Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The Jewish Observer reports on new accusations of unconstitutional religious activities at Wright Patterson Air Base in Ohio. The report is based on work done by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which has received 100 complaints from people who've worked at that air base over proselytization and worse going on by military officers. Here's a story from one person on that base:
At public speaking engagements, Mikey Weinstein says he often reads a letter he received in July 2006 from a former contractor at Wright-Patt. Back at home in Albuquerque, he reads from the letter on the phone:"I worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for just over a year as a civilian contractor...Staff meetings were prefaced and closed by fundamentalist Christian prayer sessions, and the senior NCOs who led the prayer sessions made it clear to the military trainees that they were judged on whether or not they enthusiastically participated. The trainee air persons were given the choice of attending fundamentalist Christian religious prayer ceremonies on Sunday or being assigned to particularly onerous substitute duties. It was made very clear to them that decent evaluations and a successful training period leading to a tolerable term of enlistment or a career in the Air Force included completely embracing fundamentalist Christianity...I was appalled to find groups of senior officers praying as a decision-making aid...Once I got to know people and heard more conversations, I realized that for many officers, the war in Iraq is not at all politically motivated, but religiously motivated. It is a fundamentalist Christian jihad that will bring on the apocalypse and rapture, which is what they want...Hearing this from people who hold destructive atomic and nuclear weapon systems is terrifying to me...immediately after I renewed my contract, I was repeatedly and aggressively proselytized and told to 'get with the Jesus program and help spread the word of Jesus.'"
And here's a statement from Mikey's son, who was stationed at the base himself:
Casey Weinstein describes the atmosphere when he was stationed on active duty at Wright-Patt in 2005."I had an issue early on with mandatory prayer at a mandatory Thanksgiving luncheon given when I first got to my unit," Casey Weinstein says.
He says that a prayer at the luncheon was offered in Jesus' name, a violation of Air Force guidelines.
"I was told I could go and address the issue with one of the unit members...I addressed the issue in a very calm manner. I said, 'I just want to let you know there are new guidelines about this.'"
Another issue that came up, Casey Weinstein says, was religious content sent out through official base e-mail.
"It was called The War on Christmas (an excerpt from the book by former Fox News anchor John Gibson) and it was sent out to a bunch of people using official e-mail that just trashes on people who have problems with Christmas being in the workplace."
Casey Weinstein went to his direct supervisor to discuss this e-mail.
"Now apparently, he heard that I had complained about the Christian prayer in Jesus' name on Thanksgiving, which was supposed to be a secular prayer," he says. "So he flipped out. He started yelling at me, with the door open, in front of subordinates, basically just ruining my credibility in the squadron. I got back up and got in his face and showed him the regulations and showed him the regulation about not being allowed to use e-mail for those purposes, here's the appropriate prayers, and he backed down really quickly."
"In the military, they want complete and team players," Mikey Weinstein says. "Anyone who says, 'That's great, but you're in violation of the bedrock principle of our country, which is our Constitution -- It's asking too much of a young trooper to stand up. And it's very hard to say, 'No sir, no ma'am, you can't do this.'"
All of this is part of the lawsuit they've filed. One of the most interesting things about the MRFF is that the vast majority of the complaints they've received from military personnel - and we're talking over 8000 complaints - are from Christians.
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What, no resounding chorus of Onward Christian Soldiers? I'm shocked! "Shocked!" I say.
[/sarcasm]
Why, oh why, is this coming again (and again) as a surprise to the military? Why are some apparently trying to make the military into a [my form of] Christians-only organization? Why can't the people in the military generally see this as a problem, not only in terms of upholding the Constitution, but also in terms of the future life of the military itself? (If this trend were to continue, then there is - imho - an increasingly great future possibility of a military coup conducted by "good Christian" soldiers in order to "liberate" the government from a perceived (or obvious) "non-Christian" leader's "threat" to the "founding Christian ideals" of the nation.)
URGH.
