Welcome To The "Pentacostalgon"
Formerly the Pentagon, but now a farm for young, warpable minds for Christian religious fanatics on the faith-based make.
A former air force officer is mad as hell that evangelical Christians are, apparently, proseletizing in the military -- against military regulations, the Establishment Clause of the FIrst Amendment, and more. His name's Mikey Weinstein, and here's some of what he has to say in an interview on Salon:
Forty percent of active-duty military personnel consider themselves evangelical Christians. Is your position popular in the military?We have 702 U.S. military installations scattered in 132 countries around the world, and I get calls 24/7 from the soldiers, Marines and airmen. Unlike cops, they don't have a union, they have my foundation, that's it. They're being tormented. And 96 percent of those who come flooding in, on fire with torment, are Christians, three-fourths of whom would be traditional Protestants: Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians. The other one-fourth are Roman Catholics. These are Christians being preyed upon by evangelical Christians -- pray and prey -- and being told that you're not Christian enough, therefore you're going to burn in a hell of fire.
Many [evangelical Christians] tell me, "Mikey, OK, Anne Frank, Dr. Seuss, Jack Benny, Gandhi, they're all burning eternally in the fires of hell." And here's the distinction they just don't fucking get, these cocksuckers do not get this: I would give my last drop of blood and my last breath, and I would commend my three children in the Air Force -- one of whom's going to be heading to Iraq in a few months -- to give their last drop of blood and their last breath to support the rights of these people to believe that Anne Frank is burning eternally in hell … If they want to believe that their version of Jesus has her burning eternally in hell, I'd give my life for that. But I will not do that if my government tells me who are the children of the greater God and who are the children of the lesser God or no God at all. And that's what these monsters are doing.
Is there pressure on the non-evangelicals in the military to convert or keep quiet because some of their superiors have these views and are talking about these views?
Oh, absolutely. Like I said, in the military, many of your constitutional rights are gone, because it's necessary. Look, let's make sure your readers understand something, OK, put it in perspective: The U.S. military, which I consider a noble and honorable institution, is technologically the most lethal organization ever created by Homo sapiens. When you have the leadership believing that to be a good soldier, good Marine, good airman or sailor you have to be not just a Christian but the right type of Christian, we're no better than al-Qaida. And it's hideous, beyond belief. My kids were called "fucking Jews" and accused of total complicity, they and their people, in the execution of Jesus Christ, by superiors up and down the chain of command at the Air Force Academy.
But like I've said before, most of the people who've come to me are Christians. That's been the big sea change here. Look, Sinclair Lewis said it best, in [the 1930s]. He came back from Germany, he was observing it for a number of months ... and he [said] that he had now seen fascism up close and personal, and he knew that when it came to America it would be wrapped in the American flag, carrying a cross. And you know what? He's right.
It's one thing to be pushing evangelical Christianity on prisoners in a penitentiary and to be pushing intelligent design in public schools. That's bad enough, but that's not our fight. My foundation focuses, with laserlike precision, on the Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force, because if we lose them, we lose everything.
Your youngest son is at the Air Force Academy, which has been the focus of a lot of the allegations about evangelical proselytizing. With you being so out-front on this, has he been the target of any reprisals?
No. I think that they realize if they touch a hair on his head, I will open up the skies and bring down a hammer and tongs like they've never seen before. There have been some snide remarks, but in the main it's steady cruising.
...But I can tell you that I get -- I don't think I'm in double digits, but it started at about 10 o'clock last night; after the press conference in the morning, I've had nine death threats since about 10 o'clock last night. I usually get about two or three a week. They're very grotesque, everything from wanting to gas all the Jews in America and send the corpses back to Israel to threatening to blow me up, threatening my house will be blown up, raping my wife, blowing up my house. We've had our tires slashed, we've had feces and beer bottles thrown at the house, we've had dead animals placed on the front door of the house.
I was in Topeka, on a book tour, and the local Episcopal priest came out to support me and five hours later his church was burned down. And the local synagogue in Topeka, where I was to speak that night, was desecrated with spray paint saying, "Fuck you, Jews" and "KKK," all that stuff.
