I have a great deal of respect for people of faith, but we have a problem in this country when churches are pushing military propaganda:
[Rev. Gregory A. Boyd] said there were Christians on both the left and the right who had turned politics and patriotism into “idolatry.”
He said he first became alarmed while visiting another megachurch’s worship service on a Fourth of July years ago. The service finished with the chorus singing “God Bless America” and a video of fighter jets flying over a hill silhouetted with crosses.
“I thought to myself, ‘What just happened? Fighter jets mixed up with the cross?’” he said in an interview.
Patriotic displays are still a mainstay in some evangelical churches. Across town from Mr. Boyd’s church, the sanctuary of North Heights Lutheran Church was draped in bunting on the Sunday before the Fourth of July this year for a “freedom celebration.” Military veterans and flag twirlers paraded into the sanctuary, an enormous American flag rose slowly behind the stage, and a Marine major who had served in Afghanistan preached that the military was spending “your hard-earned money” on good causes.
Meanwhile, the military is becoming increasingly Republican and Christian–dominated:
[Mikey] Weinstein, 51, was once a White House lawyer who defended the Reagan administration during the Iran-contra investigation. Three generations of his family — he, his father, both his sons and a daughter-in-law — have gone to U.S. military academies.
Now he’s declaring war against what, for him, is an improbable enemy: the defense establishment.
He is suing the Air Force in federal court, demanding a permanent injunction against alleged religious favoritism and proselytizing in the service. He has also formed the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation to combat what he sees as a concerted effort by evangelical Christian organizations to treat the armed forces as a mission field, ripe for conversions.
…[O]ne of his favorite lines these days — right up there with “sucking chest wounds” — comes from the Officers’ Christian Fellowship, a private organization with 14,000 active-duty members on more than 200 U.S. military bases worldwide.
In its mission statement, the OCF says its goal is “a spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit.”
Ambassadors for Christ in uniform. According to the OCF’s executive director, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce L. Fister, it means that “the people around a military leader ought to see the characteristics of Christ in that leader.” It is a national tradition reflected in “hundreds of writings and proclamations issued down through the ages by American leaders who claim divine protection for our nation, place our nation’s trust in God and claim God as our source of strength.”
To Weinstein, a Jew and a member of a military family, it is an abomination. It “evokes the Crusades.”
Keeping religion and military affairs separate is good for both. It’s hard to imagine us winning hearts and minds in the Muslim world if our military is led by self-proclaimed “ambassadors for Christ in uniform” who see “characteristics of Christ” in their leaders. And from a democratic perspective, people should not be made to feel like they are betraying their faith if they do not support Republicans or the war in Iraq.