3-Star General Commander of I Corps Reacts to MRFF’s “Attack” on Him in Memorial Day Sermon at Manna Church; Tells of Vision from Jesus — WITH NEW VIDEO FROM MIKEY WEINSTEIN
Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson, Commander of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, who was “born again” at and attended Manna Church for a number of years while stationed at Fort Liberty, was the speaker again this year at Manna’s Memorial Day service, and, just like last year, endorsed this fundamentalist Christian church’s plan to exploit the frequent relocations of service members by using them to “plant” 237 more like-minded churches near the other military bases they are transferred to.
A good part of Lieutenant General Brunson’s Memorial Day sermon at Manna Church this year, including the following excerpt, was about how MRFF “attacked” him for his sermon there from last year:
“The other funny thing that happened on the way here to Manna this time was there were some challenges. There were some bumps in the road. There were attacks. And know what? I felt the lord saying to me was it’s not the cross. Just words. Just words. But what’s unsettling is you find yourself trying to do a thing that’s right and somebody finds fault with it. But what the lord said is I got this. The battle’s not yours, it’s the lord’s.”
The Lieutenant General also told the congregation that he received a vision from Jesus telling him what he should talk about.
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I can’t imagine anything worse for unit cohesion and morale in our Army than a Lt. General who tells everyone he aims to convert people who have allegedly inferior religious beliefs to his superior beliefs. Arrogant bigots aren’t considered good leaders in organizations that respect their members.
Behead all atheists
This country was supposed to have been built on religious beliefs like “In God We Trust”. If he was an atheist then people wouldn’t have a problem? Atheism is a religious belief as well, just like Buddhism, Satanism, etc. You would have to be null and void in any belief system to please people and to be considered unbiased, yet that’s impractical.
I’m unable to ascertain if Chris is serious or exhibiting snark. That said, I’m going to take them at their word which means there are few items to clarify.
First – the country was founded on religious beliefs? Really? Because the words God or Jesus are mentioned in the Constitution so many time… yeah, right. And you do know, Chris, that “In God We Trust” wasn’t printed on bills until 1957. One and two cent coins had the phrased imprinted on 1865, but it was removed when the coins were redesigned by Teddy Roosevelt. It’s worth noting that in the research I did I found many many posts, articles, and lengthy dissertations as to whether or not the phrase violates the First Amendment.
Second – Per American Atheists: “Despite the fact that atheism is not a religion, atheism is protected by many of the same Constitutional rights that protect religion. That, however, does not mean that atheism is itself a religion, only that our sincerely held (lack of) beliefs are protected in the same way as the religious beliefs of others.”
Third – I am aware of a multitude of humans who on the regular practice their faith without smushing it in anyone’s face. It can be done if (and only if) one respects the other person. But according to Chris and those who sound just like them, such discipline and dedication to respecting one’s fellow service person is, in their words, impractical.
Impractical to do the basic thing? Impractical to follow the oath of office every service person takes? Really Chris?
I’ve changed my mind, you aren’t exhibiting any level of snark but instead you are just another Christian nationalist in an apologists clothes. Do better.
Religion requires belief in supernatural things. A higher power we can’t perceive except through imagination. Can’s see it or smell it or hear it – religious people feel it. Non-religious are not afflicted by this, but yet some religious insist on saying we too have a religion?? A belief system, sure, but not a religion. My belief system is to treat people well and to be a net positive in the world. Not from childish fear of hell or wanting to qualify for heaven. Explain to me again why Eve eating the apple obigates me to worship Jesus lest I burn in hell? How does that make sense to anybody, even the rubes?
Or…..that we’re the direct descendants of an eight-way incestuous relationship in Noah’s family, you know, after the Christian God murdered everyone on the planet.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11.
Atheism is not a belief system. In fact, it’s an unbelief, meaning, I don’t believe in your claim of a supernatural Magic Man in the clouds that watches everything you do, including the clergy raping young children and………watching?
The Christian God, on his remorse tour, impregnates the Jewish virgin wife of another man to assuage his own guilt, projecting his deleterious temper deeds on his own creation. Sound familiar?
When in doubt, project and blame!
Look around your garage, fill your pockets with tools, and walk into the ocean!
