Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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Posted on: September 27, 2007 1:33 PM, by Ed Brayton
Wanna see the MySpace page of the major who has been harassing Pfc. Jeremy Hall, the atheist soldier in Iraq? Here it is. Suffice to say that after reading it, you won't be at all surprised by the accusations. And yes, I've saved the whole page because it will likely disappear soon.
YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
(Non-U.S. subscribers, click here.)
Comments
Be careful if you try to view Welborn's page. I tried three times, and it froze up on me each time. I think he's got too much crap going on in his page.
Nevertheless, it was clear what was on it. He's a "Warrior for God." In his interests he lists Bible Study and Evangelism above family and friends. Below that is something about people who are saved.
So what I infer is that he doesn't have any interest in people who aren't saved other than to evangelize them.
Posted by: JamesH | September 27, 2007 2:11 PM
I'm guessing that page is going to be a very valuable tool in this case.
Anyone besides me hoping that if they can get this guy on the stand, he won't be able to contain himself, and he'll pull a 'Colonel Jessup'? =)
Here's hopin'.
Cheers.
Posted by: Fastlane | September 27, 2007 2:21 PM
I can't for the life of me figure out how the horrendous flashing "everything AND the ktichen sink tossed in haphazardly" webdesign that was supposedly eliminated back in the 90s has regained popularity. Myspace is like looking at a geocities homepage from 1998, except that now CSS exists and people should know better.
Posted by: Bad | September 27, 2007 2:49 PM
Patience does seem to be necessary for that overbusy page to load. It did, eventually, load for me (using Firefox on Linux), but when I reached the "warrior for [big brainless bully in the sky]" bit, I gave up...
Posted by: blf | September 27, 2007 2:51 PM
Bad - could it be because Myspace was designed for teens and pre-teens who have a TV-trained attention span? I find I can't understand adults who bother with Myspace - I mean, I know my Yahoo! 360 page is crap, but at least it is sedate and readable crap.
And Welborn has amply demonstrated why I've taken my real name private on my 360 page - why make it easier for lawyers or potential employers to find out that much about me?
Posted by: BobApril | September 27, 2007 2:58 PM
Let me see if I have this straight:
(1) We gave this guy a gun.
(2) And sent him to a Moslem country.
(3) To promote democracy?
Jaysus H. Christ....
Posted by: flatlander | September 27, 2007 2:58 PM
Not saying that every fundamentalist has bad taste, but damn. There is some seriously gaudy ... um....art? on there.
whew. Yikes.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | September 27, 2007 3:11 PM
Oh, Flatlander - it gets worse.
(1) We didn't just give him a gun, we made him a field-grade officer - therefore in charge of SEVERAL people with guns.
(2) We didn't just sent him to a Muslim country - we sent him as a member of a Civil Affairs unit, charged "to provide guidance to commanders in a broad spectrum of activities ranging from host-guest relationships to the assumption of executive, legislative, and judicial processes in occupied or liberated areas."
With those strikes already on him, I think we can skip the third...
Posted by: BobApril | September 27, 2007 3:13 PM
The requested URL /freddywelborn was not found on this server.
Posted by: hmd | September 27, 2007 3:44 PM
I agree 100% with Bob...in this guys case...for all of us (in terms of his potential damage to the world)...it actually would have been better if were combat arms.
Posted by: Josh | September 27, 2007 4:01 PM
What is it with self-professed religious "warriors" and that unbelievably irritating 'LOL cats' page? I've seen elsewhere this simultaneous obsession with violent crusade and cute anthropomorphized cartoonish animals spouting babytalk. It's just scary. AND insulting to cats!
Posted by: Tyler | September 27, 2007 4:22 PM
Well, I guess it must have something to do with one's connection, because Welborn's page loaded up in about 8 seconds for me. Still, pretty sad. There's literally nothing to this guy's life but his God delusion. If it isn't about being Christian and spreading the "word," he has no use for it.
Posted by: Martin Wagner | September 27, 2007 4:28 PM
Why would he delete this page? I must be missing something. He's not violating any laws or threatening anybody here, is he? Or maybe I wasn't able to see all the page? There's lots of sad and annoying stuff (the only space the wife gets is by being labeled HIS girl), but is there anything here to support any charges against him? I can't really imagine him denying any of his religious beliefs.
Posted by: JuliaL | September 27, 2007 4:32 PM
Has anyone noticed that he spent 7 years in high school?
Posted by: Peter | September 27, 2007 4:38 PM
Has anyone noticed that he spent 7 years in high school?
