There have been occasional stories about this happening at the Air Force Academy, but now it’s being busted wide open, only to find out it’s become pervasive. Army of God, converting with the sword, indeed. Frightening.
Group seeks probe of evangelical military video
A watchdog group that promotes religious freedom in the U.S. military accused senior officers on Monday using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity.
Such proselytizing, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has created a core of “radical” Christians within the U.S. armed forces and Pentagon who punish those who do not accept evangelical beliefs by stalling their careers.
“It’s egregious beyond the pale,” said Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. “We apparently have a radicalized, evangelical Christian Pentagon within the rest of the Pentagon.”
The group asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate a video in which some Army and Air Force officers discuss their faith while in uniform.
Weinstein compared what he said was radical proselytizing within the military with the Islamist militants U.S. troops are confronting in wars overseas.
“When we’re facing a global war on terror against what we call Islamic extremists, it certainly doesn’t help when we have apparently a viewpoint from the cognoscenti and glitterati, the leadership of the Pentagon, pushing a particular virulent worldview down the throats of people who are helpless to argue against it,” Weinstein said.
UPDATE: Watch the video.
Check out the Christian Embassy mentioned in all this.
#29,
I heard this Wednesday on NPR too. Although you claim that the group says they had permission, it doesn’t appear that anyone knows who gave that permission. Secondly, the source for that story is Fox Spews. No one else has confirmed it.
This story is in contradiction to what some of the participants have previously stated. When a Chaplain at the Air Force Academy complained that certain “religious” officers were given preferential treatment, the Chaplain was transfered to Okinawa. One civilian official and a General appears in the video.
Reuters is a recognized neutral news source. While you claim they are anti everything, maybe that is because they don’t slant their stories like the right wing press does. Sometimes the truth isn’t what you want to hear. FYI. AP and UPI have similar stories.
Well, what were you expecting with a conservative organization?
#32….Mr. Fusion….I read the story on AP. And it’s a whole different tone than this story.
And Reuters IS known as a left leaning news organisation. Only those on the left claim otherwise.
Also, if you can quote a story from NPR as even handed then those who are Conservative can cite Fox News as evenhanded.
In the story that is being reported by the normal media, it is quite clear that nothing about this story has been proven or disproven(the permission aspect, and the ability of the officers to participate, and the prayer meetings), because the Pentagon has just taken it under review.
#34, joshua
Well, I just read an AP story and compared it to the Reuters story. The only significant difference is that AP reports A Christian Embassy spokesman says they had Pentagon approval. The Reuters story states the Christian Embassy wouldn’t comment. So please enlighten us and point out where Reuters got the story wrong or slanted.
http://tinyurl.com/ycj3e7
http://tinyurl.com/usmw8
And comparing a news agency such as Reuters to Fox is really pushing credibility. I stay away from the obvious slanted sources such as the Onion, I would expect the same from the conservatives.