant Atheists.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

In fact, they made things so bad in the counties they took over that even people like the Kentucky Fried Thinker jumped ship!

Bahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

What a frigging coward!

Emanuel Goldstein said...

Take an example of a Muslim Soldier.

The Major who shot a lot of his friends to death for Jihadis purposes.

How did that fuck go undected so long?

How is it that people can be running around telling others to SHUT UP AND DIE and never get called out on it?

(And it has been pointed out that everyone knows you are reading this, Fried Thinker, so hiding just makes you look like a Chicken Shit. A Fried Chicken Shit, that it! Bahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Emanuel Goldstein said...

KCF, they are talking about ATHEISM at the Kansas Citizens for Science blog, and one of the leading weasels, Krebs, has finally admitted he is not a Christian although many always knew that.

Why don't you join in the fun?

I am sure your witty comments would stimulate MUCH conversation.

I want your views to be as widely known as possible! Bahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

So come argue for atheism, butt boy!

www.KCFreeThinkers.org said...

Chuck,

The article you referred to stated 80-100 soldiers out of 200 refused to go to concert. Wow. Statistically this is 40-50% - much higher than 21% of self identified atheists/agnostics in the US military (US government records at enlisting). Let's give 5-10% to Muslims, Jews, other faiths, so this would leave easily 10-20% of the "refuseniks" who are Christian and don't want to be "told" when to go and "get the word of Jesus". I do recall reading an account of a Catholic soldier and a mainstream non denominational soldier about this.

Rather encouraging. Shows there are "rational Xians" out there. Glad they are speaking up.

Also, this piece describes the pressure the soldiers were under not to file a complaint.

http://www.truth-out.org/spiritual-fitness-concert62563

Chuck Lunney said...

Who said that the Christian soldiers had no rights? This would have been just as illegal if it had been imposed on Christians -- but it wasn't.

You make an insinuation that past war crimes and torture were the work of non-Christians. Care to back that up with any evidence or support, or is this just another lie you're making up to justify your own prejudice and bigotry?

As to the Muslim major who killed the others, I can easily point to many examples of Christians who attacked and killed fellow soldiers, too. Do you really want to go down that path, because I can assure you that there have been far more killings and fratricides by Christian soldiers than Muslim ones.

www.KCFreeThinkers.org said...

Chuck,

From this article above - There's evidence to support that accusation. According to USASpending.gov, the Department of Defense (DoD) paid the BarlowGirl's talent agency, Greg Oliver Agency, $23,000 to perform. Vince Barlow, the band's manager and father, confirmed his daughters were paid that amount for two shows, one at Fort Eustis and the other at nearby Fort Lee.

I wonder why not invite some Satan worshippers to and pay them out of the DoD budget?

Chuck Lunney said...

Also, did you happen to notice in the article I linked to (as well as most other reports on the issue) that the majority of those punished for refusing to listen to the prosyletization were Christian? There were a few Muslims, Jews and other religions represented (as well as some non-believers).

How does that square up with your preconceived notions, "winston"?

www.KCFreeThinkers.org said...

I wonder how many millions of dollars are paid out to military chaplains? Why? Aren't there pastors, ministers, priests, vicars, imams, rabbies who would like to "voluntarily" (for free) council members of the military?

It's quite easy to have 2-10 clergy on the list and text them all or e-mail in case of a need and whoever clicks on the web link to accept the assignment or contacts the person in charge goes out and does the job right away.

I don't understand the need for a clergy in the uniform? What "soldier to soldier" you'll have more intimacy and better bridge to god? Makes no sense.

They can be still in the uniform, no problem but PAYING FOR IT? I don't get it. I am sure they'll be OK accepting a salary of $1 per year or signing a billion year contract like Scientoloigsts do.

Just crazy stuff. Don't know about other armies in Europe if they have any chaplains on staff. Maybe things are just the way they are.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

Yes, Chuck, lets go down that path!

Provide PROOF that the soldiers you claimed killed other soldiers were Christians.

1. Names of soldier.

2. Date when this happened.

3. Place where this happened.

4. Person or persons they were supposed to have killed.

5. Proof that they were Christians; and not just some BS that they were "born" Christian. We require baptismal records and personal statements.

And provide MANY examples.

Bahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emanuel Goldstein said...

And note that when I referred to the Muslim Major, it was not based on his birth as a "Muslim" but his own stated and recorded, religous claims.

He even had a Jihadist business card.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

And as for you Kentucky Fried, is you own particular irrationality and claim to be a Militant Atheist a result of your officially atheistic upbringing, or are you just emotionally unbalanced?

(Note, I am not claiming you are, I am just asking a question. chuckle chuckle)

Emanuel Goldstein said...

The wording of his business card was "Solder of Allah".

Emanuel Goldstein said...

Oh, and just to clear things up, I don't believe in "indoctrination" and I believe the Captain was wrong.

And yes, so did a number of Christians, according to the article.

But I ALSO DON'T BELIEVE in the kind of indoctrination the Miltitant Atheist Kentucky Fried Thinker was raised under and would like to impose on students here.

This is proved by his frequent Rants that Christians SHUT UP and CRAWL UNDER A ROCK and DIE OUT.

And it is shown on sites like Kansas Citizens for Science that pretend to be about science education but are mainly composed of anti Christian posts.

I am suprised the little Russian has not joined in the fun there.

I would love to see his views defectated all over that site.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

What do you think would happend to a Christian student you did not accept that indoctination that evolution excludes any theistic considertions?

Kenneth Miller does not believe it does, but of course he teaches at a private University, Brown.

Just see how they treat you at KU if you mention theism is that context.

Emanuel Goldstein said...

By the way, Chucky, Bill Tammeus let KCF defecate all over his site for two years before he finally shut it down for comments.

(In my opinion, he was worried about potential liability issues.)

So, we appreciate the chance to use Kentucky Frieds post to wipe our assess with.