Christian Right Freak Out
By Chris Lazare on May 10, 2013
Sound the alarm! We all know Christianity is under attack in American civil life. But did you know the military wants in on the Christian bashing as well? According to Fox News contributor Todd Starns, Christians in the military face being prosecuted for “sharing” their faith. These allegations aren’t the first anti-Christian charges lodged against the military. The President received much slack after repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, Catholics and Protestants were depicted as potential extremists during an Army Reserve presentation and Christians, in the military, were allegedly blocked from accessing a South Baptist Convention’s website. Although the latter two claims were resolved, conservatives still use these occurrences to prove their persecution in the military.
The renewed debate centered on soldiers proselytizing, which is unlawful in the military. Soldiers are able to evangelize, however, if their “sharing” becomes forceful it is considered proselytizing which is illegal in the military. On May 2nd the Pentagon released an official statement concerning the issue of proselytizing in the military. Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said in a statement, “The U.S. Department of Defense has never and will never single out a particular religious group for persecution or prosecution…. The Department makes reasonable accommodations for all religions and celebrates the religious diversity of our service members…..Service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one’s beliefs (proselytization).” In addition to these statements, there was never any specific mention regarding the kind of punishment warranted for forcefully spreading “the word.” Christensen said “when religious harassment complaints are reported, commanders take action based on the gravity of the occurrence on a case by case basis.”
On April 23rd, Starns blasted the military, which was conducting a meeting on harassment and violence, for having the President of Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein. In some controversial comments to the Washington Post Weinstein said proselytizing is essentially “spiritual rape.” Fox News and Todd Starns didn’t skip a beat. They jumped all over Weinstein’s comments. Tony Perkin’s, the President of the Family Research Council said, “Why would military leadership be meeting with one of the most rabid atheists in America to discuss religious freedom in the military…. That’s like consulting with China on how to improve human rights.” The Family Research Council created a petition which collected over 100,000 signatures. The petition urged the Pentagon to scrap the plans to court martial Christians.
There have never been any cases reported of chaplains or Christians being punished for proselytizing. Right-wing media outlets like Brietbart and Fox News have completely manipulated the words of the Pentagon to invoke fear. These claims have been refuted across the media and the internet, including Politifact which gave the statement a mostly-false rating. According to Politifact, “if you believe your Christian faith compels you to try to convert others in a way people find harassing, it’s possible you could face court-martial, though such a thing has yet to happen.” However, given the recent testimonies and statements regarding the issue, the Christian Right has completely misrepresented the argument. Christians aren’t being persecuted in the military, it is simply a red-haring propagated by the Right in order to stir up controversy.