The book in question is my Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). The only problem is that it’s not a fundamentalist Christian book: I am not a fundamentalist Christian, and the book does not proselytize. Also, those who dismiss and denigrate it have yet to establish even one falsehood within it. Those who wish to try are welcome to write to me at director@jihadwatch.org: if your message makes a substantive claim of inaccuracy in the book I will post it and answer it publicly.
Moreover, the idea that a book being offered for sale indicates pressure to adopt a certain point of view ought to be absurd on its face. If the book were taught, endorsed, pushed by military brass, that might be — might be — evidence of such pressure. But the sale of a popular book that spent four months on the New York Times Bestseller List? That doesn’t seem to me to be anything more than evidence that the bookseller wants to stock books that people want to read.
“Group claims evidence of religion bias by Army,” by John Milburn for The Associated Press (thanks to Lee):
TOPEKA, Kan. “” A foundation that has sued the military alleging widespread violations of religious freedom said Tuesday that it has evidence showing that soldiers are pressured to adopt fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
The photos and videos of religious materials and activities are part of a lawsuit filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, an atheist, against Maj. Freddy J. Welborn and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The material was gathered from Fort Riley, Kan., the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fort Jackson, S.C.
Examples at Fort Riley, where Hall is stationed, included a display outside his military police battalion’s office with a quote from conservative writer Ann Coulter saying, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Another photo from Fort Riley shows the book “A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam” for sale at the post exchange.
“This astonishing and saddening evidence which our foundation is making public today only further buttress our lawsuit,” said Mikey Weinstein, an attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., and president of the foundation, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1977.
Fort Riley spokesman Maj. Nathan Bond said the matter was being referred to post commanders for investigation. He said it is the Army”s policy to accommodate all religious beliefs to the extent that they don’t conflict with military missions.
“We do take this seriously,” he said. If they are true, he added, they “do not seem in line with the Army values of respect.”
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., in September alleges that Welborn threatened to file military charges against Hall and to block his re-enlistment for trying to hold a meeting of atheists and non-Christians in Iraq.