Time for Christians to Exit the Military

Francis - Military

There was a great Italian film (and lousy American remake) called Everybody’s Fine. The plot centered on a retired man whose five adult children stood him up during the summer holidays. All of his children created false impressions of happiness and success in their lives, even though their lives were more than a bit of a mess. They didn’t want to trouble or disappoint their father, figuring he would be upset knowing their true situations.

Everybody’s Fine could be the Obama mantra for charting the course for the New Morality as played out in removing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” from the Armed Services, and putting traditional Christians on notice, they aren’t really welcome in the Brave New Society being engineered in the Obama era. Of course, military service for Catholics in America has many problematic features, some dating back before Obama and his naked assault on traditional Christian faith. But let us start with the recent history of overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

Back on November 30, 2010, Stars and Stripes published a story by Leo Shane III entitled Pentagon Study Anticipates Smooth Integration Of Openly Gay Troops. The story detailed a study conducted by “Top Defense Department Officials” that indicated that “70% of troops believed a repeal [of DADT] would have a positive effect or no effect on their ability to complete missions.” Overall, the study concluded that only 30% of the troops expected a negative effect if the law was repealed. Within the analysis was the fact that 43% of Marines expected a negative effect, with 58% of Marines in combat specialties expecting negative effects. The Pentagon study gave President Obama the green light to set the wheels in motion in Congress, with only the proviso that the military brass would just need to provide “strong leadership, a clear message, and proactive education [emphasis mine] to minimize the impact of repeal.”

After DADT was ended, fast forward to September 10, 2012, Politico’s Katie Glueck article, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Hasn’t Hurt Military. According to Palm Center, a University of California, Los Angeles School of Law- affiliated research center that focuses on “sexual minorities” in the military, “The repeal of DADT has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions, including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment, or morale.” The study added: “…in no case did negative consequences outweigh benefits. In balance, DADT repeal has enhanced the military ability to pursue its mission. […] Only two verifiable resignations linked to the policy change occurred- both from military chaplains, according to the study.”

To make matters even worse, we have NBA player, Jason Collins quoting from the military study to give him more assurance in his decision to become a mass media-contrived hero: “Look at what happened in the military when the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was repealed. Critics of the repeal were sure that out military members would devastate morale and destroy civilization. But a new study conducted by scholars from every branch of the armed forces except the Coast Guard concluded that ‘Cohesion did not decline after the new policy of open service was put in place. In fact greater openness and honesty resulting from the repeal seem to have promoted increased understanding, respect and acceptance.'”

So what are we to make of all this as faithful Catholics? First thing to do I would say is to have some Catholic scholars break down the two studies mentioned above. Was the methodology sound? What about bias? What’s the history with this Palm Center- an “affiliated research center that focuses on sexual minorities in the military”? Assuming the studies are more or less accurate, I would propose a bold next step. Discourage our sons and daughters from signing up or continuing on with the Obama armed services.

President Obama arrogantly bet that America’s faithful Christians wouldn’t dare to start encouraging their young to avoid military service. He knew all along that his military leaders would exercise “strong leadership”, have a “clear message”, and utilize “proactive education”, to undermine whatever traditional Christian beliefs the troops had, which would get in the way of the New Morality Military. The military operates as a “Yes, sir!” institution. If the Commander-in-Chief and all the career officers order the embrace of open homosexuality among the troops, then the troops are pretty much going to have to go along with it; that’s how authority works in military environments. I say we call Obama’s bluff and start encouraging Christians to take a pass on his brainwashing program.

I served in the military back when I was a young man, and I know that the mindset and beliefs of an individual can be heavily influenced by what is transmitted by those in command above your rank. I remind any young person who approaches me about joining the military, that when you join you become a weapon in the hands of the political leaders. You don’t want to find yourself feeling you have to disobey orders in order to obey your conscience.

