Religion in Military intelligence

An NPR piece on the increasing conservative Christian influence over U.S. politics and the U.S. military. There is similar religious influence at the National Security Agency. Military intelligence is influenced by this kind of thing. The U.S. is a scary country.

 

 NPR interview with C street author

 

"...there is a very significant movement within [the military] which sees the military as a Christian institution. They see themselves as Christian warriors. They see themselves as responsible for protecting and defending America's tradition as a Christian nation and representing that overseas."  The U.S. military as a Christian institution has been true for some time, for instance the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy has roots in the beliefs espoused by organized religion in the U.S.  Right wing Christians tend to be very opposed to a large federal government but very supportive of military spending which is at least 25% of the federal budget, this self contradiction is explained by the fact that the U.S. military is essentially a christian organization.  Another 49% of the federal budget is taken up by medicare, medicaid, social security and to finance interest on the national debt, not much left for all those hedonist organizations the Christians hate.  Also see the aliance between conservative christian groups and Israel.

U.S. defense budget

 

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and numerous other DOD contractors working in the Middle East views himself as a christian crusader.  According to Jeremy Scahill author of the bestselling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army "We can look at documents submitted in federal court cases from Prince’s own former employees, who say that he is—he views himself as a Christian crusader whose role in the world is wiping out Muslims and Islam in general."  Clearly the powers that be in the U.S. military who determine funding in defense contracts sympathize with this mentality.

 

Interview of Jeremy Scahill 

 Democracy Now on Christianity in the U.S. military

 

Note also the 2003 University of Minnesota study that finds atheists are the least trusted group in the U.S.  "atheists rank below several other minority groups, including immigrants, gays and lesbians, conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims, as 'least likely to share everyday Americans' vision of society.'"