It sounds like people of a certain ideological stripe would very much like to have another ‘long march through the institutions’.
This is a phrase I learnd when studying the Chinese Revolution in grade ten: it referred to the efforts of the Chinese Communists to take over the institutions of China and make them adhere to Communist ideology.
Because there are some fanatics at the fringe doesn’t mean the entire organization can be painted with a broad brush. I will second an early poster and say that I was in the military for 2 tours and nothing like that ever happened to me either…and I was pretty openly agnostic. I was never harassed in any way, even when we would sit there shooting the shit about religion into the wee hours of the night.
It would be like saying all Liberals are wack jobs because of some anti-war nuts in Berkley over the Marine recruiting thingy. I do agree with the OP though that such things should be slapped down, whether they be from officers or from the ranks. Busting someones chops for their religious preference (or lack there of) is pretty much un-American and those folks doing it need to be chopped off at the knees.
JMHO.
-XT
I agree with you that it shouldn’t boomerang, but I believe that thorough documentation is the way to deal with that appropriately because it’s proper documentation, among other things, that will prevent it from coming back to bite you. Documentation of everything is important for any workplace, and I learned that the hard way in a non-military job.
As far as the OP is concerned, I agree that those responsible should be dealt with harshly up to and including public humiliation in the media. This sounds less like a military wide problem and more like a unit whose leaders got out of control. Then again, I haven’t been in for a long time, and I suppose it’s possible that the situation is worse now.
FTR, I was an atheist in the military, and while I didn’t push it, I didn’t hide it either, and I never had a problem with anyone else. In fact, guys in my platoon tended to laugh at the real fundies. The ex-wife of a guy in my squad went to a pentacostal church with their kids, and he was always joking about how they were going to come home holding rattlesnakes and stuff. Once again, though, this was a long time ago.
I hope SPC Hall wins his suit, and I hope his chain of command get reamed for this, and if there is a bigger problem with army evangelicals, I hope this helps get it out in the open. That staff sergeant and major are full of shit.
:eek: How could anybody believe that and pull the trigger?! I’d let the other guy kill me first! If he were the person I hated most in the world!
Having skimmed through the comments on that article, I’m reminded why I’m glad I’m a Doper.
What, ya think he hasn’t?!
This is nothing new. But hey, if we’re going to be a marauding military force we may as well be fanatical about it, right?
Does the military actually allow one to register as an “atheist” or do they just put something like “no preference” down?
That’s a good question, and I’m afraid I don’t know. I registered as a Catholic before basic. I lost my faith after about a year in and didn’t bother to change my preference.
IIRC I put ‘none’…but I might have put Catholic like Linty did. I don’t remember now. I had already pretty much lost my faith by that time however.
-XT
I can’t answer that specific question, but I can tell you that when we went up to the tundra (Minnesota) to bury my wife’s father, the veteran’s cemetary offered a variety of headstones, one for each major religious affiliation and quite a few minor ones. There was indeed a headstone for “atheism”. It was a stylized atom.
When did the opposite of “liberal” become “evangelical”? In your linked thread you talk about more Pubbies than Dems signing up, not more evangelicals.
The really interesting thing is the way conservative and Pubby have come to be closely associated with evangelical.
There would I think be a school of conservative thought that would regard absolute freedom of religion (and everything else) to be an ideal.
The evangelicals have made a conscious push to gain power in the US so as to be in a position to enforce their views on everyone else. There are embryonic attempts at the same in Australia. I don’t know if the same conscious push is underway towards military power but it would be utterly unsurprising.
I believe I discussed religious trends during that thread as well.
The issue to me here is whether this is a one-off problem or a larger indicator that the military culture is becoming more insular. I think there are signs that it is becoming so - numerous people have noticed this. Hell, it was a prominent part of a Tom Wolfe short story.
And the fact that liberals don’t join the military in anything approaching parity with conservatives serves to aggravate this problem.
Kinda like how the KKK needs to have more blacks join, to help alleviate their racism. 
You had best sound off that you love the Virgin Mary…
Of course the DI’s real purpose in his rant was to check the mettle of his recruit and see if he would stick to his guns, which is the kind of thing that the military’s leaders (from non-coms on up) should really be focusing on.
You’ve reiterated this and blithely bypassed innuendos that it was a matter of opinion. Now, I’m asking: Cite? I’m not even necessarily disagreeing with it – as noted by others above, liberals tend to have a higher moral stance than to get involved in wars of agression against smaller, weaker nations. But kindly indicate where you derived this information from, so that in case you get constipated, we can find it other places than where you’ve (from appearances to date) pulled it from.
Finally, while unwanted evangelism should probably be handled as you indicated, any officer or NCO giving orders, however nobly motivated, which violate the Constitutional rights of another, is not “exercising his own freedom of speech” but violating the Constitution, the relevant sections of the U.S. Code which criminalize such violations, and no doubt the UCMJ. And yes, a general court, a DD and prosecution are not too extreme for an order to attend a given church or to pray in a given manner.
The religious have demonstrated throughout history how they will fight and kill in the name of their god. It is good training for soldiers. They have shown how well they will accept authority . Another characteristic that makes a good soldier.
Norman Mailer made a point of how southerners were such good soldiers. A confluence of religion, guns and conservatism brewing the best.
God knows there can be no higher authority than an alcoholic drug addicted communist.
I know this is the pit, but…Cite?
Never apologize for requesting a cite in the Pit. Like many novelists of his generation, Mailer struggled with alcohol and drug abuse throughout his life.[7]
The entry makes no mention of communism.