The issue of pushing the homosexual agenda on our troops is part of a larger reconfiguring of America’s moral compass. According to George Neumayer’s May 9, 2013 Crisis Magazine article, the de-Christianizing of our soldiers is evidenced by many seemingly unrelated events recently in the news. He lists such things as the Defense Department materials classifying Catholics and Evangelicals as extremists on par with jihadists, the Air Force ending a course on Just War after 20 years, and many other developments. Neumayer writes, “The two trends within the military on display in the press recently- rising cases of sexual misconduct, declining Christian presence- are exactly what they should expect.”

Beyond the reach of our own borders, and predating the Obama administration, is the terrible effect our military strategies have had on the Christian communities in the Middle East. The sad fact is that President George W. Bush did nothing to promote or protect the Christians of Iraq.

It makes absolutely no sense to be part of military campaigns that almost seemed designed to destroy indigenous Christian communities. And it makes no sense to become part of a hierarchical military command that is rotten at the top, and has the goal of undermining the traditional Christian faith of the troops. I would say that it is time to say to our sons and daughters: I am proud that you wish to serve God and Country, but right now serving in the pro-homosexual activist/anti-Christian military would be dangerous to your spiritual life. We also need to see a drastic change in the way our political leaders regard the need for protection and assistance for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering in the Middle East. Until we see these changes, I am going to urge you to find another way to fulfill your duty to God and Country.

It is time to make obvious to President Obama and his minions in the mass media and elite cultural circles that \”Everybody is Not Fine\” and our youth will not be his cannon fodder.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

32 thoughts on “Time for Christians to Exit the Military”

  1. I amnot a Catholic and I agree with you. No Christian should participate in advancing vileness,perversion,or Marxism. Themilitaryis now a cess pool of evil.Just like Obama.

  2. Andrew- I think we need to take a look at all possibilities- for sure we should condition any and all military and economic assistance on the guarantees of protection and liberty for Christian communities. It may be politically incorrect to say it but we know that a vibrant Christian presence is the best thing for the long term situation of any nation and for relations with our nation. A win-win, for the people we claim to be helping rid of some dictatorial system, and for our nation to have global neighborhood where islamist power is moderated by a strong Christian community.

  3. to Iroy77- Let me say that I love the military, I love the police, I love law and order- what I’m proposing is drastic- harsh medicine, risky even. I want to see a quick reform of our military and military strategies and I think that it will only come if the political and military leadership sees a drastic drop in troops- that is something no one wants, and no one can spin their way out of. We are a consumer economy, consumer political system, and this same consumer-driven force can be applied to our military to bring Christian values and Christian value-ing back into vogue in the ranks and in our foreign policy goals. We can’t just continue encouraging our youth to go into the military knowing what we know of Obama’s social engineering talents and follow-through, and what we know about our leader’s ignorance of the need to handle with care the vulnerable Christian communities in the Middle East. What will the future be in the Middle East with radical Islamist dominance achieved through misguided American-led military campaigns with no care about the effects on indigenous Christian communities who would offer the best alternative to radical Islam in the long run. Obviously strong armed secular dictators are out- so what’s the strategy? Let radical Islamists destroy Christianity and then what? Why send our boys out there to help with that master plan? And add to that the dubious re-education concerning human sexuality going on back at base camp. Is this what patriotism looks like now? Willing to have your son or daughter die for this?

  4. I don’t think that would fly. My parish priest is in the military (Marines). If Christians left the military, there may not be enough to protect our country or defend ourselves. It would make more logic to INCREASE Christian beliefs in the military however difficult it may be.

