wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Hi,

Will you new york liberals stop whinning about Christians fighting your stupid war that you had started against Islam, and start fighting Islam yourselves?

Love,

Studs

Jeff Sharlet discusses his article "Jesus killed Mohammed" on Freethought Radio, which is available on iTunes as a downloadable podCast.

NO ONE who is a genuine Christian can ever serve in the military, nor ever use violence, nor ever claim there is a "just war". Any one who claims to be a Christian, evangelical or otherwise, that believes that serving in the military or killing people is valid is a false Christian. And false anythings eventually leads to great incompetence and eventual destruction. Stop acting as if this is genuine Christianity, and recognize them for the frauds they are; just like the vast majority of politicians, including Obama, are totally self-centered and have not a smidgen of genuine interest in their constituents, which they unceasingly claim is present.

Wise advice indeed!

OScar -- thx for the laugh!

I'm a secular/reformed Jew, served in the 90's as an enlisted US Marine (infantry) and I was evangelized to from boot camp on forward, sometimes by officers far above me in the chain of command. It was uncomfortable, yes, but nothing I'd try to get someone written up for. The thing is, the military, (at least as I experienced it) has a lot of Southern Baptists, religious Catholics and Mormons. I doubt if I met a dozen fellow Jews in 6 years of service and even less Muslims.If the military was as religiously diverse as the population it serves, this would not even be an issue. So, lets discuss why Jews and Muslims don't really serve in the military in #'s proportionate to their populations?

Your guest's report chills, terrifies and horrifies me. This behavior is clearly wrong and a violation of what our nation is, or SHOULD be, at its core. I hope there will be serious follow-up and investigation into this abuse of position.

It appears our military establishment is in danger of becoming rancid. They are neither sent as missionaries, nor administers of conversion-by-bullet "salvation." This sort of action only serves as yet more substantiation for those who dislike and distrust the US. It is terrifying to hear that rather than defending our country and our allies, segments of our military are deliberately creating enemies because these "Christian soldiers" presume to force their mythology over someone else's. This is a horrible trend, and one that may well make us even more of a target for those with the will and ability to harm us. Militant, beligerent fundamentalism is a threat to humanity, I don't care which dogma is its base.

please listen to the segment

I have a son who graduated the US Naval Academy in 2006 and my daughter is graduating from USNA on 22 May 2009. All religions are practiced and encouraged at USNA and the portrayal to the contrary by Jeff Sharlet is self-serving to foster his own agenda (sell his books and do talk shows). There is a new Jewish Center at USNA built from donations of alumni, parents of Midshipmen, and others. I also personally knew of Colonel Mickey Laitman who was instrumental in the fund raising for a religious center at West Point many years ago. It is very poor form to defame the military academies that produce the finest young men and women who serve this country and who also defend Sharlet's right to spew his brand of slanted information. Just because Sharlet writes or says it does not make it true. One or two disgruntled people being quoted also does not bode well for the vast majority who serve with honor, integrity, and courage.

william -- if he explained bad behavior on christianity i totally missed that. he sounded very clearly reporting facts. again, i am standing up for the difference between useful reporting and useless reporting and found his to be the former. however, since two listeners are questioning his professionalism maybe i missed something, may i suggest we all relisten to the segment to detect his biases and perhaps our own.

Please make the interview an MP3 downloadable file so it can be shared with those who did not hear it live.

The Lopate Show responds: The audio for this segment is now available.

gene he said this started during and after the vietnam war. korean war preceded that.

in addition, he did not sound biased to me, just reporting what he found. i am sure there are lots of fundamentalists who would agree 100% w his report.

While I am very concerned about the developments being reported about a growing number of military personnel, you go too far in saying that being a devout Christian - even being a "fanatical" Christian - is an explanation for the bad behavior that has taken place in Iraq. To do so is equivalent to claiming that devotion to Islam is responsible for the terrorism that also takes place there. Any belief system can be interpreted/distorted/manipulated to suit the needs of the individual, but that does not make that belief system inherently bad; nor does it allow one to make generalizations about the people who are devoted to it.

As a former junior naval officer during the Korean War I never observed any of the matters your guest discussed. I believe he is both anti-military and anti religion.

This sounds like an American Taliban.

If the right wing religious fundamentalists manage to take over the military, what's to stop them from simply taking over the whole nation....all in the name of "God" of course.

Then the new Inquisition can begin where they can torture at will....all in the name of "God" of course.

If these people could get away with it they will do exactly this. It's not far fetched. One of, if not THE greatest threat to our national/international security is religious fundamentalism of ALL stripes.

Using jesus to justify launching missiles against other people? That's too bad. I had hoped that having religion around would push against the worst instincts of the US military, billed as a professional outfit, after all.

I also had assumed the Constitution was specifically taught in the military. Obviously I watched too many MASH reruns and patriotic WW2 movies. I only hope that the military can convince well educated and truly patriotic Americans back into its fold at some point in the future.

Solve the problem easily. Bring back the draft!

I graduated from USAFA in 1992. From the sound of your reporter, things must have changed there since then. What is the actual prevalence of these activities? I never experienced bible-thumping while there, and I'm still in touch with many of my classmates.

I would also appreciate it, Leonard, if you wouldn't make such blatant and narrow-minded assumptions (e.g. "They must know the 2nd amendment" and "They probably didn't vote for Obama."). You're better than that.

Leonard,

Jeff Sharlet has mislead you and you let him! The phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The closest the Bill of Rights comes to stating anything that may be (mis)construed as total and utter separation of church and state is the First Ammendment, which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

FYI
While the military is sworn to uphold and defend the US Constitution, it ought to be noted they are not governed or provided protection by that document but rather by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the UCMJ

This would tend to explain some of the exteme acts of violence some U.S. soldiers inflicted on Iraqi civilians throughout the war. These sorts of Christian supremacist attitudes also help to explain the generally violent anti-Muslim actions taken by the U.S. government both before and especially after 9/11.