Posted by: mercurianferret | July 18, 2008 9:38 AM
My former FIL was a member of the AMEN program (American Military Evangelical Nation, I believe) and he told me when DADT was passed that this was an atrocity because if the military accepts something, then it would eventually become acceptable to America at large. It would seem others in position of authorities also believe that sentiment
PS: Thanks for the great time last night at Stubb's. It was wonderful to finally put a face with all the words*
Posted by: Donna | July 18, 2008 9:46 AM
I retired from the Air Force in 1995 and I can say with confidence that I never was a witness to anything as described in this story. I find it hard to believe it is going on but this is the second story describing such goings on I have read in just two weeks time. I guess things have changed in the military since I retired.
I will admit though that when I was in Saudi Arabia in 1991 the thought did cross my mind about the end time prophecies in the Bible concerning the Middle East but as always I did not worry about it and put it out of my mind soon enough. In 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq I didn't even think about it that way, although it seems many in the Military are. Oh Well...
Posted by: Fred Watkins | July 18, 2008 9:47 AM
@ mercurianferret:
You bring up a frightening thought. After all, as the RRR would have us believe, Obama is not only non-christian, he's 1/2 step away from being actively aligned with the jihadists, and just might be the antichrist himself.
Paging Dr. Strangelove, you have a phonecall on line 666...
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | July 18, 2008 10:12 AM
"One of the most interesting things about the MRFF is that the vast majority of the complaints they've received from military personnel - and we're talking over 8000 complaints - are from Christians."
Highlighting that line for those who like to post here continually saying that moderate Christians never do anything to stop the excesses of fundengelicals.
Posted by: kodiak | July 18, 2008 10:57 AM
Ed Brayton wrote:
Kodiak wrote:
Although I won't stop saying that they don't do enough, it is indeed encouraging to see this. In particular because it shows that these moderate christians people speak do find this sort objectionable, but are just unaware of how pervasive it is.
Perhaps the work of the MRFF will help to turn the tide.
Posted by: Valhar2000 | July 18, 2008 11:31 AM
Posted by: H.H. | July 18, 2008 11:58 AM
Having spent a career in the USAF (1978 - 2005), the religious climate has undoubtedly shifted in that the leadership of the military has been co-opted by Evangelicals and Fundamentalists. In the late seventies, the senior leadership was typically non-religious or ecumenical at best. Religious zealots were frowned upon as people who failed to put the mission first. Towards the end of my career, there was a dramatic reversal and many of the senior leaders (both Officer & Enlisted) were Evangelical zealots who wore their religion on their sleeve & effectively put mission accomplishment second to that of proselytizing, Bible study, and prayer. It's no surprise that the Air Force has committed outrageous blunders, and Mikey Weinstein is not being overly dramatic in stating the gravity of the problem.
Posted by: Mark Freedman | July 18, 2008 1:08 PM
Fred Watkins wrote: "I retired from the Air Force in 1995 and I can say with confidence that I never was a witness to anything as described in this story. I find it hard to believe it is going on but this is the second story describing such goings on I have read in just two weeks time. I guess things have changed in the military since I retired."
You got out just in time. MRFF's research shows that the kind of problems we're seeing now began showing up sporadically between 1998 and 1999, and have escalated to the point of being a military-wide pattern during the Bush administration.
Regarding the majority of people who have contacted MRFF being Christians, that majority is an astounding 96%, a percentage that has held steady since we began keeping track. The problem we run into is that it's the atheists and other non-Christians who are more likely to go public with their complaints, so people have accused us of making this statistic up. MRFF promises complete confidentiality and anonymity to anyone who contacts us, so we can't prove that we're not exaggerating because we won't release any names or details of the complaints we receive.
Posted by: Chris Rodda | July 18, 2008 1:13 PM
more importantly, what the fuck is a "secular prayer?" is that like kosher crab cake?
Posted by: khefera | July 18, 2008 2:18 PM
OK, now I feel worse.
Posted by: wscott | July 18, 2008 2:42 PM
This problem may have been inevitable given the demographic of a volunteer military and rise of Evangelicalism. A large number of red state Evangelicals tend to enlist because of social economic status, nationalism, and machismo. In the last 30 years Evangelicalism has become more prominent than mainline Protestantism. Gone is 1950s style civil religion that was a bland ecumenical blend of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. What Paul Kurtz described as Caprew. Evangelicals tend to be more in-your-face and chauvinist.
