97% of the Air Force are Evangelical Christians!

[nascarblue]

Is that friggin scary or what? I found this to be shocking. 97% of these guys believe that they're helping Jesus to come back by dropping cluster bombs and napalm on Iraqi's and Aghani's.

How did I find this out? I watched a recent piece on TV about a Jewish kid who was being discrimated against and bullied constantly for being Jewish. The program, which I can't remember right now what it was(any help from anyone who might've seen this?) focused on the discrimation and the interview with the Jewish soldier, his dad and a Air Force spokesmen.

What I found fascinating was the 97%, which they did not elaborate on. I've tried to Google this to find out more information and all I came up with was the extensive "Holy Warrior" recruiting done by the Air Force, along with a well done piece on Air Force Gen. Boykin's constant Christian zealotry.
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingTheUSMilitaryGenBoykinsWarriors.html#_edn52

Anyone have any more info? Anyone else see the piece I'm talking about? Help me remember..

[ck4829]

1. I remember when people were talking about the rapture

and talking about how airlines won't let 2 Christians pilot a plane.

What will happen when the entire airforce falls out of the sky?

[GiovanniC]

18. That Was an Urban Legend

Interestingly enough, there was some kook on the Daily Show that mentioned this last night also.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/incaseofrapture.htm

[paineinthearse]

30. Email your friends after you have been Raptured!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3162046&mesg_id=3162046

[Az]

2. I have heard this stat before

I suspect there are a number of psychological reasons behind it. The Astronaut core being drawn from the Airforce has an inordinantly high number of faithful as well. Despite the ground crew going in the opposite direction.

[malmapus]

7. yeah I remember going to Airborne school and that first jump

made me pretty religious, even made our first jump on Ash Wednesday. So even those of us who weren't Catholic were stepping up to allow the Chaplin to put the ash cross on our foreheads (figured could use all the help could get lol).

[flygal]

36. I believe Lutherans are considered Evangelical

and I know many many liberal Lutherans - rest assured, I think that's just Christian.

[bryant69]

3. Well you also have to wonder what definition of evangelical Christian

they are using. I mean that can be a broad or a narrow term, depending on how you define it. By some definitions my faith fits that criteria, but there are others who would loudly denounce the idea that I am an Evangelical Christian.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[SaveElmer]

20. Yes...be careful...Evangelical and Fundamentalist are not the same

Many liberal denominations consider themselves Evangelical...it just refers to their efforts to get out the "good" word. I believe United Church of Christ members consider themselves Evangelical, yet are quite liberal (Barry Lynn is a UCC minister).

[SheepyMcSheepster]

4. that number sounds suspiciously high

i wonder how number was arrived at?

[shoelace414]

5. you won't get

97% of 1000 or more people to agree on whether the sky is blue.

there's no way this can be right.

[RBHam]

6. huh?

no way.

this has to be a generalization. maybe 97 percent were BORN into a christian family?

i mean, catholics and main stream protestants do not think of themselves as fundamentalists...

[Igel]

28. But the OP said 'evangelical', not 'fundamentalist' n/t

[Bridget Burke]

8. I really need some more data to support that.

Several relatives had Air Force careers--although that was a generation ago. They were Roman Catholic and/or nothing in particular.

[blondeatlast]

9. I'm suspicious about how they would define both "Christian" and

"evangelical."

I can buy the fact that perhaps a strong majority are, but 97%? That would make it virtually impossible for the non-CE 3% to function.

Even if it were true, mainstream Christians pretty much disdain Dominionism. It isn't the dogma for any established Christian faith I'm familiar with. Most evangelicals find it way out there.

Besides that, the Dominionists aren't apt to discriminate against Jews; Jews are essential for the imagined Dominion to occur.

Your link goes to endnotes, I couldn't find the original story. Can you fine tune it? Also, can you clarify whether your post is your original thought or is it the story you are quoting? I'm thoroughly confused on that point.

[Atlas Mugged]

10. That's absurd

And easy enough for me to investigate since I have several relatives/friends in the Air Force. Of course, they might well represent the 3% that are "heathens".

[matcom]

11. crap. pure crap.

no WAY that is even CLOSE to being accurate. :eyes:

[havocmom]

21. Wonder if they are trying to intimidate the non-Evangelicals into joining

up by telling them 'Everybody else is doing it!' I get the same thing where I live, they try and convince me that I am some sort of freak for not drinking the Kool Aid. No way to convince a xenophobic mob that in the real world, they are NOT the majority, even though they cling to their small village and avoid going out into the world because there are different people out there. :eyes:

[jody]

12. What is the source for 97% of U.S. Air Force is evangelical? I doubt that

very much, and suspect that only a small percent are "evangelical". :shrug:

The term evangelical typically means a very fundamental interpretation of the bible. Southern Baptist Churches are the largest single group of evangelicals and I doubt if their evangelical membership is anywhere close to 97%.

[Blue Wally]

14. Judging by my time in the army

Most of the Air Force will be irreligious. They will claim to be presbyterian, methodist, etc on their dog tags, but will not actively go to church. They probably got after the jewish airman for being an oddball and found that anti-semitic cracks got under his skin. 18-24 year olds get pretty cruel. Some guys in every outfit just get ridden.

[ugarte]

13. It's 97% of the Air Force Academy, not the USAF

I remember reading this story. It dealt with the Air Force Academy only, as I recall.