MAGATS – Out The Door In 24!
Behead all Atheists?
You wouldn’t have a military left! A lot more of them in the military than you think!
Who’s gonna fight all those wars you Christians start? Military recruitment goals continue to fall short – again! Think any of that Christian-mandering by delusional military leaders has anything to do with it? lol. Eating their own.
Christianity is to military service what Christianity is to a failing State.
God himself talks to LTG Brunson! Or so he’d have you believe! They’re going to boot his ass out. He’ll get his retired three-star pay, free healthcare for life, and his disabled veteran compensation. I guarantee sleep apnea (generally associated with obesity), will be one of his cumulative disabling VA conditions (one of the easiest to get). Throw in bad knees, bad back, “I was exposed to burn pit toxins,” and viola, you’re 100% disabled for compensation, another $4,500 dollars a month tax free. Throw in zero property tax on your 7,200 sq ft home (that he purchased with tax free housing allowance – that he received a mortgage deduction on for years – he got money back on money he received tax free!), and you’ve got a publicly-funded grift-tour going for life! Not to mention the money he’ll make in his “consultant” work once he retires (AKA influence peddling – another half a mil a year).
The first sign of incompetence, especially at the Corps Commander level, is Brunson telling you that he talks to an invisible [white] man for guidance. Too funny.
He’s not a leader. He’s a cult follower, with an agenda.
He won’t see that coveted fourth star. Guaranteed.
DawahGuy23 doesn’t seem to be able to comprehend that after all the atheists have their heads removed, if he gets his way, those in power will next come after his own group. This is why freedom of conscience has to be protected by law, and also why MRFF is needed now more than ever – there are a lot of DawahGuy23’s in the world who don’t understand the consequences of the changes they are trying to make.
Chris is just ignorant. Chris is ignorant about what atheism is (a-theism simply means one doesn’t believe in a god or gods). Atheism is not a belief system or religion.
Chris is ignorant about the principles and laws that founded the USA. God isn’t mentioned in the constitution, as others have mentioned here. Jesus, Christianity and Judaism are also not mentioned in the constitution. That was not an oversight.
And Chris is ignorant about why we object to the Lt. General’s actions. We do not object to his actions because he is a Christian. We object to his actions because he violated and is still violating the civil rights of his subordinates. He is violating military regulations, also, and getting away with doing it. And he is also violating the principle of religious freedom, which is one of the founding principles of this country – founding principles the General claims to respect (but obviously does not).
I generally have to agree with ironmoped’s comments at 0930/1 June 24. Beheading atheists would be a bad idea. It’s often said that “nobody comes out of a foxhole an atheist”. It’s been my experience that the opposite’s true: that more atheists come out of foxholes than entered them. If you beheaded atheists, you’d have to catch them as they came out of combat. That’s not particularly good for recruiting.
That said, as someone who is interested in sociology of religion (I spent 12 years working on a PhD in Sociology), my definition of “religion” starts with “A social system that regulates behaviors and relationships within a community . . . ” (There’s a LOT more to it, but I wanted to make clear that belief in a set of doctrines or dogma about supernatural things is NOT the defining element of religion). So, given this observation, “atheism” can HARDLY be a religion, since “atheism” does nothing to create a community that regulates relationships and behaviors among its members. Atheism MIGHT be defined as a theological position, but it’s certainly NOT a religion.
Finally, I have to agree with Grey One Talks Sass when they mentioned that respect is important here. After all, do you want to go into combat with people who you don’t respect? Would you want to go into combat with people who don’t respect you? If, as I and others seem to believe, it’s important to respect those who’re supposed to have your back, it helps a lot if you give them the respect of allowing them to believe what their experience convinces them about humanity’s ultimate fate. Because what they believe about transcendent reality, to borrow some rather famous words, “. . . neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” What matters is whether they’re there when you need them.
I beg to differ John. Belief in the supernatural is THE foundational element of religion.
Religion began as a proto-science, God of the gaps and all that caper…..but it didn’t take long to figure out it was a powerful controlling element, ignorance (even today) the driving force behind religious dogma (Constantine comes to mind in terms of Christianity). Belief without evidence becomes faith, a powerful doctrinal remedy for those pesky questions that come up to inculcate the ignorance (Catholic transubstantiation comes to mind).