  5. James- I did serve for 6 years in the Army National Guard- my concerns are multifold – but the issue I brought up was my distrust of the Obama effect whereupon the recommendations in the first study to overcome the negatives of ending DADT- the “Strong leadership” “Clear message” and especially “proactive education”- what exactly is the message being sent up and down the ranks? If the message is that hey, we have soldiers who have same sex attraction and we want to be supportive to the point where we will provide counseling to help these soldiers live chaste lives without fear of bullying- that is something I would find no problem with. But if the message is that Christian and Catholic soldiers need to stand down their moral beliefs on homosexuality and not even be able to offer support for wanna-be chaste homosexuals- that is where my trust of the Obama military is non-existent.
    Philip- I am aware that what I’m proposing could be a cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face tactic. It may be impractical or even dangerous to national security. But in point of fact I am already doing what I propose- I would not want any of my children to serve as a weapon in President Obama’s hands, to be honest I wouldn’t have wanted my children to be a weapon in George W.’s hands after he decided to go into Iraq, and I wouldn’t have trusted the Romney neo-cons either. There are in fact many reasons (as John-Otto indicated) to take a pass on signing up for a military contract these days. I have chosen the causes of being part of some kind of anti-Christian indoctrination in order to conform with the radical secularist agenda of the Obama administration- getting rid of DADT is a part of that agenda being exposed. The fact that our troops aren’t doing anything to protect or nurture Christian communities who hold the key to longterm success and peace- also makes it necessary to send a clear message to those in charge. Reform or lose the power you want or need. I am an example where once I served but as a parent I am discouraging the next generation from such service until we find better leadership.

  6. This article together with most of the comments below illustrate well how Catholic fixation on sexuality makes most of us oblivious to all the other sins of this world. For centuries Christian men have been spirituality perverted by being encouraged to participate in that idolatry of mass homicide called war. Even though the recent popes have made clear that war like capital punishment can no longer be justified even by the minimalist terms of the traditional just war doctrine, Catholic bishops and presbyters continue to remain silent as the young men and women of their congregations are seduced into participating in one more imperial war.

    In our society we are learning to live with people whose heterosexual or homosexual morals we disagree with. If some of us feel that we would not be able to withstand educational processes that are in conflict with our morals inside the military, fine. Avoid the military. Those same folks should probably also avoid working in most American corporations or attending most state and private universities. Since most of us seem to be unaware that military life in and of itself is what my ol’ Jesuit professor called, “an occasion for sin, it’s probably good that a few more of us avoid military service for the reasons cited here. At least then they will avoid the dehumanizing and sinful dynamics of the mass homicide of war.

  7. What a lovely series of premises without any proof or justification. So let’s have all Christians leave the military to make a religious point. So when the next Shoah, the next Dafur, the next genocide can be prevented by the US Services, Christians will be in hiding. The military saves lives in many countries and will continue to do so; the military protects your first amendment rights and those of others. Maybe you should mover to the Vatican state….

  8. The goal is to have a secular/atheistic military that only listens to orders from their direct superiors, not some fictional skygod.

  9. I’m not sure martyrdom is the only path here- if we can create change in the culture and the military by in essence boycotting to prove that indeed “Everybody is NOT fine” and our nation’s future is in the balance- then I think we go that route instead of setting up our sons and daughters to be court marshaled for being faithful Catholics.

    1. Francis, If you research the sexualized catechetics beginning in
      kindergarten in the U S bishop’s schools you will see that it is not the
      military that started the favoritism and exceptional protections for the
      homosexuals. Homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle so states the “Growing In Love” series with imprimatur.

      http://www.motherswatch.net/content/view/12/6/
      Part 1

      http://www.motherswatch.net/content/view/15/6/
      Part 2

      The USCCB are a ruling class creating a slaves to passion world and they have been at the forefront of reconstructing the social order, not the
      military nor even the Obama administration.

      Have you read “the McHugh Chronicles” by Randy Engel, or “Vatican II,
      Homosexuality & Pedophilla” by Atila Sinke Guimarâes; also, “Rite of
      Sodomy” by Randy Engel; and “The Sodimization of Innocence,
      Homo-Church Invades the Catholic Kindergarten”
      By Randy Engel

      God is being trampled upon in parochial classrooms and supported
      by the financial giving of the “people of God” church.

  10. I’m not sure we should just exit the military. The Roman Soldiers that converted didn’t exit. They continued on and became martyrs for the Faith. Who is better suited to be martyred than a soldier?