[trogdor]

27. I'm not so sure about 97%, but...

(1) There are a lot of holy rollers in the service academies - ALL of them, not just the AF.
(2) Conformity is among the most prized qualities among cadets in these institutions. If I were there, I might join one of these churches just to get my ticket punched - to "fit in." That doesn't mean I necessarily buy into everything that church believes in; I would just be participating at a level that gives the outward impression that I belonged there. I believe you will find people like that in civilian churches as well. In short, it's a social thing.

[MrScorpio]

15. Mind if I say "Bullshit"?

No freakin' way.

I was in the Air Force for over 20 years andI can tell you that I didn't see it.

Of all the services, we have the biggest population of cynics.

How do you think I lasted so long?

[DS1]

24. All the A/F guys I know aimed high. Aimed really high

in fact :smoke: :D

[NashVegas]

25. I'm Skeptical Also

I've had Army and Navy people in my family. Air Force people among my friends. The Air Force peeps were, by far, the most laid back and intellectually curious of the branches.

I don't buy that 97% number for even a minute.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. After the initial shock, sudden realization...

I have long suspected that there was something very cultish about our Air Force. It is very elitist. But, I only had old Air Force retirees to judge it by -- and there was some diversity with those people because many of them were allowed in due to AA. I suspect that, like everything that has been happening in the last fifteen years, the selection process may have changed. It would be interesting to find out if there is any verification to the 97% number.

On a local level, it did appear to me that the children of Air Force personnel were getting special attention for government paid college tuition, but I don't have the necessary resources to confirm it.

[Bridget Burke]

29. The old guys didn't get into the Air Force because of "AA"--

Quite a few got in due to WWII. My Air Force relatives were white, but they either attended the Catholic Church or none at all. After the services were integrated, a wider variety of people were "allowed in"--but I doubt AA was the reason.

I did get some funds for college--hardly "government paid college tuition." But that was because my father was killed in a crash during the Cold War.

Any more vague, unconfirmed suspicisions you'd like to share with us?

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. Sorry, Bridget. But it's been discussed on DU before that the Air

Force is the least of the integrated branches of government. Would you like to argue that one point first? Then we can move on as to why the military did become more integrated. I'll concede to you the point, if you can identify the civil right's policy that did allow for the full integration of the military.

On edit, added: It was a directive from Truman which was the official reason why the military first became integrated. At first, the Navy & the Marines were the most resistant to the order. The Air Force came next and the Army was the one place where the directive did well.

We jump forward to today and the one area where you continually hear resistance is among the officers of the Air Force. So you're right. AA didn't have anything to do with the integration of our military, but, that still leaves a gapping question. Why does the Air Force continually to come up when we discuss selection process?

[CRK7376]

17. No way is 97% of the Zoomies

Evangelical Christians. <Many are I suspect, but many more are just plain.....whatever. I would like to see where the numbers came from. Plus General Boykin is US Army Special Operations, not Air Force.

[quiet.american]

19. I'm former USAF

-- and I can tell you when I was in, whenever guys had rapture on their minds, it had nothing to do with God!

[fudge stripe cookays]

22. My dad would roll over in his grave if that figure

was anywhere close to the truth. I say it's exaggerated.

FSC

[DS1]

23. Bullshit. eom

[izzie]

26. Recall this. When I grew up the churches were filled on Sunday

If you did business in a town you sure showed up at church, of some type. This was 30's to the 50's then it dropped off and you did not have to go to church to run a business. Every thing was open on Sunday, etc. So it pays to say you are a Christian now and that is what is done. I am sure the Fundy's are after these people and are filling the service with the right leaning people if they can. Also they are starting, in grade schools, to show them things military or so I hear from Portland Press and Ch. One that the kids see daily. Just like in the old days of the Puritans it is getting best to say you are of one belief. It will get more fun before it is over, believe me. Just read about history on this.

[Devil Dog Dem]

32. Within military circles the Air Force is considered the most right wing

You'd think it would be the Corps, but the Corps isn't even second (the Navy is).

It's all anecdotal of course, but that is the sense you get when you talk shop with other members of the military. I had this "confirmed" to me a couple of different times talking with DoD civilians who work at the Pentagon with all services.

The Air Force guys are a bunch of fundie right wingers. I doubt 97% of them are Evangelical Christians, but I don't dispute that the overwhelming majority of them are far right of center.

[YankeyMCC]

33. I'm former Air Force

92-97

And there were a lot of evangelicals and many more just plain but dedicated christrians. During my first assignment, in an engineering lab, my civilian boss didn't believe in Evolution.

But there were also many secular blue staters - in fact many of the people I worked with were from my home state oddly enough.

So no way is it 97% but I would believe a figure around 50%.

[Samoflange]

34. As a recent ex-AF member

I can tell you the USAF is decidedly NOT 97% evangelical Christian. Hell, if anything, most people in the AF are apathetic or very quiet when it comes to politics and religion. Usually, the only ones that are vocal are the officers, and even then, they rarely do it in front of the rest of the squadron.

Admittedly, I served as aircrew in a fairly well-known and specialized Wing that has a reputation for being, shall I say, quite "liberal" when it comes to off-duty behavior....that experience may be skewing my viewpoint a little.

If anything, like the other DU'er said, the Air Force is filled with cynics.

It's like the old joke we used to say:

When told to charge the hill, the Marine will salute sharply and charge the hill.
The Soldier will bitch about having had to charge the hill once they get to the top.
The Seaman will ask if they should shell the hill instead.
The Airman will say "Move over, you're blocking the X-Box game!"

[elehhhhna]

35. Update: 97% of GAY AF active duty are Evangelical (Shiite) Christians .