ROCKDALE CITIZEN – Too much political correctness in military (with a reply by MRFF’s Akiva David Miller)

Selected Article Excerpts:

• As I write this on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we are reminded of the huge sacrifices these Americans have made on our behalf for 235 years. Our freedom and liberty are a direct result of their labor of love for this country.
  I wish I could say the same for the uniformed men and women at the highest levels of the military and their civilian masters. Working out of public view, some of those individuals are making a deliberate and concerted effort to remove all traces of Christianity from the American military.

• While there have been a number of examples of anti-Christian bias, let’s examine the recent record. In November, the US Air Force Academy ended its participation in Operation Christmas Child because religious messages were placed in the boxes of toys sent to children around the world… An atheist front group, The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, complained to Air Force leaders. The group has a record of frequent complaints that often achieve their goal of Christian cleansing the military. The Air Force quickly caved in to their demands. A smug Mickey Weinstein, the atheist group leader, said, “We got this one fixed.”

• Remember that not a single objection has been heard from the senior officers concerning the open homosexuality now permitted in uniform. The top brass seems to believe Christianity is a greater threat to the stability and good order of the military than the disgusting moral decay imposed by the Congress and White House.

Click here to read full article

 A response from MRFF Veteran Coordinator Akiva David Miller:

It seems Mr. Douglas is just one more “Liar for Jesus;” his little screed here is filled with dishonest innuendo and lies, and the reason why is simple: Fundamentalist Christians today will do or say almost anything to further their predatory agenda.

Like Mr. Douglas, I served our nation in the military; I served in the U.S. Navy and am now a disabled veteran. Unlike Mr. Douglas, though, I took my oath to defend the U.S. Constitution seriously; during his induction ceremony, when he was asked to recite the oath to defend the United States and the U.S. constitution, was he crossing his fingers behind his back?

Allow me to just give you two quick examples of Mr. Douglas’ lies within his clearly bigoted piece. 1) He calls President Obama “a secular humanist.” Of course we all know by now that this is the catch phrase in vogue today within Fundamentalist Christian circles to use to describe anyone with whom they disagree, particularly if they happen to be a Democrat, regardless of evidence to the contrary. President Obama is of course a professing Christian and has been for years. But Mr. Douglas doesn’t like President Obama’s politics (and possibly his race as well) and so he just repeats the oft used canard that he is “a secular humanist.” 2) He calls the Military Religious Freedom Foundation “An atheist front group;” this of course couldn’t be less true. As the Foundation’s Veterans Coordinator I am intimately aware of its work. To begin with, 96% of the Foundation’s clients are Christians – Christians who face discrimination at the hands of Fundamentalist Christians who don’t consider them Christian enough. Of course the Foundation also represents service members and veterans from all faith groups, as well as agnostics and atheists, who face predatory proselytizing, discrimination, marginalization, abuse, intimidation, threats and even violence at the hands of Fundamentalist Christians. Also, I have to say that I find Mr. Douglas’ false accusation that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is “an atheist front group” personally insulting in that I am a religious Jew; but of course he quite likely is just like many of his Fundamentalist Christian co-religionists who consider Jews to be just one more sect of “godless infidels;” Anti-Semitism hardly seems beyond the reach of a bigot such as Mr. Douglas.

Ironically, contrary to what Mr. Douglas would have you believe, the real problem in the U.S. Military is the pervasive assault on individual service members and veterans constitutionally-guaranteed rights by Fundamentalist Christians in positions of power who use their positions to impose their religious beliefs on their subordinates through pressure, coercion, intimidation, violence and swift reprisals when their activities are reported up the chain of command. I have no doubt Mr. Douglas also engaged in such egregious activities when he was an Army officer.