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"Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system"-Dorothy Day

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"Starting in 1987, Protestant denominations were lumped together simply as "Protestant"; moreover, the Pentagon began accrediting hundreds of evangelical and Pentecostal "endorsing agencies," allowing graduates of fundamentalist Bible colleges--which often train clergy to view those from other faiths as enemies of Christ--to fill up nearly the entire allotment for Protestant chaplains. Today, more than two thirds of the military's 2,900 active-duty chaplains are affiliated with evangelical or Pentecostal denominations." [1]

"For decades, the military built a sense of solidarity out of a singular purpose, the Cold War struggle between free markets and state-planned economies--the shining city on a hill versus the evil empire"meshed neatly with ideologies [that connected] nationalism and fundamentalism"Communism"the dark alternative should we fail to unite. Fundamentalism thrived"a neat, black-and-white [theology and] a foreign policy. The end of the Cold War deprived militant evangelicals of that clarity [and] the emergence of "radical Islam" [became] the object of a new Cold War." [Ibid]

The roots of American evangelism sprang from the original altar call for Christians to stand up against slavery. What has been passing for Christianity in our military today is the antithesis of what Jesus was all about.

"Everyone but Christians understands that Jesus was nonviolent."-Gandhi

Clement, Tertillian, Polycarp and every other early Church Father taught that violence was a contradiction of what Christ was about. The first and greatest heresy in the Christian faith occurred in the third century when Augustine penned the "Just War Theory" for church and state united and "our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system."-Dorothy Day

One of the greatest Christian spiritual leaders of all time, Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk that listened to Bob Dylan LP's in his hermitage in Kentucky during the '60's was the first religious voice to rise up and speak out against the Vietnam War.

Merton also said, "The duty of the Christian at this time is to do the one task God has imposed upon us in this world today. The task is to work for the total abolition of war. There can be no question that unless war is abolished; the world will remain constantly in a state of madness. The church [meaning all Christians] must lead the way on the road to the abolition of war"Peace is to be preached and nonviolence is to be explained and practiced."


The deep spiritual darkness of Christian fundamentalism in the USA Air Force Academy in Colorado enabled the likes of Walid Shoebat, author of "Why We Want to Kill You" to speak to the troops in his role as a former fundamentalist Islamic supposed terrorist who is now a converted fundamentalist Christian.

Shoebat is one of the infamous darlings of fear filled Christians and Jews [Read More: The Walid Shoebat Show and "America is Beautiful, but she has an ugly side." - Neil Young ]of the cult spewed by the likes of John Hagee and the idiot wind blown by FOX's Hannity & Colmes, Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto who have all hosted Shoebat as did the US Air Force Academy on Feb. 6, 2008 when he was the headline act at their annual political forum.

Walid Shoebat, has built a lucrative speaking career by manipulating the fears and whipping up hatred between Jews and Muslims. Shoebat insists that Israel should "wake up and smell the Hummus. We must return to the status quo -- the occupation"Israel should stand strong and fight -- dismantle Hamas and take away all the weapons, the way it used to be. The introduction of weapons into Palestinian society by Israel [under the Oslo accords, Israel gave assault rifles to Arafat's "police force' -ed] was a disaster and they must be confiscated." [2]

Israel originally supported Hamas to be a wedge between Fatah when Arafat became too popular with the Palestinian people.

Shoebat feels very strongly that the ongoing war against Israel has nothing to do with an Arab desire for a Palestinian state, "Never in history was there a Palestinian state, we never wanted a Palestinian state -- even today the Palestinians do not want a Palestinian state"They want the destruction of the Jews, period. It's a religious holy war."[IBID]


"How can you kill people, when it is written in God's commandment: "Thou shall not murder'?"-- Leo Tolstoy

During his time at the Air Force Academy, Sharlet encounters fervent fundamentalist militant American soldiers who are most misinformed of their very own faith that they neglect for a Christian "our manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount, which means that we will try to be peacemakers." -Dorothy Day

There are currently thirty-five wars being fought and the USA is connected to every one of them.

Over forty-thousand people die every day of starvation.

Three billion humans endure dire destitution.

Over three hundred children have already been killed by unmanned drones under the Obama Administration.

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Eileen Fleming,is a Citizen of CONSCIENCE for US House of Representatives 2012 Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org Staff Member of Salem-news.com, A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" (more...)
 

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An Atheist perspective by Scott Baker on Monday, Sep 7, 2009 at 4:07:15 AM
A MYSTICS Perspective by Eileen Fleming on Monday, Sep 7, 2009 at 7:34:03 AM
a mystics perspective by Susan Lee on Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 at 1:40:27 PM
a mystics perspective by Susan Lee on Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 at 1:40:55 PM
How by Michael Dewey on Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:19:08 PM

 

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