    1. There was a certain soldier who converted to Christianity, and for a time, he was content to serve out his time in what was essentially a military police role. Years passed, and war broke out. On the eve of a battle, the Emperor offered all the troops a bonus, but he refused. The Emperor called him a coward for wanting out right before a battle, to which he replied, “I won’t take your bonus and I won’t kill for you, but just to prove to you I’m no coward, I will go to the front lines unarmed.” But God saw to it that that was not necessary, for that very day the enemy asked for terms of peace.

  11. Just to clarify matters- I am all for individuals being empowered to acknowledge that they have same sex attraction- homosexual inclinations- what I oppose is not the honesty, but the push that comes next in our current spirit of the age being imposed upon our troops. The push that not only is it ok to be public and honest about being homosexually-inclined, but that being actively homosexual in the direct experiential sense is more than just fine and dandy, but worthy of the same consideration as traditional marriage and heterosexual relationships. To make that happen there has to be a lot of top-down power moves to get traditional Christians in the military to conform or else. It goes against mere tolerance and allowance for Christians to be empowered to help these same sex attracted troops to cope with this and live celibate lives- in fact that sort of thing I’m sure is forbidden, it would be considered by the military- as harassment of a religious kind. The last thing I would like to see is bullying and physical abuse of those with homosexual inclinations- but that does not cause me to embrace the opposite extreme of forcing everyone to just say nothing as homosexual couples harm themselves and society by pursuing an open sexual relationship.
    The other point of clarification is that my concern for the Christian communities in the Middle East are my sole concern in terms of our military engagements. I am concerned for these communities because – first they are brother communities, I have more natural affinity for those preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Secondly, I believe that these communities of Christians represent the best hope for the future of the Middle Eastern communities in general. A thriving Christian presence will help the individual Muslim, similar to how Christian presence in society helps non-Christians in a myriad of ways. It isn’t that I don’t care about the Muslims, the civilians caught in the cross fire of military campaigns involving our military- I’m putting aside the specifics of which campaigns may be just or unjust and focusing on the fact that in all cases it seems that the Christian communities are not being protected, and certainly not being nurtured by American military and diplomatic operations. As such, I don’t see how a Christian would want to be part of a military that does not have Christian interests on the radar. If enough Christians bail out of the military, that witness and that effect could cause a radical re-thinking of American moral and strategic priorities.

  12. It may be that we need take no action. Christians will become manifestly unwelcome in the near future.

  13. Francis, did you convert after the Vatican II Council? You’ve
    joined a new religion with barely a resemblance to the Roman Catholic Church, the Church Christ instituted. It is
    imperative that you get to know your mentor and his history. For instance, see these headlines:

    “Cardinal” Bergoglio honored liberal, pro-homosexual
    Jewish Rabbi Abraham Skorka, co-authored book with him

    In Argentina, “Cardinal” Bergoglio Endorsed Homosexual Civil Unions

    At Francis’ Inauguration “Mass” on 3/19/13, United
    States Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both public pro-abortion apostates, received “Holy Communion”

    Why do so many protestant converts who have no theological education and do not go back in Church history desire to teach the “People of God”? They do a great disservice not only to
    themselves but to the world. It is imperative, Francis, that you find a credible priest or bishop before you continue your endeavors, I beg of you!

    1. So the gates of hell have prevailed? I guess you have gone Protestant yourself. Maybe you should go beyond the “headlines” and get the truth.

    2. I didn’t become Catholic to become a protestant again. Disobedience to the Pope and Magisterium is to be a protestant in ultra-Catholic vestments. I’d seriously reconsider that route if I were you.

    3. Have you ever wondered at the strong and emotional
      animosity that the modern hierarchy of the Church of Vatican II manifests toward traditional Catholicism?