Posted by: Bill in NC | July 18, 2008 3:26 PM
Sadly, whenever I think about the U.S. armed forces (which isn't often), this is the image that is conjured up in my mind.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | July 18, 2008 3:35 PM
If it's true that there is a link between being from the hyper-Evangelical religious part of our culture and being someone to join the military or the Air Force (wink), then there is no way to change the tendency of Evanglicals to enlist and the rest to not bother without some sort of under-cover religious test for officers and senior NCOs. The test would be to weed out those who might be overly fundamentalist.
The alternative would be a governement campaign to integrate homsexuals into the military the way Eisenhower integrated African Americans in.
BTW, I find it interesting that Evangelicals seem to be so prevalent in the Air Force when Roman Catholic Fillipinos and Guamanians make most of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps (at least in my unscientific survey).
When I was in the AF, I never felt any need to conform to any kind of religious or political standard. I did feel that my fellow Airmen thought I was snooty because I didn't spend every night at the Club with them. There were even Wiccans who where allowed to take their holidays off.
Even when I deployed to Kuwait in 2003-04 with the WA ANG, I never felt religious or political pressure, mostly high-school like cliquism. While I don't doubt the reports from the MRFF, I have a hard time belieiving this is the norm rather than a notable exception.
"Sadly, whenever I think about the U.S. armed forces (which isn't often), this is the image that is conjured up in my mind," says Sadie. Then please don't think about us any more.
Posted by: Spike | July 18, 2008 6:12 PM
Spike is right on target with this: Integrate gay service members as Eisenhower integrated racially. That will drive out the extremists. Now, as 40 -50 years ago, they will run away from there shreiking that integration is the end of the world. Fine.
And that is what needs to be done: drive out the extremists, because their backward set of priorities (proselytize first, mission second) undermines our national security.
As of the latest poll, just last week, something like 72% of Americans, including a majority of Protestants, favors desegregating the military. From what I hear from people I know, the attitude of the majority of America's warriors is that they don't give a hoot who you sleep with, so long as you're proficient in your job and you adhere to military discipline.
The time is right, and the time is now.
Posted by: g347 | July 20, 2008 12:12 AM
The fact that the problem is much worse in the air force then in the other services should not be surprising, given the atmosphere in Colorado Springs, the location of the Air Force Academy where many Air Force officers matriculate.
Posted by: SLC | July 20, 2008 3:55 PM
Boy Bush has long manipulated hiring of new military chaplains for political gain, he has allowed the most extreme fundmentalist right wing applicants over the traditional Catholics, Lutherans & Baptist military veteran religious who wish to serve in non-denomimational ways INSTEAD INVADE THE US MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT FOR RIGHT WING THEOCRATIC AGENDAE. US Air Force Academy has 7 ultrafundamentalist chaplains with lesss than a dozen active duty personnel who actually belong to their cults, yet boy Bush made sure that such fanatics were hired over the millions of Lutherans & Catholics & Baptists who are in uniform. Proselytizing is an understatement. THEOCRACY IS TREASON. Preachers who seek government jobs, chaplaincy at VA hospitals & active duty facilities with the agenda to shove their hell threats & heaven bribes onto vets & heroic troops stationed anywhere on this planet do not belong in our uniformed services. Preachers MUST TAKE A PASSIVE ROLE. Preachers must "RESPOND" TO A veterans or active duty personnel request, not set the agenda. Chaplains can be successfully trained in inter-denominational & secular counseling. It is the criminal theocratic agenda of boy Bush which should be on trial.,
Posted by: Larry Carter Center | July 20, 2008 9:31 PM
I am so saddened by such violations of Christ's words. This is just another example of people who call themsleves "Christians" but who simply don't read the Bible. The Bible says Christians should share the good news (the Gospel) but it also says if people do not want to hear or accept the Gospel then leave them alone and let them be even if they are Godless (it was Christ himself who said this). What poor examples of Americans these are who violate the Laws of America, sadder still what poor examples of Christians these are who violate the Words of Christ.
Posted by: And Jesus Wept | July 22, 2008 1:47 AM