Although the U.S. shuns the publicity surrounding the deaths of their own soldiers coming home, Canada always displays their's on their main government propaganda channel, the CBC. They have what amounts to a parade as they carry the coffins of dead soldiers to the open back of a waiting C-130 cargo plane. Always, at the head of such ceremonies, which they call "ramp ceremonies", they have chaplains of various denominations leading the procession and they are always wearing camouflage uniforms, even though they never go into combat, and are adorned with their respective religious scarfs. That picture tells exactly what the use of religion is in the armies of this age. They are simply props. An aid the same as any division's flag is an aid in manipulating the minds of the soldiers who, almost always, are of an average lower intellect than the normal civilians in any middle class of any society.

To not recognize that religiosity is a manipulative tool the same as any uniform or individual unit ensign is to get lost in the minutiae. No doubt, the scumbags who rule the U.S. are feeling the pressure of their predicament and they can see more clearly than any outsider how quickly their position is deteriorating and they, obviously, are seeking for some stratum to purge so that they can try to assume a lower profile while maintaining the integrity of their system. But it is that very system which is the actual problem and the only solution for achieving a just society is to get rid of that system and replace it with one which is more equitable. No other outcome will be accepted.

So what happens when these soldiers come home...when Blackwater comes home? I read here http://www.counterpunch.com/ross11092007.html that Blackwater is positioning itself to be put in charge of "the drug war" and "border security"

I vacillate between vowing to leaving the country for good and asserting that I'll "stand and fight". But criminey, I'm a chubby nearly 50-year old lady. I'd be mown down like a bunny by these rambo types.

I am really frightened by what is happening and I worry that those Halliburton detention centers rumoured to being under construction down inTexas are for non-Christian "problem persons" like myself and my husband.

What is happening to America?

I have written my congresscritetrs a million times. Like another poster here, I get back form letters --sometimes duplicates of the last one they sent-- that tout their votes for military hardware and funding "our troops" (not "my" troops and don't call it "service"!!)

Besides leaving the country or a massive tax revolt-- no taxation without representation-- what options are there? I swear, the Democrats are USELESS and in fact part of the problem. I am not hot for a few of his views, but Ron Paul is looking more and more like an option. I am in despair.

As far as I have been able to determine, Fanatic Christianity is about control of others, with plenty of hate directed at those who will not bow to the pastor of whatever nut-job outfit in question. Sociopathic people seem well equiped to rise to the top of whatever organisation is in question, be it in business, government or religion.

Excellent article. But tell me...what's the difference between the fundamentalist and your average moderate to liberal Christian? Is it a difference of degree or a difference in kind? Given that both interpret the same book and believe in the same prophet, I'd say it's a matter of degree.

Which is why I'm always baffled to hear people like Thom Hartman, who seems to value evidence above all else, announce that he too is a Christian. When he does, I believe he lends creedence to the fundamentalists.

Why not take the Humanist approach and recognize that people like Jesus, and many others, have contributed many wonderful things to help us live our lives and help others, but that they don't need to be "god-ified" for what they say to be meaningful.

MAIRS: The trend you describe I believe can be explained in those who have no trust in themselves. They fear their own impulses and likely their sexuality which many religious sects still link with "sin," and thus to control themselves and the delusional fear that they will be punished for the sin of being a human being intended by God & nature to express passion and sensual pleasure, they put on the straight jacket of orthodox religion.

What tends to happen when natural drives get repressed are far more aggressive and twisted behaviors. I am nearly done with a book that examines these trends and what the worship of false spiritual beliefs has cost mankind. It's called: Moondance: The Feminine Dimensions of Time.

I'm very appreciative of the data offered in this article as I have brought the subject into the forum of the danger of melding Christian right wing rhetoric with soldier morale and furthering the cause FOR war. Can you think of anything more remotely UNLIKE Jesus and his teachings than this? I believe the trend in so many simple-minded people, those given to following authoritarian creeds (John Dean's "Conservatives without Conscience" brilliantly addresses this growing and problematic phenomenon) is wired into human DNA. The anthropomorphic tendency to create god in OUR image suggests that qualities of the deity follow those of empowered (white/male) persons. This whole macho who's the big dog, who has the biggest weapons, really the projection of some collassal pissing contest is spiritually psychosis!