Atheism is not a theological position just as my non-belief in fairies at the bottom of the garden is not a theological position.
You might say, “I have an invisible dragon in my garage.” I’m just as atheist about your invisible dragon as I am your invisible God, without regard to a theological position. The onus of proof for your extraordinary claim is on you.
The heart of this article is that you have a very senior military leader/Commander hell-bent on Christianizing a secular military – dangerous in terms of readiness and combat effectiveness.
Ironmoped, please accept this in the spirit I offer it: as an invitation to civil dialog, not as the simple gainsaying of one another without attempting to understand the other’s position. I offer that apology up front because I’m afraid I either misunderstood your position or because it seems you misunderstood mine. So before going on to address other points, let me tell you what I think we agree upon.
First, I agree that a leader of any rank in the US Armed Forces using their position to even create the appearance of favoritism toward one religious orientation or against another is simply unacceptable. However, in your reply, you seem to have made some assumptions about me that are fallacious, so permit me to correct them before going on.
You wrote, ” . . . I’m just as atheist about your invisible dragon as I am your invisible God.” This seems to imply that I believe in a god. In fact, I identify as a solitary, syncretic Unitarian Universalist neopagan atheist with Wiccan tendencies. I particularly want to draw your attention to the “neopagan atheist” portion of the definition, as I do not believe in the literal existence of any god, goddess, or combination thereof. Nor do I believe that an invisible dragon lives in anybody’s garage. Besides the fact that I don’t believe in invisible beings, I suspect that most people would think of dragons as too big to fit in a garage. That said, though, I can accept gods, goddesses, and any variety of spirits as archetypical representations of how we humans see ourselves — they’re simply our reflections upon what we see in our mirrors. That’s why I see no inherent contradiction in being a “neopagan atheist”.
I’ll go back to my argument that atheism is a theological position, in that atheism is a claim about the existence of any god(s). Theism says that at least one god exists as a matter of fact. Atheism, on the other hand, denies the idea that any gods exist. Both are facets of a multidimensional die. That is, atheism falls within the set of positions of claims about the existence of gods, but religion can — and does — exist without reference to any gods. As I said, I’m a Unitarian Universalist (UU), and Unitarian Universalists tend to agree that we are religious. We don’t insist that there is — or isn’t — any supernatural being or beings we should worship. Rather, my experience with UUs is that we look on religion as a set of common values and practices that unite us as communities that strive to be the best we can be. And this approach is very similar to the Judaism my wife practices. She’s a Reform Jew, and neither believes in a literal God or that Tanakh is literally true. Rather, like me, she sees Judaism as a way of being in community with others in order to bring our world into a state of greater harmony and compassion. That goal, I think, isn’t too bad a basis for building and maintaining community.
I’d love to continue this conversation, but not just now: unfortunately, it’s just after midnight and I have to haul my narcoleptic self outta bed at 0530 so my wife can get to work by 0700. If you can suggest a forum we can take this conversation to, I’d be willing to consider that.
One last thing, if I may — call me J. P. . I didn’t think that the “Name” block was OK with us using screen names, nicknames or whatnot.
JP DeMeritt, MSgt, USAF (Ret) (for what it’s worth)
Ok JP. Points taken. My use of the word “you” was meant in the context of a universal “you,” if you are a believer, rather than you specifically. Poor word choice on my part.
At the end of the day, I wished we had more in this country of like mind as your wife but, alas, MAGA and their Christian Nationalist “dogma,” end-times and so on.
I don’t do social media (other than MRFF support), security clearances now subject to “continuous monitoring,” to include all social media for risk profiles (and stick figure decals on the back of car windows – lol).
Amazing how we complain about Government intrusion while Google knows more about us than we know about ourselves.
Interesting thoughts you present, particularly the “Be All You Can Be,” part, to plagiarize an Army motto and paraphrase yours.
Thanks for sharing. Will check out Universalist Unitarians.
