Crusade

A disturbing trend has come to light from several sources. That trend is the influence Christian Evangelicals are having on the U.S. Military. This article from Harper's magazine shows in pretty stark detail the level of the evangelical infiltration in the U.S. Military. Further reading can be found here from the Baltimore Chronicle. Leaving aside that it is basically unfair and unconstitutional to favor one groups religious views over another in the military, it's also jeopardizing the military mission overseas. Convincing Muslims that we are really on a religious crusade plays right into the hands of recruiters in radical Islamic Groups.
Do Evangelicals really have that much influence? By many accounts they do. Soldiers are told about the importance of Christ from the moment they enter basic training in some cases. The Freedom From Religion Foundation keeps a great record of violations by military officials. Read here for an example of evangelicals breaking the rules on sectarian prayer. Quoting from an account from a soldier:

"Early that morning, a unit from the 109th National Guard Infantry dropped off their morning chow. With it came a holiday special—a video of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and a chaplain to sing the film’s praises, a gory cinematic sermon for an Easter at war. Humphrey ducked into the chow room to check it out. “It was the part where they’re killing Jesus, which is, I guess, pretty much the whole movie. Kind of turned my stomach.” He decided he’d rather burn trash."

Are they really jeopardizing the mission? This excellent article by Chris Rodda makes a good case. How could placing "Jesus killed Mohammed" in Arabic on the side of military equipment not be seen as an incitement to extremism? Could there be any better recruiting tool?

What can be done? I suggest finding a activist group that you can support. An excellent one is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. You can lend your support here.