And given the graduation date is given as N/A, I'd say he never graduated either.
And what exactly is the "Department of Eternal Affairs"? Is this some kind of Christian based group within the military?
Posted by: Evan | September 27, 2007 6:04 PM
I wasn't phased at all by the "Department of Eternal Affairs." I just assumed the was is planned to last forever.
Posted by: Paul | September 27, 2007 6:31 PM
Hey, he can't be THAT bad. One of his friends is an LSU fan.
Posted by: Eveningsun | September 27, 2007 6:41 PM
That seven years in high school has to have some explanation - maybe it was a private high school that covered junior high as well. He can't be a commissioned officer without a college degree.
Posted by: BobApril | September 27, 2007 6:43 PM
Wait... is the background image of his MySpace page supposed to be a predator drone with a muslim-esque beard?
Posted by: jpf | September 27, 2007 7:13 PM
US Department of Eternal Affairs
Posted by: jpf | September 27, 2007 7:29 PM
I served in Iraq doing civil affairs missions and worked with a handful of fundamentalist folks like this. Yes, it boggles the mind that they chose people so blantly skewed ideologically to do work that requires the kind of tolerance and respect you don't find in fundamentalists. It not only makes it difficult to build report and trust among the population, it hampers the mission.
Posted by: Brando | September 27, 2007 7:52 PM
Why would he delete this page? I must be missing something. He's not violating any laws or threatening anybody here, is he? Or maybe I wasn't able to see all the page? There's lots of sad and annoying stuff (the only space the wife gets is by being labeled HIS girl), but is there anything here to support any charges against him? I can't really imagine him denying any of his religious beliefs.
The overall page could be admissible. If they got warrants or subpoenas they could also obtain private "friends only" parts of the site that could include incriminating evidence. Potentially, given this guy's overall profile, "You wont believe what happened today, I had this little punk atheist..."
Also, while he wouldn't deny his religious beliefs, he would likely try to claim they weren't as extreme as they are.
Posted by: dogmeatib | September 27, 2007 8:03 PM
This guy's bio doesn't make any sense. He lists his high school, as was mentioned all 7 years of it, then has a listing for Temple (2006-2006) and a bible college (present). He couldn't be a major in the armed forces without a BA and, these days, almost certainly an MA.
Posted by: dogmeatib | September 27, 2007 8:18 PM
Mygirl might be his daughter, he is 44YO, Mygirl is 26YO. Of course you never know.
Posted by: jufulu, FCD | September 27, 2007 8:57 PM
And what a degree this guy has.
A major in Personal Evangelism and a minor in Biblical Worldview?!
Somebody, please, tell me there are no such disciplines and that is some sort of sick joke.
Posted by: BruceH | September 27, 2007 10:41 PM
Wow. Just wow.
Posted by: Matty Smith | September 28, 2007 1:36 AM
Sorry, BruceH, but there are such disciplines (that doesn't exclude it being a sick joke, though). Here's Tennessee Temple University's site (I had to remove all the other links below since the spam filter complained, so search the site yourself). I can't see any degree in Personal Evangelism listed anywhere, but other Christian colleges do offer it as a course (google it), so they probably do too. For annoying fun, read their Math/Science Program, which includes this under their "Math Area Objectives":
If you see an equation written on their blackboards with a sin() function in it, it might not mean sine.
The Wikipedia article on TTU has this to say:
So apparently this is a relatively liberal Christian college, which means it could be worse. Oh, and their sports teams are the Crusaders. Wonder if Major Welborn wore anything with their logo around Iraq?
I was a bit confused by this on their "Accreditation" page:
DHS is in charge of foreign student enrolment now? Who was in charge before DHS was created? INS?
Posted by: jpf | September 28, 2007 1:44 AM
Wait, I found their Personal Evangelism courses (AC-101 & AC-102) listed under their Communications dept. degrees. They're part of their "foundational studies" along with English comp and computer fundamentals. Can one really major in something like that?
Posted by: jpf | September 28, 2007 2:04 AM
I take the previous comment back. Googling around I see that a number of other colleges offer higher level courses in Personal Evangelism -- Ohio Valley U offers "BIB 320 Personal Evangelism", Trinity Seminary offers "PM 459 Fundamentals of Personal Evangelism", and Weimar College offers "RELP 306 Personal Evangelism" as well as "RELP 308 Public Evangelism" (which just raises the question of what exactly is "Personal Evangelism" if it's separate from the public form... how to evangelize to yourself?) So Welborn really might have majored in that, as bizarrely under-water-basket-weavingish as it may sound.