Comment “Hell yeah” if you think Ironmoped’s house should be bombed
Troll suggesting violence against another commentator proves they have no sense of patriotism or empathy. They do prove their lack of intelligence although they didn’t say they themselves will do the deed, just ‘put it out there’ in the fashion of “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”. How absolutely brave of them as they post under an offensive nom de plume.
Unfortunately, I’m in an RV right now. So…….might be kind of hard to bomb my “house!”
But…….bring it you “Pussy Ass Bitch,” to borrow from Chrissy Teigen.
On my way to California in a couple days, San Diego specifically. Can send you an address. Or, might drop in to see you on my way; you’d be amazed what law enforcement resources can uncover (you might want to get a new ISP – not that it would change ID characteristics, but the one you have now is just too easy). Maybe get some lunch? Do a face-to-face?
You’ll have to clean up a bit. That bronzer #5 you’ve got on your face from the Orange-Man’s asshole not only looks bad, it stinks!
So you admit you’re a broke ass nigga who lives in an RV? If not your actual house could still be bombed.
Comment “Hell yeah” if you think Ironmoped’s house should be bombed!
I can’t help but notice that one individual in this thread has no thoughts of any sort to offer other than cowardly threats of violence toward others. There’s no better way to guarantee that your comments are not taken seriously.
Hey real pussy,
Not many signing up for your bombing campaign is there? Who’s gonna do it? You? Too funny.
Bring it little boy! Need an address? Might want to stay off the meth a while.
Careful playing with matches. You might get burned!
You still driving that truck?
You seem to want it to happen so bad, offering your address and the such. Typical, quite a few atheists are borderline if not completely suicidal.
Ironmoped, I hope you wouldn’t be terribly offended if someone bombed your RV with water balloons. I imagine that after a trip to Cali at this time of year, you’ve had a lot of experience with “the Golden Hills of California” — and are probably carrying a lot of that “gold dust” with you. A free cleaning might be just the thing to cool off with — especially if it’s not say a 1,000 pound net full of water balloons all at once.
real niggas are here, I think there’s a degree of projection here. I’ve known a LOT of atheists, and none of those I’ve known are the least suicidal.
On the other hand, you probably know atheists I don’t. If you know any who really are suicidal or express suicidal ideation, I sincerely hope you’ll help them reach out to appropriate suicide hotline help.
I’m not worried about Trumpers. Talk is cheap, threats are investigated (ask the MRFF).
Trump has called for violence by his base over his criminal and civil trials. You see who turns out – “Gary” from Indiana – lol. Pretty funny!
Most of them don’t realize they could do stand-up, the incoherence spewing from their pie-holes funny without them knowing it, some of my own family members in the cult. “Did you see the baby dinosaurs in cages on Ken Ham’s Ark in Kentucky? It’s awesome,” coming from a retired school teacher (who should be doing stand-up)! God help us, the timeline being off by only a few orders of magnitude – from a former school teacher!
That’s why Brunson is so dangerous, his “Christianization” of the U.S. Army a clarion call to diminished readiness in a secular military machine.
Actually going south, no “gold dust.” Alma mater – MCRD.
We’re on a path to a better country, just got to keep the fascists out this cycle. They’re pulling out the stops this go around because they know their power is generational. Once the old white guys die off, it’s over!
Time for women to step up and decide what they want. I think they see the alternative is pretty grim.
VOTE!
The MAGA dipshits lost their case against mifepristone, temporarily, by a 9-0 vote in the Supreme Court.
Not a permanent “in-favor” ruling for women, MAGATS hate women, barefoot and in the kitchen is where they want them, they’ll keep trying to implement their fascistic Christian “sharia” to denigrate women and keep them where they fetishize they belong!
If you don’t think democracy is on the ballot this election, you’re absolutely delusional and will deserve your new Gilead, a fascist run State-in-your-bedroom control of your MAGA-mandated Government intrusion into your lives and your futures. A future controlled by the fascists where even contraceptive is banned, the only family planning available to you is that doled out by the MAGAT “you’ll-do-what-we-tell-you-to-do!”
VOTE!
Let’s take this country back and move our country forward toward a country that favors our greatest National and Natural resource – women. Greater than half the country, but this half has common sense!
Vote ladies! True empowerment begins with you!
FASCISTS – Out The Door In 24!