"We're Dealing with a Christian Taliban"

This kinda stuff scares the beejeeepers outta me and makes the baby Jesus cry.
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original-ips

Q&A:"We're Dealing with a Christian Taliban"

Interview with Mikey Weinstein

WASHINGTON, Sep 7 (IPS) - Last month, the Pentagon pulled the plug on a plan to dispatch so-called "freedom packages" to U.S. troops in Iraq that included Bibles, proselytising materials in English and Arabic, and an apocalyptic computer game in which "soldiers for Christ" battle satanic "Global Community Peacekeepers".

The scheme was derailed in part because of the efforts of Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which seeks to protect the wall separating church and state in the United States armed forces.

Weinstein, in his own words, is no "bleeding-heart liberal". He is a 1977 honour graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, and spent 10 years in the Air Force as a "JAG" or military attorney serving as both a federal prosecutor and criminal defence attorney.

A registered Republican, he also spent over three years in the Ronald Reagan administration as legal counsel in the White House, where he helped investigate the Iran-Contra scandal.

St. Martins Press in New York recently released Weinstein's new book, "With God On Our Side," an expose on the systemic problem of religious intolerance throughout the United States armed forces.

Eli Clifton recently spoke with Weinstein about Operation Straight Up, which designed the "freedom packages", and the Pentagon's growing coziness with fundamentalist evangelical religious groups.

IPS: What is it about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs that has made it a breeding ground for Christian Dominionists?

MW: Well, first we thought it was that there was this nexus of what I refer to as the "Protestant Vatican" -- in fact many people refer to it as that. Colorado Springs has over 100 of this nation's largest evangelical fundamentalist Christian organisations centred right there for some reason. Just like a moth to a flame these organisations have been attracted there. That was our initial theory before we found out that this imperious contagion of constitutional triumphalism, this fanatical Dominionist Christianity had swept like a tsunami all the way through all 737 US military installations that the Pentagon admits that we have -- but it's really closer to a thousand -- in 132 countries around the world. Seventy of those are in Europe and 11 of those house nuclear weapons.

Let me make this clear. I'm doing this Q&A with you guys today as a man at war with the gun smoke in my face. We are not at war with Christianity or evangelical Christianity. We have many evangelical or non-evangelical Christians who massively support what our organisation, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is doing. We are at war with a small subset of evangelical Christianity "Dominionist Christianity" and it represents about 12.6 percent of the American public or about 38 million people.

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complete article here

"my job is I go call these people and make it clear that this is happening and suggest they make it stop or make them the next star on CNN."

Here's hoping Mikey succeeds.

Jesus never intended.

The Republiklan party has turned Jesus into a Jew hating, black baiting, catholic bashing, poor bashing, fucking Ayn Randian Acolyte.

Sharp guy.

Weinstein's book is one of the many I've been meaning to read. I'm grateful he's taken on this fight.

I made it through the entire eleven minutes and fifty-four seconds w/o puking. If they have enough clout to get those folks to go on record about the influence the Christian Embassy wields are they registered as lobbyists? I mean that's some significant reach.

should be treated as the heretics that they are by the rest of the Christian Community. They are truly whacked.

dominionists here is a good article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/

A project based a Cornell University. They have an outstanding video that traces the rise of dominionists from Rushdooney through Robertson.

-Hoot

We need people like him, and the Yurica Report: http://www.yuricareport.com/