There are sincere persons in this forum who hold faith for their Christian beliefs; and some have criticized me for pointing out the degree to which Christianity (along with Zionist Judaism and Islamic fundamentalism) has been demonized to serve the dark side.

In biology it's believed that our human brain's fetal development follows stages that ascend up and through nature's animal phyla. In parallel, I believe portions of our brain (not necessarily ones we are conscious of) retain imprints from primitive behaviors in former times, lifetimes I believe. Thus this Mars-rules ego-based impulse to use force, now institutionalized into the horrific model of our grandiose military, is the true cancer. Greed and economic systems are often seen as the root cause of conflict, but nothing fuels the soldiers' minds and hearts to lay their lives down for "the last good fight" than the belief they are doing so to serve God or some holy mission. Note the same delusion informs the Arab boys who expect their suicide bombing reward in the form of virgins in the afterlife.

If America becomes a Christian theocracy, every freedom to speak, learn, grow, sensually express ourselves, know joy, invention or spontaneity will be thwarted or punished. As a mystic living in the Bible belt the thought of being burned as a witch no longer seems a remote fiction. I keep a low profile.

Rebelnow, I too had a friend about 20 years old who suddenly in the space of one week became a Christian Fundamentalist. His personality completely changed. He became a mechanical shell, directed by something outside himself. Gone was the warm sense of humor, the humanism, the personality. He became an evangelical tool, one more for the army of their twisted sense of God these crazies produce. It was clearly pathological. It was frightening to watch. The person I knew was completely gone.

Muslims and Christians believe in the same God. Two sects of the same religion are fighting, like Protestants and Catholics in Old England. I was told I was caught up in religious values (many boxes of depositions). I am not so sure. It may be more concrete. I had a meeting with Osama bin Laden in the USA 1979 when he was recruited by Zbigniew Brzezinski and the CIA to destabilize Afghanistan.

God gets the better of the deal when he partners with the US military: Thousnds of nukes and ICBMs, Fighter planes, stealth bombers, chemical and biological warfare capabilities.Unlimited $ billions for weaponry. All the US military gets is the GOD brand name and endorsement.

Only a barbaric culture values warriors above all others. Chalmers Johnson, " you can not maintain an empire overseas while simultaneously preserving a civil society at home". We're rapidly jettisoning all civil values to maintain our rapacious consumption of the lions' share of the planet's resources.
The cant of the neo-Christians is just a smokescreen.

As far as I can see there is a even more rotten form of cancer growing inside Christianity itself! It's destroying the very moral fiber of this once great nation. These people rail incessantly about abortion, gays and illegitimacy. While they completely ignore and even whole-heartedly support the corruption, bigotry, greed, torture, lies, deceit, murder of innocent Iraqi's, murder of 3000 American Servicemen and women and a myriad of other problems within the US Presidency! George W Bush is the most immoral people on the planet earth! But, these people have chosen to ignore the fact and support this President in all of his destructive glory. I have begun to see Christianity in a whole different light since these 'Christian's' came into office! I can guarantee you I do not like in the slightest what I see. I was raised in the Baptist religion but I don't recognize a single solitary part of that religion in these people! When I was raised all the problems I mentioned above were considered severe infractions in moral character. You were as much the scum of the earth if you broke those rules as you were having sex before marriage. If not more so, because they spoke of your overall character which is one of the most important things Christian's possess. But, these new Christian's do not appear to be plagued by any of values I was raised with. They regularly lie, cheat, steal, murder without any conscious. I am currently reading a book entitled 'Conservatives without a Conscious' by John Dean. It is a very enlightening book. That should be read by everyone here. Because it is frightening to think our country is being run by people who don't have a clue what right from wrong is! This cancer needs to stop before it destroys us from within.

You have made me feel American again and what my father fought for against fascism in WWll. Now we teach of Jewish Jesus being American against the world. Jesus is of Love and forgiving...Not a fascist Christian. Jesus and John the Baptist spoke truth to the government...Thank you, Col. David Antoon for speaking truth to our government.

WOW!!!!!

