No Dominion: The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces

[housewolf]

In his fight against British imperialism, Mahatma Gandhi described the life cycle of successful civil disobedience: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mikey Weinstein, the 55-year-old founder of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), likes to quote it, knowing full well he's crossed the line into a bloody-knuckle brawl. Over the past year, Weinstein and his organization have recorded a tremendous string of victories in the fight against Christian supremacists inside the armed forces.

In January, the MRFF broke the story on the Pentagon's Jesus Rifles, where rifle scopes used in Afghanistan and Iraq were embossed with New Testament verses. In April, he got the military to rescind its invitation to the Reverend Franklin Graham to speak at May's National Prayer Day because of Islamophobic remarks. Most shockingly, MRFF received its second nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in late October. These high-profile victories have earned him the enmity of the hardcore Christian Right and the mentally unstable. And the crazies are getting crazier. Weinstein and his family are bombarded with hate mail, from the grammatically incorrect and easy to dismiss - "I hope all your kids turn out gay as hell, take it in the ass, and get aids and die!!!!" - to the kind of threats that immediately make you leap out of your chair and double-check that the doors and windows are locked. (MRFF has referred multiple death threats on Mikey, his family, and MRFF employees to the FBI.)

Unlike Gandhi, Mikey's no pacifist. Aggression rises up in his voice like a white shark's fin breaks the waves. In a recent conversation, Mikey bragged how a punk wouldn't shut up in a movie. When a confrontation ensued and the man took a wild swing, Mikey put him down. None of this is surprising. Weinstein boxed during his Air Force days, his face marked by a strong jawline sitting below a bald head on top of a stocky body - a cross between Rocky Marciano and Butter Bean. Simply put: Mikey Weinstein can be a brute and a zealot. He knows this and admits it freely. But he believes it's the only position a reasonable person can take when confronted with a faction dedicated to mutating the U.S. military into "a weaponized Gospel of Jesus Christ."

more...
http://www.truth-out.org/no-dominion-the-lonely-dangerous-fight-against-christian-supremacists-inside-armed-forces61214

[Jennicut]

1. Ironically Weinstein worked in the Reagan WH and for Ross Perot.

But he is fighting a good fight here, and good for him for being a registered Repub who realizes the Religious Right has no place in forcing their crap on our military.

[Hissyspit]

2. Dupe:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8726586

[BrklynLiberal]

3. I have heard about this man's fight against the fundies in the military.

Courageous man. He is fighting against a very formidable force.

http://open.salon.com/blog/kevin_gosztola/2009/08/05/blackwater_founders_visions_of_christian_supremacy_in_iraq
Blackwater Founder's Visions of Christian Supremacy in Iraq

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reconstr.htm

Christian Reconstructionism, Dominionism,
Theonomy, Dominion Theology, etc.

Overview:

Dominionism, Dominion Theology, Christian Reconstructionism, Theocratic Dominionism, Kingdom Now theology, and Theonomy are interrelated Christian belief systems that are followed by members from a wide range of conservative Protestant denominations. They are not in themselves denominations or faith groups.

These belief systems find a voice in Christian Reconstructionism -- a political movement to convert the United States -- and eventually the entire earth -- into a theocracy in which dissenters, adulterers, sexually active homosexuals, some sexually active bisexuals, witches, sorcerers, etc. would be exterminated.

[MineralMan]

4. Good for him. The Christian Right has been working to

turn the US Armed Forces into their own little military force for a long, long time.

I joined the USAF in 1965, after receiving my draft notice. On the first day in basic training, we lined up to get our dog tags. One of the questions was about religion. There was no space for None or Atheist, so I wrote Atheist on the form.

It is never a good idea to stand out in any way during Basic Training, I discovered. I spent the rest of the day in various non-coms' and officers' offices, and then was sent to see the Baptist chaplain, who tried to save my immortal, fucking soul.

I wasn't having any. In the end, I waited for three days for my dog tags, which did, indeed, have the word "Atheist" on them. My drill sergeant, a Mormon, said that I was the first one he'd ever heard of with that designation on his dog tags.

I took some grief from time to time for that, since it was also on my records. I got to speak with a number of protestant chaplains, each of which tried to tell me that I was damned for all eternity if I didn't accept Jebus as my "persnal sayvyer." Feh!