This Week in Christian Nationalism

For an undetermined number of years, adorning a wall in the Wagon Wheel dining hall at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho was an inspirational piece of artwork proclaiming the message of Matthew 5:9 — “Blessed are the peacemakers” — because nothing says “peacemaker” like the image of the medieval crusader that this message accompanied. The artwork was also emblazoned with the word “integrity,” because nothing, of course, says “integrity” like an overt display of Christian nationalism.

While many other airmen eating in this dining facility over the years have no doubt been offended by this depiction of Christian supremacy, none were willing to face the predictable retribution that would likely follow if they objected to it and tried to get it removed — until now, that is. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just about a year ago, one of our more news-savvy members of Congress showed off his discerning assessment of news sources by posting a very important article on his Facebook page. The article, revealing the shocking news that Planned Parenthood had opened an “$8 Billion Abortionplex,” was from one of the nation’s most highly respected and reliable news source — The Onion! The congressman was Rep. John Fleming (R-LA).

Well, it seems that Congressman Fleming’s ability to separate fact from fiction hasn’t improved much in the past year. The stories he’s now believing might not come from The Onion, a site that anybody with half a brain would immediately recognize to be satire, but the headlines are just as far-fetched and the stories just as fictitious.

Here’s what Fleming had to say last week in Congress:

Transcript of above video:

Mr. Speaker, I want to be certain that the administration and Pentagon leadership do not deny our men and women in uniform one of the very freedoms they are fighting to protect. On Monday I led on a letter sent to Defense Secretary Hagel demanding details about a meeting between Pentagon officials and ant-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein. Weinstein has spent nine years at war — those are his words — at war with evangelical Christians who he says are committing “spiritual rape” against the U.S. military. Christians who are merely exercising their First Amendment right or primary duties in the case of chaplains. Mr. Weinstein exploits freedom of speech to name call and to label Christians as the “Christian taliban” and “al Qaeda,” but he seeks to shut down the religious freedom of expression of service members in the process. I have trouble with several anti-Christian steps the Pentagon has taken in recent years. That is why my colleagues and I seek answers from Secretary Hagel on this important question now.

I know it’s becoming increasingly hard to tell if a headline is from a less than reliable alarmist news site or a satire site like The Onion, but you’d think a member of Congress  who has already embarrassed themselves once by falling for a fictitious story would at least check to see whether or not another seemingly unbelievable story is true before repeating it — and especially before repeating it on the floor of the House of Representatives. But not Congressman Fleming! He’s apparently fallen hook. line, and sinker for the rapidly spreading, but completely untrue, story that the Department of Defense has decided to start court-martialing Christians to rid them from the military.

Where did such a ridiculous story come from? Breitbart.com, aided by FOX News and a whole bunch of fundamentalist Christian websites and organizations, particularly the Family Research Council. Read the rest of this entry »

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Colin Powell’s former chief of staff and the newest member of MRFF’s Advisory Board, Col. Larry Wilkerson, on The Real News:

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By now I’m sure most readers here have caught at least a turd or two of the shitstorm created by the lies from Breitbart.com and FOX News about Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

The gist of the lies is that the military plans to start court-martialing Christian service members for simply practicing their religion, and that the Pentagon and/or President Obama has hired MRFF’s founder and president Mikey Weinstein as an “anti-Christian” consultant to make this happen. None of this is true, of course, but Breitbart.com, FOX News, and organizations like the Family Research Council (FRC) and the American Family Association (AFA) have millions of people believing that it is.

As the Senior Research Director at MRFF, I usually write about what’s going on at MRFF, but when we’re in the midst of a shitstorm of biblical proportions, as we are right now, there are other things I have to do, which is the reason that I’m just about the only person who hasn’t written anything about this particular shitstorm.

I still don’t have time to write anything myself, but some good articles have been written by others that say pretty much what I would say if I had time to write something myself.

One of the best takedowns came out today on examiner.com. In his article “Deconstructing hysteria: one degree of separation from FRC,” Charles McAlpin thoroughly explains what the lies are and includes numerous links to the sources of the lies. Most importantly, McAlpin shows how all roads lead back to the the FRC and its executive vice president Jerry “my god is bigger than your god” Boykin.

That’s all I have time to write for the moment. I must now get back to dealing with this seemingly endless bombardment of excrement.