Adel, you wrote:

"I was warned that whole families disappear of those who do not cooperate with the military. Our lawyers told us that the black paramilitary actions taken against my family in the USA were due to religious motives (East v. West)."

Could you possibly tell us more? (If not, I completely understand why.)

With sympathy and respect - Anatta

I'm a big fan of the seperation of church and state, and I try to keep them both as seperate from me as possible.

Malarkey! Such an apologist's searching for a scapegoat is not going to save the evil nation which is the U.S.A. The whole history of the wars, overt and covert, that the U.S. has undertaken or funded in the past two centuries is indicative of it's true character and no amount of dogmatism with regard to current trends is going to dispute that historical fact. Those goofs in the U.S. secret services might as well resign themselves to the fact that the rest of the world knows them for what they truly are and no amount of propaganda, no matter how intricate, is ever going to work for them again.

Moral certitude and intellectual rigidity are the very cornerstones of fanaticism, be it religeous, political or otherwise, and are always born of fear. The opposite of fear is love, which is in short supply these days, and much more difficult to sustain.

lindseyeleda -- thanks for the link. It is inspirational.

We must all insist on keeeping the separation of Church and state alive while there is still time. We need to make our voices heard every time some effort is made to combine religion with Government, military, or schools. This will surely bring our nation down if it is not stopped immediately. Religion can be a fine thing in homes and churches but ruination when mixed up with everything, especially by these fanatics who are trying to take over the country.

Yeah, Hitler was a supremacist too!

Somehow, religious zealots can't seem to make the conncection, especially when they find it convenient to blame their savagery on a God who by all biblical accounts is responsible for creating the world and ALL of mankind.

Thankfully, some of us can see the divine comedy in both the absurdity and ignorance of supremacists of race, color or creed. As an optimist, I believe that someday the majority will see the light and accept responsibility for their own behavior. At some point, we all have to stop blaming Mommy, Daddy or God.

Many thanks to David Antoon for writing this article and making it clear that any form of supremacist fascism is a cancer!

In El Salvador in the 1980s the American advisors stood by as the Salvadoran draftees were taught to virulently hate Jews. The interesting thing was, there are almost no Jews at all in El Salvador.

I heard this story from someone in the Sanctuary movement. A draft escapee had fled to America. All of a sudden he started spouting this anti-Jewish rant to the Sanctuary worker. Finally she told him that she was Jewish. At first he couldn't believe her. After a long while he accepted the idea, but was convinced she wasn't "like those other Jews".

Having heard indoctrination stories like this, I can accept that any military establishment on earth can take "Christianity" to wacko heights.

In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in His bosom
That transfigures you and me
As He lived and died a pacifist
Let us live to set men free
Let's free ourselves from war.

Glory glory hallelujah (3x)
Let's free ourselves from war.

This is why I am, proudly, a Unitarian Universalist. Ours is a faith that teaches us how to live, not just preparing us to die. Ours is a faith OF Jesus, not ABOUT Jesus. Ours is a faith that remembers the messages of social justice in scripture and puts them into real, tangible practice each and every day. We live our faith, not just talk about it.

Interested? Learn more at:

http://www.uua.org/

Oh, and by the way, the fact that religious fundamentalism is infiltrating the military goes a long way toward explaining some of the brutality we have seen in the wars we're fighting at the moment that seem more like religious crusades from 800 years ago, where brutality was often practiced against innocent civilians who just happened to be of the "wrong" faith.

Religion has no place in our military. We are, or rather, were, a religiously pluralistic society founded on religious freedom, and don't hand me any of that dogma about our Founders wanting this to be a Christian nation. Horse hockey! They were largely Deists and Unitarians, men of reason who knew the dangers of trying to create a nation based on faith.

If you study carefully enough, you'll find out a whole lot you didn't know about this country that might surprise you. I highly recommend a little book entitled "The Separation of Church and State: Writings On a Fundamental Freedom by America's Founders" ed. by Forrest Church, pub. 2004 by Beacon Press, ISBN 0-8070-7722-4, $16.00.

How else could you get an otherwise rational person to drop nuke bombs on any nation? you "brainwash" them.

