Category Archives: Government and Religion

Chaplains: Serving in a US Military “Hostile to Christianity”

“You know the old saying that there’s no atheists in the foxhole? Well God help us if all we have in foxholes are atheists.”

The July 13 edition of World Magazine asks if the US military is a “no pray zone?”, with the magazine cover saying “How the US military is fighting religious liberty.” Contributor Edward Lee Pitts pens the cover story “Holding the Line,” with the tag line

Chaplains are pursuing their mission in a military suddenly hostile to Christianity and ready to suppress religious freedom

In an era in which the military is being repeatedly called “hostile” to religious freedom — including by members of Congress — this characterization may not be as over the top as it seems.  After listing just a portion of the recent “incidents” of Read more

US President on Morality and the Constitution

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

– President John Adams, 11 October 1798

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Hasan Trial to Take Place in Combat-like Bunker

The courthouse in which US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is to be tried for the Fort Hood massacre looks more like a bunker in Afghanistan than an office building in Texas.  As noted by the Associated Press — which includes a rare photo of the combat zone-like revetments:

The military courthouse…has been transformed into a fortress, surrounded by hundreds of stacked freight car-sized shipping containers, and by tall dirt- and sand-filled barriers designed to protect it against the impact of a bomb blast. Armed soldiers stand guard around the building.

The substantial security measures may belie the attributed position that the government characterizes Hasan’s attack as “workplace violence,” not terrorism.

The article also notes the paralyzed Hasan is transported from the local jail to the courthouse by helicopter, at random times, “for his protection.”

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Religious Freedom Advocate Predicts Christian Nuclear War

Michael Weinstein had toned down his conspiracy theories during the spate of negative press, but recently revived one of his favorites:  That Christians are trying to take over the US military to start a nuclear war [edits original]:

People are suffering and the consequences are potentially nuclear war; an apocalypse, but not the biblical one. [Instead,] one [brought about] by this weaponized, twisted, poisonous version of Christianity Read more

US Army Updates Social Media Policy

The US Army has released an updated Social Media Handbook, though it largely focused on official military media actions.  Notably, an accompanying article seemed to align Army policy with previously released Air Force guidance:

Soldiers must maintain their professionalism at all times, even on their off time, said Sweetnam.

They are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and could face corrective or disciplinary action if Read more

Study on Faith in the Foxhole from World War II

Reports on the American Soldier Studies, with data gathered immediately following World War II, indicate Soldiers relied on prayer more — and other ideals less — as battles got tough.  The study is entitled “Are There Atheists in Foxholes? Combat Intensity and Religious Behavior:”

The American Soldier studies were conducted by the Army’s Information and Education Division. An upcoming analysis of that data, to be published in the Journal of Religion and Health, finds when soldiers reported that battles became “more frightening,” as many as 72 percent of them turned to prayer as their primary source of motivation. When battles were Read more

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