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Painting the Church

There was a Scottish painter named Smokey MacGregor who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further.

As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the local church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings.

Smokey put in a bid, and, because his price was so low, he got the job.

So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine………

Well, Smokey was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Smokey clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.

Smokey was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he got down on his knees and cried:

“Oh, God, Oh God, forgive me; what should I do?”

And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke.

“Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!”

Yeah, I’m talking about everybody’s favorite Christian nationalist history revisionist David Barton. It seems this paragon of lies and propaganda has been invited to speak at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to be held on Thursday, May 2. The topic of Mr. Barton’s presentation is to be “Our American Heritage: Why History Matters.” Well, as anyone familiar with Barton’s work knows, the reason that history matters to him is that it can be distorted to fit his far-right political agenda.

But, besides Mr. Barton’s Christian nationalist version of American history being so inaccurate that his latest book was pulled from the shelves by Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, there are two other reasons that he is an outrageously inappropriate choice to speak at any military event. One is his very public contempt for the President of the United States. This is a man who recently posted an image on his Facebook page grouping President Obama with … you guessed it … Hitler!

Then there’s his constant denigration of faiths other than his own — not just non-Christian faiths, but also those wishy-washy mainline and liberal Christians who are destroying the church.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (full letter at end of post) demanding that Fort Leonard Wood rescind its invitation to Mr. Barton and that a more appropriate speaker be chosen for the prayer breakfast.

Mr. Barton, along with far-right Christian groups like the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and FOX News, will no doubt be crying Christian persecution over MRFF’s demand, and claiming that MRFF and its big, bad “anti-Christian extremist” leader Mikey Weinstein is out to rid the U.S. military of all religion. But nothing could be farther from the truth. These people know damn well that MRFF is not an anti-religious organization, and that 96% of our clients are actually Christians; they just need to keep lying about us to keep up the persecution stories.

Now, those of you who follow the right-wing media may have noticed an uptick lately in the number and far-fetchedness of “news” stories claiming that the U.S. military has become hostile towards Christians.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) actually told FOX News: “We are getting a lot of calls from soldiers saying ‘we’re afraid of going to church, we’re afraid to be seen praying, we’re afraid that would hurt our careers, our promotions.’” Really, Mr. Forbes? It’s the Christian soldiers who are afraid to express their faith and go to church? Then, please tell us, Mr. Forbes, why the Army is having to build all those mega-churches on Army posts, like that new $30 million dollar one at Fort Hood, to accommodate so many church-going Christians? If they’re afraid to go to church, as you claim, then why on earth did the taxpayers have to pay for these great big churches for them to go to?

Then there’s the one about the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) website being blocked by the Army last week. Headlines like “US Army Labels Southern Baptist Convention ‘Hostile’” have millions of Christians feeding their persecution complexes with tales of the Army saying that the Southern Baptist Convention is “hostile.” Hoo-ah! More Christian persecution! Well, what really happened was that the SBC website was flagged by virus software that detected possible malware, commonly referred to as “hostile content.” In fundie-land, however, the words “hostile content” in the message “The site you have requested has been blocked by Team CONUS (C-TNOSC/RECERT-CONUS) due to hostile content” mean more Christian persecution, dammit, not that some religion-neutral malware was detected.

So, have at us, oh ye persecuted Christians. Here’s our letter to Secretary Hagel:

Monday, April 29, 2013

The Honorable Chuck Hagel
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

 

Dear Secretary Hagel,

It has been brought to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) that the guest speaker for this year’s annual Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, National Prayer Breakfast, to be held on the National Day of Prayer, May 2, 2013, is Mr. David Barton.

For the following three reasons, Mr. Barton is an egregiously inappropriate speaker for this or any other military event:

1) his open contempt for and denigration of the President and other government officials;

2) his denigration of faith groups other than his own; and,

3) his revisionism of American history.

Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) states that:

“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

Although Mr. Barton is not himself in the military, the invitation for him to speak at this military event can be considered nothing less than the condoning and endorsement of statements that if made by the officer(s) who invited him to speak would be punishable by their court-martial.

 

Open Contempt for and Denigration of the President of the United States

Mr. Barton, who is above all else a political activist, is well known for his open, vocal, and constant use of contemptuous words against the President. Mr. Barton’s statements are not merely political opinions, but the promoting of a number of conspiracy theories and lies about President Obama, and even equating him with Adolf Hitler.