Go yonder young Christian warrior and wipe the evil Muslim from this Christian planet, thats an order! ...Sir! Yes Sir!

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope
of reward after death. ~Albert Einstein

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage. ~The Fall of the Athenian Republic

Thank you, David Antoon, for your thoughtful and courageous words. The information presented and your views about the situation should get the widest possible coverage and readership.

Religious fundamentalism, like patriotism, is the last refuge of a scoundrel. They are like the little old lady my Dad used to refer to who, when being bested in an argument would say, "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts."

And I have naively assumed that the elite military officers have forfeited their oaths an obligations out of some uncomprehension or misunderstanding of what the private military sector represents. The two (the military and e. g. Blackwater) go hand in hand.

When I was growing up I was very close to a cousin. We were buddies. In our early 20's he became a born again Christian and tried to convert me. I countered with some comment about Jesus coming here to teach about compassion and healing and forgiveness, and that his mission, as I saw it, was to help us all be like him. He went into a rage, "How can you dare consider yourself like our Lord?, that's the Devil talking!". He went crazy, I stood back and looked at him like he was possessed. We haven't spoken since then.

Meanwhile several other family members joined the born again ranks, they refuse to speak to the rest of the "heathen" family members. What was once a close family of aunts, uncles, and many cousins, that gathered at holidays and birthdays with lots of laughter and celebration has splintered and fragmented, few of us gather together now.

About 25 years ago I had an discussion with a friend and I predicted then that the born again evangelical phenomenon would be the most dangerous trend in the future, far more than the Soviet threat, or the Red Chinese threat. She thought I was insane. I'm going to give her a call and see if she remembers that discussion, and see if she still thinks I'm insane.

Now you know what all those babies of fundamentalist women who don't use birth control and plop out kiddies for Christ, one after another, are planning to do with all of them. They're going to send them to the U.S. Airforce where they can kill for Jesus, slaughter the infidels by the thousands, and help bring on Armageddon.

The more devout will most likely graduate to Blackwater where they can be true disciples for Christ slaughtering infidels in Baghdad city square during broad daylight.

Such holiness. How can anyone resist the loving call of the Lord Jesus Christ who has a wonderful plan for your life. (Ixthus Christos Theos Vios Sawtpr)

Of all the scary things I've read in the last 7 years, this is the scariest.

Back when Khomeini was in power in Iran, I lived for a time in the Far East, in a predominately Muslim country. There were, at just one intersection, a Greek Orthodox church, a Presbyterian church, a Chinese temple and down the street, a mosque. Everyone attended their own services, and sometimes the services of other faiths, in friendship and brotherly love.

The Muslim family I lived with often talked about what was happening in the world. As to Khomeini's fomenting jihad, I was told many times, "That is not Islam, that is politics."

I studied the Holy Qur'an and found it to be basically a religion of love and peace. There are some bloody passages in it, as there are in our own scriptures. They are mainly of historical note. The religious right of Islam use those passages as our own religious right use ours, to foment hatred, ignorance, intolerance, death and bloodshed; all in the name of the "Prince of Peace."

If the religious leaders of all faiths would just read their own scriptures and follow its teachings rather than their own personal agendas, the world would be a much more decent, caring, place.

And if pigs had wings, they could fly, I guess. (Sigh.)

Whom would Jesus bomb?

Fascism and religious ferver have always gone hand in hand. Religion is first and foremost a means of social control. The myths change and morph, but the goal is the same. The feel-good platitudes and "love thy neighbor" business is all window dressing. It's about control, it always has been, and always will be, and until people learn how to defend their minds from these memes, we will always have these problems.

Folks,

At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, I say we've got to keep up hope. If we lose that flicker of hope, we lose our power (and we DO have power) to turn this thing around.

Here's a quick shot of inspiration. Hope it helps.... Peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoCVP7sRq_8

>I only wish that the NY Times, or the Washington Post,
>or some other mainstream newspaper would run this on
>their editorial page.

US voters quietly watch Bush and his cronies steal the presidency from Gore, start a war based on lies, spy illegally on US citizens, kidnap and torture prisoners, redistribute vast amounts of wealth from the middle class to the rich, and turn US armed forces into christian fascist brigades. There were articles in the Times and in the Post about these crimes. Didn't stop them.

