Onward Christian Soldiers!

By Ron Beasley

Yesterday I reported on the Marine in Fallujah who was handing out coins with biblical quotations out to the Islamic residents.  This is like throwing gasoline on a fire and threatened the lives of US soldiers.  The military said it would investigate but both Cernig and I had doubts that it would amount to anything.  Well it turned out to be like most other such "investigations" and the lowest soldier in the chain of command was found to be the only "bad apple".

BAGHDAD, May 29 -- The U.S. military suspended a Marine on Thursday for distributing coins quoting the Gospel to Sunni Muslims, an incident that has enraged Iraqis who view it as the latest example of American disrespect for Islam.

The Marine, stationed in the western city of Fallujah, handed out silver-colored coins this week that said in Arabic: "Where will you spend eternity? (John 3:36)." The other side read: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)."

"We are sorry for this behavior," said Mike Isho, a U.S. military spokesman in Anbar province, which includes Fallujah. He said the Marine, whom he did not identify, distributed only a few of the coins and that the episode was under investigation.

"This incident doesn't represent the morals of the Marines," he said.

But does it really represent the morals of the military?  There is evidence that the US military has been taken over by the Christian Taliban of the Religious Right and there is an organization that has been exposing and fighting it - The Military Religious Freedom Foundation .

One of MRFF's first investigations resulted in a finding of misconduct by the DOD Inspector general.

�This U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General�s (DoD/IG) report confirms the intentional dismantling of the Constitutionally mandated wall separating church and state by some of the highest ranking officials in the Bush Administration and the U.S. military. Embarrassingly feeble excuses proffered by senior U.S. Army and Air Force generals and other senior officers reveal long and deep collusion with a fundamentalist, religious missionary organization, the �Christian Embassy�. That these senior Pentagon officials control the world�s largest nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal should eviscerate the American public's trust and confidence in their military and civilian leadership. The shocking allowance of unrestricted Pentagon access to fundamentalist Christian missionaries through the official �badging� process is an outrageous national security breach of the highest order. Therefore, MRFF now demands immediate Congressional oversight hearings on this breach. Inexplicably, the DoD/IG failed to fault Secretary of the Army (and former Acting Secretary of the Air Force) Preston M.(�Pete�) Geren, even though his role in the �Christian Embassy� video clearly led the way for other senior officers� participation. MRFF intends to file expeditiously a comprehensive Federal lawsuit that will rapaciously pursue legal remedies to the multitude of horrific Constitutional violations this DoD/IG report reveals.�

The MRFF is now supporting Specialist 4 Jeremy Hall, who has served two tours in Iraq, who objected to attempts to intimidate him into accepting Fundamentalist Christianity.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) announced this afternoon that it had filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Kansas City, Kansas a comprehensive, new Federal lawsuit against the Defense Department alleging retaliation and reprisal by the United States Army against its co-plaintiff, Specialist 4 Jeremy Hall. The lawsuit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Major Freddy J. Welborn as specific defendants with MRFF and Hall as the plaintiffs. MRFF President and Founder, Mikey Weinstein stated in announcing today's filing of the new litigation, "It is beyond despicable, indeed wholly unlawful, that the United States Army is actively attempting to destroy the professional career of one of its decorated young fighting soldiers, with 2 completed combat tours in Iraq, simply because he had the rare courage to stand up for his Constitutional rights and guarantees of separation of church and state against a superior officer who was forcefully attempting to intimidate him into accepting fundamentalist Christianity." "Our new Federal lawsuit will show the almost incomprehensible national security risks to America and the world as a result of the destruction of the wall separating Church and State in the United States armed forces. The United States military is actively engaged in a pernicious and pervasive pattern and practice of unconstitutional rape of the precious religious freedoms of our honorable and noble sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines, national guard, reservists and veterans. This evil is a noxious, institutional force-feeding of fundamentalist Christianity by our nation's military command structure in complete defiance of the United States Constitution." The right wing Christian movement is scary enough but the thought that they may soon have or already have their own army is terrifying. Update Jill has more and in the comments section Cernig and archcrone have some additional links.