corrente

One of the interesting articles in this week's Harpers (reward good behavior by buying one) is "Soldiers for Christ." It's all about America's most powerful megachurch, New Life Church, and its Dear Leader, "Pastor Ted," who are located i Colorado Springs.

In Colorado Springs, near the Air Force Academy.

Why? Because they wanted to recruit there. And by their fruits shall ye know them:

The Air Force Academy, still recovering from rape and sexual harassment scandals, now is facing charges that some Christian cadets have bullied and berated Jews and students of other religious backgrounds.

The school's leader [!], Commandant Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, describes himself as born again.

Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate and lawyer in Albuquerque, N.M., said his son, Curtis - who is in his second year at the academy - had been called a "filthy Jew."

"When I was at the academy, there wasn't this institutional notion that if you didn't accept Christ you would burn eternally in hell," [Weinstein] said. "I want the generals to come out and say, 'Yes, we have a systemic problem, and we are working to fix it.' "

Air Force officials said they first got an inkling of a problem after reading the results of a student survey last May.

Many cadets expressed concern over religious respect and a lack of tolerance.

Then, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's film about the crucifixion, was released.

Hundreds of small movie posters were pinned up in the academy dining hall advertising the movie. Cadets did mass e-mailings urging people to go see it.

Yesterday, Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family, denounced any acts of bigotry, but said it is Christians who are facing discrimination.
(via Baltimore Sun)

The only way these loons won't whine about being discriminated against is when everyone in the world is exactly like them—because everyone who isn't has been stoned to death, in approved Old Testament fashion.

And needless to say, Weinstein is right: SIC bigotry is an institutional problem in Colorado Springs:

An Air Force Academy chaplain urged cadets during basic training last year to warn fellow cadets that those not “born again will burn in the fires of hell,” according to a Yale University Divinity School report.

The same chaplain corps that Yale criticized for undermining religious tolerance is responsible for carrying out new training to engender religious tolerance.

Efforts to address the academy’s religious culture comes on the heels of the sexual assault scandal, which emerged in 2003 when female cadets alleged the academy mishandled their sexual assault reports.
(via Colorado Gazette)

Bigotry, rape, bullying under the cover of "sharing" their "faith"—that's what happens when you give SICs dominion.

Needless to say, Colorado Springs is also the headquarters of James Dobson's dominionist apparatus, Focus on the Family ("Focus on your own damn family!") Naturally, they've targetted Ken Salazar, who has this to say about the SICs:

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar lashed out at Focus on the Family Thursday, saying the group is using "un-Christian" political tactics in the fight over White House judicial appointments.

Salazar defended Democrats' right to filibuster objectionable nominees and blasted the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based evangelical Christian group for recent ads urging him to "STOP the nonsense."

"I do think that what has happened here is there has been a hijacking of the U.S. Senate by what I call the religious right wing of the country," Salazar told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday.

He singled out Focus on the Family by name, objecting to full-page newspaper ads the ministry's political arm recently placed, targeting 20 senators in 15 states.

"I think what has happened is Focus on the Family has been hijacking Christianity and become an appendage of the Republican Party," Salazar said in an interview. "I think it's using Christianity and religion in a very unprincipled way."
(via Scripps Howard)

After reading that, I thought I was coming close to forgiving Salazar for Alberto "Torture Memos" Gonzales. But then I read to the end of the article:

If Republicans back down from the proposed rule changes, Salazar and Lieberman said they would consider voting to approve some of the seven most controversial nominees whose nominations have been stalled.

Oh, man. Ken, Ken, Ken.

You can't beat the dominionists by going down on your knees! If you try to give them a knob job, it only annoys them! Look at Max Cleland (done in by Ralph Reed, BTW).

You've already called them theocrats—which of their judges do you want to vote in? The ones who want to abolish the New Deal, or the ones who claim the Constitution is biblically based?