Perhaps those majoring in Personal Evangelism get to learn ancient Jesuit mind tricks, allowing them to convert pagans on the spot by gently waving a hand and saying "These are not the gods you are looking for".
Posted by: jpf | September 28, 2007 2:25 AM
"to provide guidance to commanders in a broad spectrum of activities ranging from host-guest relationships to the assumption of executive, legislative, and judicial processes in occupied or liberated areas."
Host-guest relationship ? Meaning that US soldiers are guests in Irak ?
And how can you assume "executive, legislative, and judicial processes" not only in "occupied" areas (I can understand that) but also in "liberated" ones ? Doesn't "liberated" mean that such areas have their own sovereignty ?
Posted by: Christophe Thill | September 28, 2007 6:40 AM
Christophe, that's all a bit ingenuous, isn't it? Yes, Iraq is the "Host Country" as far as the U.S. troops there are concerned - as are Germany, Korea, Japan, Italy, the U.K., Belgium, and everywhere else we have troops. That makes the soldiers "guests." It is, admittedly, a PC term that doesn't necessarily exactly match the dictionary definition, but it DOES help to remind the troops that they don't own the place, and they're supposed to behave themselves - and yes, many of us need all the reminders we can get, and no, it isn't always enough.
Yes, liberated areas have their own sovereignity - which is meaningless if they don't have structures in place to maintain order and enforce the rule of law. Unless you expect anarchy to spontaneously generate a perfect government.
Considering all the things wrong in Iraq, and some of the far more offensive euphemisms the military uses ("collateral damage," "detainee," and "friendly fire" leap to mind), these nits hardly seem worth picking.
Posted by: BobApril | September 28, 2007 8:24 AM
Aaargghh! My eyes! It burns!
Ed, can you perhaps give us a little warning the next time you link to something like that?
Anybody else really, really creeped out by the "HIS girl" business? Waaay too much emphasis on the possessive pronoun...
Posted by: Dunc | September 28, 2007 8:50 AM
Posted by: Taz | September 28, 2007 9:02 AM
Although I didn't have the patience to wait for this clowns' web page to load, given the comments by other contributers, my only question is how this moron got promoted to major? If he is an example of the officer corps in todays Army, we're in deep doodoo.
Posted by: SLC | September 28, 2007 9:09 AM
SLC, what's with this "if"? Look at the resounding success known as the Iraq war. We ARE in deep doo-doo, no "if" about it. Mencken's prophecy that sooner or later the White House would be occupied by the perfectly representative moron was fulfilled on January 20, 2001.
Posted by: Eveningsun | September 28, 2007 10:11 AM
Are we sure that someone didn't put this up as a joke? My first impression was that it was a joke. Maybe I'm just a bit desensitized after just having a long rehashing of The Aristocrats.
Posted by: KRM | September 28, 2007 12:46 PM
Ha! The site is blocked here at my work by the firewall, which has it classified as "Adult/Mature Material" (though maybe it's just blocking the MySpace domain as a whole, and the firewall blocks other sites which are not objectionable otherwise). In any case, any time you go to MySpace, Rupert Murdoch kills a puppy.
Posted by: slavdude | September 28, 2007 2:01 PM
Jufulu, I'm pretty sure he was trying to say that Mygirl and he had been married for twenty-six years, not that she was twenty-six.
But then, you never know.
Posted by: Shar | September 28, 2007 2:20 PM
I sent him a nice message explaining that I don't appreciate religious oppression. I'd like to encourage everyone here to do the same.
Posted by: Chris Hiestand | September 29, 2007 5:25 AM
Ouch. MySpace still sucks ... and I think it was trying to hurt my computer.
Posted by: mollishka | October 1, 2007 6:52 AM
I found Freddy Welborn's myspace page while we were still looking for Paul Welborne. I can positively guarantee that if this is a spoof site, it was put up in well in advance of the lawsuit's amendment.
I looked at the myspace pages of Freddy's friends and family before the lawsuit was amended as well, (and before they were made private) and I found the majority of them are also evangelicals.
So, sadly, Freddy Welborn is probably just what he appears to be. He scares the shit out of me, just as do satan worshippers. I don't believe in allah or god or satan or any other "supreme being" myself, but the people who do believe and follow, are terrifying and a real threat to the future of humanity.
Posted by: Dolly Dagger | October 1, 2007 1:51 PM