Believe it or not, the Pentagon came close last week to sending out a video game that rewards gamers "for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian."
You know the one, last winter's "Left Behind: Eternal Forces." The one that endorses a theology that believes Jews and other non-Christians must convert or be killed. The one in which the "good guys" are a Christian coalition fighting against the "bad guys" (a UN-like peace-keeping group). The game condemned by the ADL, the Christian Alliance for Progress, and others. The one you would probably not want your children to play.
Until last week, the Pentagon was all set to distribute this game, along with bibles and proselytizing material in English and Arabic in the guise of "freedom packages" to American soldiers in Iraq. Thanks to interference from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon has suddenly changed its mind about shipping these packages.
The fundamentalist Christian ministry, Operation Straight Up (OSU), an official member of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program, created these care packages. And the Pentagon was supporting it.
Freedom of religion? Not in this country. Instead, the Defense Department supports an organization that has no problem ignoring the first amendment to our Constitution.
An editorial in yesterday's L.A. Times criticized the DoD's refusal to separate Church and State issues:
Our military personnel swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the Bible. Yet by turning a blind eye to OSU and Christian Embassy activities, the Pentagon is, in essence, endorsing their proselytizing. And sometimes it's more explicit than that.
The Pentagon has been accused of making proselytization an official aspect of DoD "outreach", thereby beginning to make conversion to Christianity essential for American soldiers.
What is it about this right-wing fundamentalist group that makes the Pentagon think it can totally disregard Constitutionally-mandated American liberties or thinks it appropriate to promote a game that glorifies the killing of non-Christians??
That is absolutely ridiculous. It's pretty sick how openly biased the government is to Christianity. I'm not Jewish, but that's still offensive.
Posted by: Video Game Survey Guy | August 23, 2007 at 06:11 PM
Fits in with the discrimination within the military as a whole that has been encouraged rather than checked since the idiot stole the White House. We need to be alert as he wants Armageddon.
Posted by: eneri | October 13, 2007 at 10:43 AM