Is the American Military Too Christian?

Is the American Military Too Christian?
Feb. 1, 2010
katie Drummond

The Pentagon has been pushing religious tolerance for decades, but several separate
incidents in recent months are reinvigorating advocates who worry that the U.S. military is being
controlled by a small but powerful subculture of evangelical Christians.

Last year, former NFL player Terry Bradshaw starred in an official military video that espoused
"the importance of faith" in combating post-deployment depression.

In January, news broke that a Michigan company had been inscribing coded references to the
New Testament on high-powered rifle sights sold to the U.S. military. Weeks later, a giant cross
was placed in the center of a newly constructed pagan worship site at Colorado's Air Force Academy,
built to accommodate practicing Wiccans.

And those are only the incidents that have gone on within our borders. In May, Harper's Magazine
published a 13-page expose that included provocative details on war-zone religiosity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, advocates for religious equality in the military are speaking out over yet another incident.
Focus on the Family, an evangelical group known for its recent Super Bowl ad featuring football star
Tim Tebow, has had a lucrative arrangement with the Pentagon to host seminars and marriage conferences
for personnel. Next week, at least two bases will partake in an all-day Focus on the Family simulcast
being broadcast to 300 churches nationwide.

The simulcast, like any religious event, ritual or celebration within the military, is technically voluntary.
But dozens of base members have complained about "aggressive" e-mails from chaplains and
commanders who "strongly suggest" they attend.

In an e-mail, one unnamed base member wrote of Focus on Family:

"This isn't just a religious organization, it's a political organization.
At what point did it become appropriate or even remotely acceptable to use government facilities
to promote a very specific political religious agenda?"


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imo, if i am in the act of defending my country, you sure better allow me to excercise my first amendment right.

What were the basics this great country was founded on?

Joebert wrote:

What were the basics this great country was founded on?

in the year of our lord........