      In this ecumenical age, when the modern hierarchy “bends over backwards” to seek a false unity amongst all religions (Christian and non-Christian alike), all are lovingly received and recognized.
      Isn’t it ironic to you that any and all religions are accepted by the Church of Vatican II as long as they are not traditional Roman Catholics?
      FACT: Catholicism is not defined by the possession of church buildings. The credibility of the Catholic Church exists in Christ’s flock of Traditional Catholics who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as they have been handed down through the centuries. The Catholic Faith lives as promised. In the Traditional Catholic liturgy the priest faces the crucifix and the tabernacle, not the congregation. The prominent place is given to Christ in the tabernacle, not to the chair of the presider. The Mystical Body of Christ kneel in humble silence before the tabernacle. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the true worship and form of the Apostolic Faith.

  14. Pingback: Creating A Facebook Campaign - Big Pulpit

  15. Pingback: Time for Christians to Exit the Military - CATHOLIC FEAST - Sync your Soul

  16. By De-Christianizing I would define it as taking perfectly good Christians and subjecting them to conformity pressures to let go of some important Christian beliefs like those regarding sexuality, marriage, and to consider the condition of the global Christian community as not part of American “interests”.
    The fact is that the military environment is intensely hierarchical and when your superiors want to “proactively educate” the young troops into embracing open homosexuality without comment or the freedom to verbally witness the Gospel in a non-threatening- that is where we as believing Christians should draw the line and begin advising sons, daughters, and anyone who seeks our counsel, to avoid being put into that intense Christian-contrary environment.
    In addition, if we have a foreign policy that disregards the status of Christian communities, we are really setting up a long-term disaster for the countries we are claiming to be helping. If the Catholic Church did indeed save Western Civilization, then what the heck are we doing undermining the fragile Christian presence in the Middle East in particular? We can put down genocides without leaving the Christian communities hanging out to dry- but we are hanging the Christian communities out to dry- overseas and here at home. Enough is enough- as long as we play along, we will continue to get played. I don’t want my sons or daughters to become Obama’s play things. If we don’t start bailing out of the military Obama will continue to be able to claim that his radical anti-Christian agenda is acceptable to the American masses- the proof is always in the pudding, the blowhards can blow all they want on their little blogs, but if we don’t change the dynamics on the ground our tough criticisms will not matter at all.

    1. I do not believe for a minute that top leaders will be “embracing open homosexuality”. That will just never happen, and to think so is selling the leadership short. Yes, the military is hierarchical, as it must be, that does not mean that President Obama’s notions will be instilled in the grunt on the ground. I have to wonder if “Francis” has ever been in the military. (Sorry if this last comes across as ad hominem because that’s not my intention.)

  17. The studies were not accurate– I know, I round-filed ours because the ones for my husband and I came from the Obama administration, with all our identifying information printed right on the survey, with an assurance that it would of COURSE never be used against us. (I responded to the results quite differently http://foxfier.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/im-amazed-the-results-were-so-high/ )

    “Nice shop you got here, shame if anything happened to it. Of course, I’m only making that observation to reassure you. About that fire insurance….

    They may as well have written “respond wrong and your career is over” in five inch high letters.

    That said, the proper response to something being perverted is not to throw up our hands and run away.

    Yes, Obama and his sort wish to remove orthodox Christianity from the public square– why on earth should we HELP him?

    I would suggest that the Crisis article you link is more about what the author expected to find than what is happening– the “Defense Department materials classifying Catholics and Evangelicals as extremists on par with jihadists” was ONE reservist making ONE presentation with information from the SPLC– if the author had bothered to do some research, he would have found out that someone making painfully ignorant claims in a PC presentation is not unusual. Heaven knows that I was odd for actually researching carefully when I was ordered to write training materials.

    The idea that we should build our foreign policy not around preventing genocide, or attacks on our country, or even terrorism but what MIGHT work out well for Christian populations in other countries is rather horrific. Are Muslim girls being raped and murdered by dictators less worthy of Christian consideration? How, exactly would America scolding them make Islamic extremists less likely to horrifically target Christian communities?

  18. “De-Christianizing our soldiers”….never realized we had a Christian army. How about simply protecting the civil rights of all Americans? Militant Muslims kill gays…we don’t want to be like ’em?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.