Whether or not evangelization during work hours is a good idea, ending it because of concern about what “the jihadists, the insurrectionists, everybody from the head of Hamas, Hizballah, the Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade” are saying is outstandingly wrongheaded. They’re going to call American forces “American imperialists and crusaders” no matter what goes on or does not go on in the Pentagon; and while they may have made use of this evangelization activity in propaganda efforts if they had found out about it (and now they have, of course), the ending of it will not make them think, “Oh, I guess the Americans aren’t Crusaders after all.” It will just reinforce the impression that Bill Clinton gave to Osama bin Laden in Somalia in the 1990s: that we aren’t willing to stand up and fight for who we are.
By Nathan Burchfiel for CNSNews.com, with thanks to Cindy:
(CNSNews.com) – Christian military officers who share their faith at work in the Pentagon pose a threat to national security, according to a group that advocates for religious neutrality in the military.
Public displays of faith by high-ranking military officers project an image of a Christian nation waging war on non-Christians, both inside and outside the United States, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation said Monday.
This created an “internal national security issue every bit as great as the one we’re fighting outwardly,” said the organization’s president, Mikey Weinstein.
“The jihadists, the insurrectionists, everybody from the head of Hamas, Hizballah, the Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, they see us as invading American imperialists and crusaders,” he told a news conference in Washington, D.C.