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Old 08-20-2007, 12:28 PM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,548,039 times
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I was watching a political commentary show Sunday and only saw the ending. The topic was the creation of a Military (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps) heavily influenced, if not controlled, by militant Christians. I heard the term "Dominionists" used. One audience member said she was nearly forced out of the Air force because she was not an evangelistic Christian but a "pagan" Catholic.

I think this is a very serious situation and I would like to read your thoughts on this matter. Do any of you have any experiences or knowledge of the situation in our military and/or other branches of our government? Thank you in advance.
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Old 08-20-2007, 12:36 PM
 
Location: In an illegal immigrant free part of the country.
2,096 posts, read 1,459,048 times
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What a bunch of Bologna!
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Old 08-20-2007, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
14,044 posts, read 27,115,667 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I was watching a political commentary show Sunday and only saw the ending. The topic was the creation of a Military (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps) heavily influenced, if not controlled, by militant Christians. I heard the term "Dominionists" used. One audience member said she was nearly forced out of the Air force because she was not an evangelistic Christian but a "pagan" Catholic.

I think this is a very serious situation and I would like to read your thoughts on this matter. Do any of you have any experiences or knowledge of the situation in our military and/or other branches of our government? Thank you in advance.
I know there were some problems a couple of years ago, but I thought that the military services had addressed it:

Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains
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Old 08-20-2007, 12:59 PM
 
Location: Texas
320 posts, read 294,891 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I was watching a political commentary show Sunday and only saw the ending. The topic was the creation of a Military (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps) heavily influenced, if not controlled, by militant Christians. I heard the term "Dominionists" used. One audience member said she was nearly forced out of the Air force because she was not an evangelistic Christian but a "pagan" Catholic.

I think this is a very serious situation and I would like to read your thoughts on this matter. Do any of you have any experiences or knowledge of the situation in our military and/or other branches of our government? Thank you in advance.
Yes, it is always a serious issues when one religion is placed above another. No religious belief should qualify someone for a job that requires the best physical and mental condition.
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Old 08-20-2007, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Northeast
1,300 posts, read 2,607,501 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SDBreaux View Post
... No religious belief should qualify someone for a job that requires the best physical and mental condition.

Yes, I agree!

Isn't it a little too late to impeach though?


...and I had a DS once who said "Does anyone know what happens when you die?................(he paused).............YOU'RE MAGGOT FOOD, PERIOD!" lol

So no, I don't know if religion is a huge problem in the military.


~T
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Old 08-20-2007, 01:32 PM
 
6,762 posts, read 11,592,578 times
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My uncle joined the Army when he was 18 and is now semi-retired from military service. I asked him if he feels religion plays a big role in the military and he said from what he had seen, very little role at all. He said he worked along side many openly atheist and agnostic troops, and said he never ran into situations where it was an issue.

That being said, he didn't get to work in every single military unit in America, so I'm sure someone else might have a different story.
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Old 08-20-2007, 01:53 PM
 
Location: Arizona
5,408 posts, read 7,773,353 times
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I have read stories about this too...if it is, it is a recent trend with the rise of Evangelical Christians among chaplains. Frankly when I was in the service in the 1990s I felt the chaplains I came into contact with were more concerned with rising in the ranks than with religion at all. (Officers first, chaplains second).
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Old 08-20-2007, 02:19 PM
 
8,978 posts, read 16,510,850 times
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It's a sort of "open secret" that our society, despite what we'd like to believe, does, in fact, have class distinctions. And that those drawn to a life of military service, for the MOST PART at least, have origins in the lower socio-economic strata. This may be less true now than it was in the days of the draft; nevertheless, there is less a tendency among privileged blue-bloods to want to go into military service, and to look at such as an honorable lifelong pusuit, than there is of that tendency among the sons and daughters of the blue-collar population.
With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that these "down home", red-state values type folks do bring with them some tendencies to lean in the direction of a more fundamental view on life (religion included) than is held by the "upper" classes. After all, a tendency to espouse simple, direct values, and a willingness to "kick a$$ and take names" without asking too many questions, certainly would be a plus, if one were sent by one's leaders into a situation in which that sort of behavior was what it took to get the job done.
A taste for country music, (which celebrates many of these virtues) would also probably be beneficial.
Pity the poor intellectual assigned to house-to-house combat--- his dilemma would make the job much more difficult to justify, in his own mind....
To state the case more briefly (which I almost never do), I think it's safe to say that a basic, no-nonsense fundamentalist religious view (Baptist or Pentecostal, etc.) would probably "fit" into a military career easier than a Unitarian, a quaker, an Episcopalian or a Bhuddist belief might.......Seems to me there'd be less internal conflict in one's conscience.

Last edited by macmeal; 08-20-2007 at 03:19 PM..
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Old 08-20-2007, 10:27 PM
 
Location: South Central PA
1,565 posts, read 4,296,012 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I was watching a political commentary show Sunday and only saw the ending. The topic was the creation of a Military (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps) heavily influenced, if not controlled, by militant Christians. I heard the term "Dominionists" used. One audience member said she was nearly forced out of the Air force because she was not an evangelistic Christian but a "pagan" Catholic.

I think this is a very serious situation and I would like to read your thoughts on this matter. Do any of you have any experiences or knowledge of the situation in our military and/or other branches of our government? Thank you in advance.
That's rediculous and that guy is using religion as a cover for something else. The fact is that 1/4th of the US is catholic and here in PA over 50% is catholic. If they forced every catholic out, there would be a decently smaller sized army.
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Old 08-20-2007, 11:39 PM
 
26,123 posts, read 48,737,202 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by citigirl View Post
What a bunch of Bologna!
No, I'm sorry to say it's not a crock at all. The USAF Academy, right here in COL SPGS, has been a hotbed of evangelical fervor. It has been in the news for some time, anyone who googles the right keywords will find the stories. There's a guy in NM, I think his name is Mike Weinstein, who has been fighting all sort of legal battles over this very issue. Even top USAF types in the Pentagon have had to act to chill out the things going on at the USAFA.

Having worked 31 years for the Army, I can clearly tell you that the military needs men and women of character who can accept that all religions are welcome in our nation's uniforms. Most of all, fighting types need to have a warrior mentality, fearless ones who "close ranks with the enemy and destroy his ability to make war" or in other words, kill the bastards. Religion is for the Chaplains on Sunday morning or praying over the dead on the battlefield. Period.

s/Mike
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