I sent an email to Stars and Stripes on the topic of religious equality, tolerance, and bias in the government and the military. I wrote a long version, and a short version, since the short version would be more likely to get printed.
I talked to Stars and Stripes and edited it down just a touch more. It will be running on July 11th in the Pacific Stars and Stripes, and a few days later in the European and Middle East editions. First the long version and then the version that will be printed, after the break. The long version is my actual diary entry, since it's what I'm wanting to say.
Long version:
I'm really tired of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians assuming that theirs is the only religion in the United States. I've been hearing more and more complaints from them recently, between the Supreme Court's confusing treatment of the "10 Commandments in courthouses" issue ("Court gets religion and loses it, in one day" Thursday, June 30th) and the AF Academy religion scandal ("Little common ground found in religion hearing" Thursday, June 30th). Maybe its just years of experience with them but it seems like the evangelicals consider it freedom of religion to tell you that your religion, if its different from theirs, is wrong, but it's oppressive and an attack on them when you try to tell them to please go away.
Why do we need the 10 Commandments in any given courthouse? Is the Wiccan Rede there? Are other religious laws posted there? Will the courthouse be unable to function without a big stone tablet of the 10 Commandments in the foyer? The job of a courthouse is to handle legal cases, not serve as a pulpit for the religious laws of Judeo-Christian religions. Is it illegal to take the Lord's name in vain? To work on a Sunday? Should somebody be respectful towards and honor their parents, even if they're abusive? Then why are these laws posted in a courthouse? Some of the 10 Commandments are good ideas that can be applied universally, but not because they're Commandments, those ideas are necessary for any civilized society to uphold, like don't kill and don't lie. But many of the Commandments are specific to the Judeo-Christian religion, and do not apply to anybody else. Their display should not then be sponsored by a government that everyone, even non-Christians, is part of. Our country has its own laws and legal codes, and having the rules that one religion claims God handed down posted in a public place does impose on and annoy people who aren't members of that religion.
Non-Christians get Christianity thrown in their faces enough in this country as it is. Christians don't realize what its like, but it's pretty annoying when seemingly every event is opened by a leader of a faith you aren't part of offering a prayer to a God you don't believe in. I get daily devotional emails from my chaplain, that he sends to the entire base, the topics of which are things like "The argument for why Christianity is right" and "Maintaining the integrity of your spiritual walk". Thankfully I was able to figure out how to tell Outlook to send all such emails to my junk mail folder. It's still a pain when Outlook misses one, and I get to see yet another platitude about how important having faith is. You never see the opposite of it. You'll never see a base-wide email talking about how important it is that we recognize both the god and the goddess as being two complementing parts of a whole. If you did, I guarantee the fundies would be screaming about how their tax dollars are being used to promote false religions.
With the AF Academy scandal, Republican Congressmen seem to be complaining plaintively that Academy students are being oppressed because they can't tell Jews that Jews will burn in hell. This, they claim, is a sign of intolerance towards Christianity. What? No, no, it's the other way around. Students and chaplains telling non-Christians they'll burn is religious intolerance from Christians, not towards them. This is like hearing a plantation owner in 1867 complaining that his rights are being trod upon because he can't own slaves anymore. And why is it we only seem to have problems with Christians doing this? When was the last time you heard about a Hindu yelling at someone "Your bad karma ensures that your journey to enlightenment will be many lifetimes longer!" anyway?
The evangelical Christians and their recent gains in the field of political power really scares me. It scares me that there are religious fanatics in the Academy, because those are my future Lieutenants and Captains. I fear more my own religious freedom when I hear about what happened at the Academy, because that's the future leadership of our military there. Will I have some supervisor down the road looking at me mistrustfully because I have Pagan on my dog tags, and treat me differently because of it? Will he be backed up by his boss, and his boss's boss, all the way up the chain to the President and Congressmen? When I worry about religious intolerance in the U.S. and the military, it's not intolerance towards Christians that I worry about; it's intolerance from them.
It's a situation that the fundamentalists create themselves, by creating a black and white world for them, where everything is part of an apocryphal battle of good versus evil, and either you're with God and good or you're Evil. Everybody unsaved must be saved, because God told him or her to try their best at that. Everyone unsaved is still a pawn of the devil, and will burn in hell unless they aren't redeemed. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that young adults from environments like that would see it as their duty, once they go to the Academy, to try and save all the poor godless bastards around them. They see it as the greatest good they can do, and any resistance to it is from the devil. Having groups like Focus on the Family right outside the gate doesn't help either; rather, it's more like pouring gasoline on a campfire. So I'm going to be watching my back and keeping my eyes and ears open, and hope like hell that it doesn't spread any further. But with so much of the government playing to the worst parts of the fundamentalist evangelical Christians, it seems likely that things will be getting worse before they get better.
Short version that will be printed:
I have grown tired of fundamentalist Christians who assume that theirs is the only religion in the United States. I been hear more and more complaints from them recently, between the confusing decision of the SCOTUS on the "10 Commandments in court" issue ("Court gets religion and loses it, in one day" Thursday, June 30th) and the AF Academy religion scandal ("Little common ground found in religion hearing" Thursday, June 30th). It seems like the evangelicals consider it freedom of religion to tell you that your religion, being different from theirs, is wrong, but it's oppressive and an attack on them when you try to tell them to please go away.
Non-Christians get Christianity thrown in their faces enough in this country as it is. Christians don't realize what its like, but it's annoying when seemingly every event is opened by a leader of a faith you aren't part of offering a prayer to a God you don't believe in. I have to tolerate mandatory formations being opened with an invocation by the chaplain. I don't have any say in whether or not I have to be there for it, I have to stand around in formation while the Christians have their heads bowed. We get daily Christian devotional emails from my chaplain sent base-wide but you'll never see a base-wide email present devotionals or uplifting thoughts from other religions. If you did, I guarantee the fundies would be screaming about how their tax dollars are being used to promote false religions.
With the AF Academy scandal, Republican Congressmen seem to be complaining plaintively that Academy students are being oppressed because they can't tell Jews that Jews will burn in hell. This, they claim, is a sign of intolerance towards Christianity. What? No, no, it's the other way around. Students and chaplains telling non-Christians they'll burn is religious intolerance from Christians, not towards them. The evangelical Christians and their recent gains in the field of political power really scares me. It scares me that recent events have shown that there are religious fanatics in the Academy, because those are my future Lieutenants and Captains. I fear for my own religious freedom when I hear about what happened at the Academy, because that's the future leadership of our military. Will I have some supervisor down the road looking at me mistrustfully because I have Pagan on my dog tags, and treat me differently because of it? Will he be backed up by his boss, and his boss's boss, all the way up the chain of command to the President and Congressmen? People say it won't ever happen because of the Constitution, but as anyone familiar with the UCMJ can tell you, when you enter the military you have a different set of rights then a civilian.
Thoughts?