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VETERANS TODAY – Ambassador Joseph Wilson Hits Air Force Academy

Published On: January 23, 2011|Categories: News|2 Comments|

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  1. Gingras January 26, 2011 at 3:21 am

    RE: Ambassador Wilson’s OpEd.

    Any cadet worth his/her salt knows that when his/her (military) employer suggests an event, he/she must read between the lines. Layers of social nuance fall between a casual unfettered invitation at one end of the continuum and an overt order at the other. In hierarchical (military) situations, when one person has power or authority over another, an invitation often involves an element of coercion, simply because of the relationship. This is why, for example, universities often prohibit fraternizing or romantic engagement between faculty and students. The soldiers who alerted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to McClary’s planned talk were acutely aware of this dynamic. Fundamentalist Christians who have made the U.S. armed services their mission field also are acutely aware of it. They are keen to penetrate the military hierarchy and social structure for exactly this reason—the hierarchy required for military discipline affords a particular set of opportunities for persuasion and influence.

    Scholars of Christianity differentiate between sects or denominations that are focused on The Great Commission (go into the world and make disciples of every creature) and those focused on The Great Commandment (love the Lord your God with your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself). The heart of Evangelicalism is The Great Commission; that is what the term evangelize means: Conversion activities. Recruiting new believers. Over many centuries this type of religion has refined messages that act as social, emotional and cognitive triggers for the conversion process. Perhaps you know a smart, persuasive child who, when he/she wants something tries six different ways to make an argument – until one works. A proselytizing religion over time does the very same thing, by a process of trial and error, sometimes quite unintentional, until it lands on “words that work.”

    This is the powerful combination faced by our young soldiers, who are vulnerable precisely because of the conditions necessary to effective service. When a person who is subject to a (1) hierarchical (command) relationship is drawn into a (2) conversion situation which then exposes them to (3) words that work combined with (4) peer pressure, some percentage will submit to the pressures. That is the goal of evangelists such as McClary, who has redefined the USMC as “U.S. Marine for Christ.” It is the reason proselytizing sects of Christianity are spending so much money and effort to maintain access to the minds of our young soldiers. It is why soldiers—who have been asked to submit to hierarchy and authority for the sake of protecting our country – should be buffered from those who would exploit their vulnerability.

  2. Jen January 28, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Subject: Lies, Lies and More Lies

    Mr. Weinstein and MRFF, you do not know me but I am one of your clients anyway. I am one of your clients because I and many others here cannot breathe. We cannot breath one word of protest against the “serious committed Christian” bias that exists here at the Air Force Academy everywhere. I have run this e-mail message by another dozen or so officers here at USAFA to make sure that I can speak for them as well. And I can. One word or even one tiny action against “them” and you and your career are labeled as an “outsider.” Lt. Gen. Mike Gould says he wants us all to have “fanatical institutional pride” in the Air Force Academy. He tells all of us that. The way it is here, no one understands unless they’re here and tuned in enough to be aware of it all. Well, that “fanatical pride” is not considered proper unless it includes the right kind of “fanatical Christianity.” What kind is that? Just the kind that is handed out by USMC Lt. McClary. I’ve heard him speak before and I know what he says and what he does to his audience. It made me sick then and will again when he speaks on Feb. 10 at the Falcon Club here at USAFA. Unless MRFF and your allies stop it from happening. If anyone of us beg to differ we’re going to be hurt by the system here which is the people who are the “Christian” Christians. If that happens it’s all over. I am also an Air Force Academy graduate and pilot. I am married with kids and my wife and I are Protestants but try to keep it very on the down low because we know we’d be judged poorly for not being “energetic Christians” as my boss likes to say. Like the time my boss asked me if Jesus was in control of my life or if I felt that I was the one in control and then gave me some literature from Focus on the Family as a “gift.”

    The leadership at the Academy LIES! Especially about you, personally, Mikey, and the MRFF. It has been made very clear to me and many others here by the leadership that you and MRFF are bad for USAFA and America. It is also been made very clear that we are expected to support USAFA by personally attending this “National Prayer Luncheon.” I saw in the news that the Academy is trying to downplay this whole mess which the MRFF brought to the public by saying that it’s “voluntary” to go to it and that this USMC Lt. is a just “motivational speaker” and that “nobody will be taking names.” LIES! My USAFA boss and even his boss left it very clear that if we didn’t go to this “patriotic Christian” event we’d be “letting him down.” Seriously, “patriotic Christian” event? That says it all. Believe me please MRFF when I say that the names of the absent will very certainly be remembered. Am I going? In a word, hell yes. I have kids and need my job. I have been afraid to say anything to them for a very long time now. I’ve gotten good at hiding my hatred of it all. I’m used to it now. The feeling I have of being down for not standing up to the “energetic Christians” here is not as bad now as the feeling I would have of having my Air Force career derailed by a bad performance eval. You do not need to tell me what that makes me. I know what that makes me and I’m not proud of it. Thank you MRFF for fighting for those of us who have lost the will to fight. And in doing so lost a lot of our own dignity.

    (Name, Rank, USAF Academy Staff position withheld)

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