Saturday, May 14, 2005

And Hugh (Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf) Hewitt wants to know "Who is the Religious Right?"

There are two articles I've come across recently, re: the filibuster, that shows pretty clearly the clear and present danger to American liberty represented by the religious right.

Hewitt, of course, is being disingenuous (I'm being unfathomably kind in that characterization), when he says things that imply the religious right is a thing of the left's imagination and nothning more, and geez, they're just mainstream "people of faith." Yeah, right...

First link up...this post which was guested from Atrios recorded what I'd wanted to yesterday, but didn't get around to it...from the Times link therein:

DENVER, May 12 -- An Air Force chaplain who complained that evangelical Christians were trying to "subvert the system" by winning converts among cadets at the Air Force Academy was removed from administrative duties last week, just as the Pentagon began an in-depth study of alleged religious intolerance among cadets and commanders at the school.

"They fired me," said Capt. MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran minister who was removed as executive officer of the chaplain unit on May 4. "They said I should be angry about these outside groups who reported on the strident evangelicalism at the academy. The problem is, I agreed with those reports."...

Surveys of present and former cadets have shown that some students said they felt a heavy and sometimes offensive emphasis on evangelical Christianity, with praise for cadets who pronounce their "born-again" status and insults aimed at Jews, Roman Catholics and non-evangelical cadets.

One staff chaplain reportedly told newly arrived freshmen last summer that anyone not born again "will burn in the fires of hell."

Such slurs have been heard for decades on the campus, according to Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, a 1977 academy graduate who said he has repeatedly complained to the Air Force brass about the "religious pressure" on cadets. "This is not Christian versus Jew," Weinstein said. "This is the evangelical Christians against everybody else."...



And yeah, last time I checked, "God damn you" was offensive...


Morton said the cadet wing at the Air Force Academy is about 90 percent Christian. She said that group is roughly one-third Catholic, one-third mainstream Protestant and one-third evangelical. But the evangelicals have a much bigger voice among the chaplains, she said.

"The predominance of evangelical Christians reflects the chaplain corps of the Air Force overall," Morton said. "The major mainstream Protestant divinity schools are no longer sending many graduates into the armed forces. And so the concentration of evangelicals among chaplains is strong through the whole service."

Morton, 48, said that, having criticized the religious atmosphere at the academy, "I may be toast" in terms of an Air Force career. She said her next duty station is said to be a pleasant spot. "But serving in Okinawa as the most hated chaplain in the Air Force might not be so great."


Good luck to Ms. Morton...

The other link, though, which I think shows the problem even better is this.


Yeah, it's the 2000 platform of which they speak, so let's check the most recent one - the 2004 document. And yes, they still want to eliminate judicial review of civil liberties. The fascists. (More here.)

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