With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military

More than two years ago the author of this book started the Military Religious Freedom Foundation as a watchdog to make the military obey the laws of separation of Church and State. His concern started with a specific evil at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy, the chronic harassment and intimidation by evangelicals to pressure Catholics, liberal Christians, Jews, and others to assent to a right wing, primitive faith. Weinstein explains how the military has been taken over by a fundamentalist agenda. What these chaplains are doing is a blatant violation of the famous wall between Church and State. Various chaplaincy codes flatly prohibit the "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice."(p. 74) In the command structure of superior and inferior of the military this may put government in the person of an officer in the position of commanding a soldier or cadet to convert or else. This prohibition of evangelizing the fundies reject as curtailing their freedom of religion, claiming that making converts is enjoined as an integral part of their religion. Anything less, they claim, is anti-Christian bigotry, a bias against the majority, and discrimination against their belief. Remember, in most circumstances when fundies speak of Christianity it does not include Roman Catholics and liberal or mainline denominations. Mikey Weinstein has qualification to take on this struggle few can match. A family tradition of father, son, and grandchildren graduating from the Air Force Academy, law degrees and experience of service in the White House, and a network of political allies. The book is a narrative of events at the Air Force Academy and the military in general which lead Weinstein to found the organization. The book is a quick and easy read. It seems part of a push back on the inroads made by "born again" religious fascists on the administration of the country. In the long run I do think the believers in fascist Christian authority will lose.

Weinstein's account is a fascinating illustration of the famous quotation "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." For better or for worse, the training of a cadet involves tearing his personality down and rebuilding it; unfortunately, the officers in charge of the Air Force Academy have chosen to use this power to take cadets at their most vulnerable and indoctrinate them with their own particular brand of religion. Some of the most chilling passages describe how Jewish cadets are subjected to Mel-Gibson-style anti-Semitism, and how the administration fails to support them. A good companion to this is Reichen Lehmkuhl's book Here's What We'll Tell Them, about his experience as a gay cadet at the Academy in the mid nineties, and he pervasive homophobia in the chaplain corps. This is a problem in the U.S. military in general, but seems to be a special problem at the Air Force Academy, maybe because of the influence of the many Christianist groups that have their headquarters in Colorado Springs. It sounds like things are totally out of control there! One disappointment: I was expecting to hear at the end of the book about how the lawsuit turned out. But this is an ongoing event.... you'll have to resort to sources such as Google News to keep up with the latest developments. I note that the suit has recently been thrown out on a technicality, but will be refiled. Mr. Weinstein isn't going away, and I suspect that he will be holding the military's feet to the fire for years!

Nazi Germany was good at posturing as some sort of nation of innocents that faced threats from all sides, thus justifying it's "pre-emptive" aggression in the world. The US empire is doing the same thing, and its perception managers (PR firms like the Rendon Group, talk show hosts like Hugh Hewitt, and preachers like James Dobson) are using an imperial theology to get people to sign on. Militarism couched in "Christianity" gives an air of piety to the evil that is taking place in the name of "the Lord." Phrases like "the Lord" are better motivators than the actual reasons for the occupation of Iraq, things like raising the stock values and revenues of Hallibuton, Exxon and Lockheed Martin (see the DVD "Iraq for Sale"). I saw Michael Weinstein speak about his book here in Denver and he mentioned that, since bringing his lawsuit to halt the belligerent evangelizing going on at the Air Force Academy, he and his wife have received numerous death threats. There was a security guard at his talk. Sadly, many in the military are reading books like the "Left Behind" series, which advances the "Jesus came to spread the sword" version of Christ that the military industrial complex prefers. There is now even a "Left Behind" video game where the goal is to kill people who refuse to convert. Hopefully, people will work to make more humane spiritual perspectives available to people in our military. There are groups like "Books for Soldiers" through which people can send US troops books by Weinstein, Jim Wallis, Karen Armstrong, Thich Nhat Hanh and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Considering that we have 702 military installations in 132 countries, it's our responsibility to encourage a more multicultural view of the world's religions. Otherwise, we can look forward to more of the death, destruction, and imposed markets that Satan, Inc. rejoices in.

Do you recall the bumper-sticker, "If you're not outraged, you aren't paying attention"? That IS this book. Anyone who cares about the future of the USA, the Bill of Rights, or our national identity, really must read this disturbing work. There is no bashing of Christianity; there IS a clear challenge to a self-righteous, inbred, belligerent and politicized subset of Evangelicals who've become deeply rooted in our military and government (Think "Alien"). This gets 5 stars because it is an extremely important book, but I'd only give it 4 stars for style. The initial chapters are self-consciously erudite, distractingly so. I suspect this was an effort to sound measured and restrained and to avoid seeming inflammatory, but both the subject matter and the protagonist, Mikey Weinstein, ARE explosive. As a result, for awhile I felt like I was riding a dressage-trained East Coast show horse when what was needed was a Western cutting horse that could turn on a dime. Fortunately, the natural intensity of the story and the players took over after several chapters, and it became a compelling read as well as an essential one. I hope this is only an opening salvo in the war for our national conscience, and that someone will promptly take an equally careful look at the other major branches of the military and the defense hierarchy. If we lose this domestic war, we lose America's soul -- what a bitter irony. If you pray, better pray Mikey Weinstein isn't too late.

If you care about the growing power of the evangelicals in our national politics and their ability to shape our policy, then you need to read this book. It's not just about one or two isolated instances of religious discrimination; it's about the systemic abuse of power of some of the leadership in one of our most prestigious institutions, The United States Air Force Academy. The abuses described are, on one hand, almost unbelievable in this day and age but on the other, totally believable in this day and age. It also makes us aware of the necessity to keep the government from sanctioning, or even appearing to sanction, one religion over another or one religion over no religion. Read the book and do your part to keep our military members free from other people's religion(s). No one should be allowed to take advantage of the captive audience that is cadets at service academies or Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines serving honorably anywhere.