Lubbock Left

Yahoo News has a story about an athiest soldier who alleges he was denied a promotion based on religion. Spc. Jeremy Hall wanted to hold a meeting between athiest and Christian soldiers in his MP unit.

According to the lawsuit, Hall was counseled by his platoon sergeant after being informed that his promotion was blocked. He says the sergeant explained that Hall would be “unable to put aside his personal convictions and pray with his troops” and would have trouble bonding with them if promoted to a leadership position.

Hall responded that religion is not a requirement of leadership, even though the sergeant wondered how he had rights if atheism wasn’t a religion. Hall said atheism is protected under the Army’s chaplain’s manual.

“It shouldn’t matter if one is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist,” said Pedro Irigonegaray, an attorney whose firm filed the lawsuit. “In the military, all are equal and to be considered equal.”

I am interested to see what becomes of this lawsuit. The armed forces and constitutional rights don’t always get along with each other.

Our military is not a Christian organization. But, like many of our institutions in the US, Christians seem to think they run the show. This is one of those silent assumptions that must be challenged publicly.

Happy Solstice Everyone

In what could produce ripples through the national educational system, voters in Maine have ousted over 2,000 years of educational doctrine. In a vote of no-confidence, locals have voted out the Druid majority from local school boards. In an overwhelming vote, the communities of Samhain and Cuithe have decided that the time has come to end the Druidian stronghold over their communities.

These communities as well as others scattered across the northeastern seaboard have seen a rapid decrease in Druidian representation. Starting with the defeat of 237 time elected mayor Gaelen the Round of Bath, the Druidian influence has taken a dramatic downturn. “We were simply looking for a different, more enlightened approach to education” said Pierre DeMarco, head of the Samhain Parent Teacher Association.

Under the Druidian school system, students were forced to learn topics like metallurgy, herpetology, stonemasonry and astrology. Senior Douglas Young believed the Druid curriculum was a valuable addition to his core classes. “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like we killed dogs or anything.” The use of canines for incantations was replaced by felines in the late 1720’s.

The news could not have come at a worse time for the Druid community. “We’re all pretty tired from the Solstice Ceremony and concert and then we get this news. Everyone is a bit disoriented by these turn of events”, said Nigel Tufnel, founder of the band Spinal Tap and Northern 35th Level Druid. When asked about the future for the Druids in Maine education, Tufnel added, “We’ll just have to see how the bones fall but we are not ruling out litigation.”

Disclaimer: From time to time I enjoy writing from a more whimsical perspective. The following is for your entertainment. In no way is this an attack on Microsoft.

The latest salvo has been fired in the culture wars, this time by James Dobson. The founder and chairman of the board for Focus on the Family has announced the latest initiative set forth by his Christian based organization. On his daily radio talk show, Dobson encouraged his listeners to boycott the letter “X” until the American public “fully appreciates the power of the Christian community.”

The controversy surrounds the unwillingness by Microsoft the replace the “X” on it’s popular video game console Xbox with what Dobson believes should be “Christ”. Dobson stated on his nationally syndicated radio program that, “everyone knows this is just another attack on the Christians of this land. If Microsoft will not put Christ back in Xbox, then we will have to take the X away from them!”

The plan calls for a national referendum on replacing the letter “X” with the word “Christ” with a potential Constitutional Amendment on the horizon. “Unless the good Christians of this land stand up for their rights, they will eventually erode away. We must take our stand on this issue now before the liberals destroy any more of our way of life” Dobson concluded on Thursday.

An expansion on the basic plan will call for the boycott of “eXtra” gum and “EXTRA”, the entertainment TV program. Some are concerned with what this will mean in the long run. “When my kids wander into a “Christ, Christ, Christ” video store, they may be exposed to material that is less that Godly” stated Bill Parrish, head of Children First, a child advocacy program at the University of Notre Dame.

I was checking out BoingBoing today and came across Revolution in Jesusland, a blog about emerging progressive evangelical movements. It’s pretty amazing to behold, and it turns out that I know the guy running the blog.

Here’s a sample of a speaker at an 11,000+ evangelical conference:

With governments that kill…
…we will not comply.

With the theology of empire…
…we will not comply.

With the business of militarism…
…we will not comply.

With the hoarding of riches
…we will not comply.

With the dissemination of fear
…we will not comply.

But today we pledge our allegiance to the kingdom of God…
…we pledge allegiance.

To the peace that is not like Rome’s…
…we pledge allegiance.

To the Gospel of enemy love
…we pledge allegiance.

To the poor and the broken…
…we pledge allegiance.

It feels great to see progressive born-again Christians once again fighting for progressive goals.

Last night, Lubbock Democracy for America hosted a public screening of Jesus Camp. This is a very important film, and it is difficult to watch. My heart goes out to the kids in the film and others like them who are being broken down and indoctrinated with cultish ideals all over America.

This film describes a phenomenon that I have seen many times here in Lubbock. I have been approached in the mall by trained children (with teenage minders waiting several yards away) asking me if I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior and if they could pray for me. As a kid, I remember friends who would go away in the summer to church camp and come back… different. I really wonder if the parents that send their kids to these camps know exactly what happens there. I imagine some do and some don’t.

Watch the trailer and see for yourself what can happen at Jesus Camp.