• In an article on his WallBuilders.com website titled “America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President,” Mr. Barton accuses President Obama of “Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith” and “Acts of preferentialism for Islam.” This article is updated periodically with additional unfounded accusations, with the latest accusation being added on April 17, 2013.

(http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=106938)

• He has accused the Obama administration of deliberately allowing the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, claiming that Obama allowed the attack as “the perfect set-up for the anti-blasphemy [United Nations] resolution that we joined on to and said we’re going to be a part of.”

(http://tfninsider.org/2012/11/02/detestable-david-barton-suggests-president-obama-was-complicit-in-the-murder-of-u-s-ambassador-to-libya/)

• He has accused President Obama of exploiting the Sandy Hook tragedy for political purposes, saying he’d “never let a crisis go to waste.”

(http://tinyurl.com/GunsKidsAndCritics)

• He has posted an image on his Facebook page grouping President Obama with Hitler, Stalin, and Castro (see Appendix A):

(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=475046952532882&set=a.157340314303549.22910.101762193194695&type=1&theater)

• As a frequent guest on Glenn Beck’s former FOX News TV show, radio show, and web-based TV show, Mr. Barton has been an active part of, or complicit in, numerous lies and conspiracy theories about President Obama, such as his being a socialist, Marxist, or communist, and his being affiliated with groups such as the “Muslim Brotherhood.”

Dozens, if not hundreds, of other examples could be given of Mr. Barton’s past and ongoing contemptuous words against the President.

 

Denigration of Faith Groups Other Than His Own

Mr. Barton is also well known for his attacks against faiths other than his own, including Christians who do not subscribe to his narrow, fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity. This is the second reason that Mr. Barton is an altogether inappropriate speaker for the upcoming Prayer Breakfast at Fort Leonard Wood — an event that is supposed to be inclusive of members of all faiths.

• Mr. Barton has regularly attacked mainline Christian denominations for their stances on both theological and political issues.

• He has regularly promoted the conspiracy theory that Muslims seek to place the United States under Sharia law.

• He has hosted virulently anti-Muslim guests on his radio show, WallBuilders LIVE!, to include guests who have been disinvited from speaking at other military events due to their attacks on the religion of Islam. For example, one recent guest on his show was anti-Muslim activist Brigitte Gabriel, who was disinvited from speaking at the Air Force Academy after statements she made at a prior appearance at the Joint Forces Staff College (i.e., saying that Americans of the Muslim faith should not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military or hold political office) were revealed.

 

Revisionism of American History

And last, but certainly not least, Mr. Barton is best known for his revisionism of American history.

• Mr. Barton espouses the belief that America is a Christian nation, and that those of other religions are only tolerated here because America is a Christian nation.

• The politically motivated and deliberate historical falsehoods presented by Mr. Barton in his books and presentations have been well documented by both liberal and conservative historians.

• His latest book, The Jefferson Lies, was pulled by Christian publisher Thomas Nelson due to its historical inaccuracy.

The title of the presentation that Mr. Barton is scheduled to deliver on May 2 at Fort Leonard Wood’s prayer breakfast is “Our American Heritage: Why History Matters,” indicating that his presentation will be one of his propagandist Christian nationalist history lectures.

Given that Mr. Barton has a standard history presentation that has remained virtually unchanged for many years, the content of the presentation he intends to deliver at Fort Leonard Wood can be anticipated. It will undoubtedly contain numerous misquotes and lies about America’s founding, all of which have been proven to be untrue, and a grossly distorted view of the Constitution that our men and women in uniform who will be attending this prayer breakfast have sworn an oath to support and defend.

For the three reasons listed and detailed above, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation demands that the invitation to Mr. Barton to speak at the Fort Leonard Wood prayer breakfast on May 2, 2013 be immediately rescinded and a more appropriate and inclusive speaker be chosen for this event.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
Founder and President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

 

Chris Rodda
Senior Research Director
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

 

CC:
Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of America, Commander-In-Chief, United States Armed Forces
General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
John McHugh, Secretary of the Army
General Raymond T. Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army
Brigadier General Mark S. Inch, Commanding General, Fort Leonard Wood

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