What's needed is millions of US voters getting off their asses to do something other than obsess about how to make money or spend it. Not bloody likely.

I watched Dan Rather on HDNet news last night do a piece on the Dominionists in the armed services. This article on Common Dreams is speaking the same truth. As a Christian, I am appalled at what these "Christianists" are doing to our country as well as to the Christian message of loving your enemies.

Armed forces discredited, dishonored, and weakened, again, by political zealots and war profiteers. Sad. For USAF veterans (volunteers all) especially.

When Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Richardson, Edwards, Obama or Clinton is your new commander-in-chief, you have a chance to see some modest tilting away from the warrior-in-the-name-of-religion trend described by the author.

Colonel Antoon,
Thank you so much for this amazing story. Fundamentalism has always been a great danger, whether Christian, Islam or whatever. As a Christian, I despair at how the Bible is perverted by these people. I listened to a Islamic clergy recently who felt the same way about the Islamic fanatics who pervert the Koran. No matter what faith they are, they are simply people who want power, who want to be god. They do not speak for Jesus or Mohammed no matter what uniform they wear.
Growing up in the 1960's, I truly believed the teachers at my Catholic school who told us that Veterans Day was to celebrate the men and women who died to allow us to live in a country of religious freedom. They spoke of how great America was to have Catholic, Protestant, Jews, Mormons, Amish etc. to live and work together. I wish I could believe that like a child again. Maybe it was all fantasy to begin with. Your story breaks my heart but strengthens my resolve.

CIA motto: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Motto on the Department of Justice Seal: no one knows what it means. Seriously. Go to their website and they tell you flat out - the DoJ neither knows what the quote on it's own seal means, nor who created the seal, or when, or what it means. Some think the maybe Latin words translate to:

Attorney-General who prosecutes for our Lady the Truth."

But some believe the translation is: Anything the President, who is only doing what some God whispered in his ear, wants.

The good news is that our sworn defenders of our Constitution promise to again defend the document as soon as the Loonitary Decider has finished rewriting it.

Isn't the Airforce acadamy the institution that trains officers for service in the nuke silo's? Makes me feel so safe knowing that those who are responsible for launching armageddon are so well trained in service to the fundy nuts...

I was warned that whole families disappear of those who do not cooperate with the military. Our lawyers told us that the black paramilitary actions taken against my family in the USA were due to religious motives (East v. West). I have read that the Crusades were justified because Muslims have no souls, condemned by not believing Jesus was resurrected, just a mortal Prophet now in heaven with Moses and Muhammad.

I only wish that the NY Times, or the Washington Post, or some other mainstream newspaper would run this on their editorial page. But, I guess, that would be wishing too much.

Thank you for your contribution, Colonel Antoon.

This is truly scary. Aside from the Christian fundamentalism, the notion of the soldier as "warrior" and nothing else, is deeply disturbing. I remember reading an article a year or so ago, by a senior British officer who had been attached to US forces in Iraq, warning that it was a pernicious concept, especially in its emphasis on pledging to "destroy", rather than "defeat" the enemy - in a nutshell: kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out. The warrior ethic (if that is not in itself a contradiction in terms) is that of the SS, and has no place in the armed forces of any democracy.

I have a hard time nowdays in not showing extreme anger towards this trend and the people involved. Even posting here I have let my anger out. The problem for me is the fact that I truly love the teachings from Jesus, but everything he taught is being warped and used in the neo-crusade.

I guess that ultimately those who spout this supremecist BS will have to face the big Truth of how they have used the teachings of this loving man to hurt others for profit and control.

How sad.

The Christian evangelicals, including the evangelical warriors such as those described in the article, are pawns of the hard right neoliberals (Friedmanites), and they grow more useful as they grow more certain of, and less likely to question, the righteousness of their mission (which is whatever they are told to do in their chain of command).

An entirely admirable & enlightened article on a very important subject. Anyone who doesn't have time to read the whole thing should just read the last 3 paragraphs (starting from "The Christian supremacist fascism first reported at the Air Force Academy is endemic throughout the military...")

Defund and disband the Air Force. Close its
Academy.