So if this is a nice, Christian response, my response is take a number, pack a picnic lunch and stand in line, because we're not going to stop, we're not going to ever stop, we're going to lay down a withering field of fire and leave sucking chest wounds on these people that are trying to destroy our Constitution. This is not a Christian-Jewish issue, and it's also not a political spectrum, left or right issue, it's a Constitutional right and wrong issue. These officers, and what's happening in that video, simply by appearing in a video that is blatantly and vociferously sectarian, by simply doing three things in that video, they should be court-martialed. That would be circulating blood, reflecting light and breathing. That's all they had to do and that alone would have been enough. You're not Jewish, are you?
I am, actually.
You understand the word "dayenu"? (Amy: Dayenu means "It would have been enough.") Well, it's dayenu -- the dayenu factor is simply by letting the light reflect off you, circulating blood and breathing in that video. Everything else beyond that is extra. Dayenu's my favorite song at Passover, that's why I use it.
My response is I've given the new secretary of defense 20 days to answer the Freedom of Information Act request, which the law gives him, and at the end we intend to get as much information as we can, fashion it into a dagger and then stab at the heart of this unconstitutional, wretched, vile, darkness at the Pentagon. This unconstitutional darkness, we will stab at it with our dagger until we kill it.
Ever seen Valdez Is Coming? Great movie, starring Burt Lancaster, from the book by Elmore Leonard. Let's just say this guy's the real-life remake of Valdez, just going to war with words and legalities instead of a calvary gun. And it's good he's on the side of what this country was founded as, instead of what the neo-primitives would like to turn it into.
The guys this fellow is correctly decrying are riddled through out the neo con world. Including Pajamas Media.
moe99 at December 15, 2006 2:15 PM
A few nights ago, I had a dream. I dreamed I had died and awoke in Hell. The screams of the damned were all around me, and the stench of burning brimstone and rotting flesh assaulted my nose.
Then Satan himself approached me, and my despair grew.
"I am so surprised to be here," I stammered.
"Well, we've been expecting you," the Accuser replied. "Follow."
I found myself following, unable to resist, as I was led down a dank corridor. We came to a room, and I looked inside. And there, I saw George W. Bush, bound by heavy chains to a gigantic, hideous, snarling, vicious, fire-breathing beast.
"That's the President of the United States. I don't agree with his politics, certainly, but he claims to believe in Jesus. He should not be here!" I protested.
The Devil turned to me and said, "President Bush, in his life, did things that you...just...don't...know about."
Our journey continued, and the screams grew louder and the smell become overpowering. We came to another room, and I looked inside. In there, I saw Condoleezza Rice bound by heavy chains to a gigantic, hideous, snarling, vicious fire-breathing monster, 1000 times worse than the last.
"But that's Condoleezza Rice! It's true I don't agree with her politics, but I know her to be a Christian! She should not be here!"
The Accuser turned to me, glaring fiercely. His lips parted in a feral snarl as he hissed in roiling contempt, "Condoleezza Rice, in her life, did things that you...just...don't...know about!"
Our journey continued. As the screams became deafening and stench became unbearable, I reminisced -- even through my despair -- over my life on earth. Was I really so terrible? What horrible misdeeds have I committed that would make God forsake me so?
We came to another room, and I told myself that I wouldn't look. But, unable to contain myself, I did. And inside the room was Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States, bound in heavy chains to...Heather Locklear! It was unmistakable. Looking as lovely as she did in the heydays of "Melrose Place," this was Heather Locklear.
The incongruity actually stunned me out of my despair. "This makes no sense," I said.
The Accuser turned to me again, snarling, "Heather Locklear, in her life, did things that you...just...don't...know about!"
Patrick at December 16, 2006 5:11 PM
So, so refreshing to see someone standing up to the conservative establishment, not only standing up to them, but saying that if they pull any underhanded shit he's gonna bring the ruckus 10x worse than they did.
And using the word 'cocksucker' without hesitating.
And thanks, Amy, for reminding me of 'Valdez is Coming.' I love Elmore Leonard's westerns, and I just put this one on my Netflix queue.
Cat brother at December 17, 2006 5:47 PM
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