See, I knew that saying was bunk.

Of course I can't find the article at the moment, but I have read through a trusted outlet that the number of fundamentalist Christians in the military is increasing. Now, this really doesn't surprise me on a basic level. A lot of people who join the military, especially enlisted men, are undereducated, often poor, with few other prospects, which is a classic background for fundamentalism. Especially ones that are joining now, wishing to participate in freeing Iraq or whatever else it is that keeps them signing up.

On top of that, the military is traditionally very conservative, which, again, has links to fundamentalist Christian beliefs. So far, few surprises.

Now, we're hearing about fundies evangelizing the troops in hopes of conversion, which also explains the new numbers of fundies in the military (I severely doubt it's all the pro-war fundies that have been told to join up to support what they want to do). And, of course, the icing on the cake, a superior officer disrupting an atheist meeting and using his rank to bully his non-fundamentalist Christian brothers in arms.

Now, the way the chain of command works, this was a rather frightening experience, especially with all the threats and accusation this fundie meeting crasher supposedly spouted. Life for an elisted man kinda sucks, especially with a war going on. The military is a harsh place that hammers in chain of command as best it can, and isn't really always nice about it. This is the same chain of command that keeps command rape and sexual abuse of female soldiers operating. Even when such an abuse is reported, the offender, who is generally of higher rank, receives a slap on the wrist, which is what is likely to occur here (not that sex crimes and religious harrassment are equitable).

Even if the exact veracity of the story is in doubt, there are points that mean that there is need for a further investigation, namely that the officer attended willingly a meeting that he was an outsider of, and lied to do so, then used his power in conduct unbecoming of an officer. Now, whether he went for debate and got a bit overheated, or whether he did so with purely antagonistic purposes in mind is what an investigation is for.

While America has plenty of freedom of religion written into that old Constitution, the military's view seems to be more like freedom to choose your personal branch of Christianity. I've heard of enlisted men being bullied by their drill sergeant if they don't go to Church on Sunday, and who are forced to participate in group prayer as part of a mandatory exercise. Only recently were Wiccans able to have pentagrams put on their graves when buried in Arlington National Cemetary, and there were plenty of asses willing to have tantrums over it.

On some level, I am rather concerned by this. If fundies succeed in cementing their hold on the military, it just takes a few kooks to push it to a new, frightening level. But, beyond that, they seem to be sending the message that their men have guns and are combat trained.

How funny, that we have fundamentalist extremists fighting other fundamentalist extremists. If only the powers that be could see the irony.

EDIT: Oh, wait, there's more!

Freedom Packages, eh? I wasn't aware that we called care packages "French Packages." There really isn't much freedom in the packages, just shoving a doctrine down one's throat.

But, seriously, this is all rather sick and heavy handed, and, sadly, will have an impact among some kids who have nothing else, and are in an environment that makes them rather emotionally vulnerable and unstable. The idea of evangelizing to the Muslim community... surely SOMEONE had to realize that's more harm than good, right? Right? Anyone?