In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.

Take, for instance, the recent scandal involving Christian Embassy, a group whose expressed purpose is to proselytize to military personnel, diplomats, Capitol Hill staffers and political appointees. In a shocking breach of security, Defense Department officials allowed a Christian Embassy film crew to roam the corridors of the Pentagon
unescorted while making a promotional video featuring high-ranking o...

In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.

Take, for instance, the recent scandal involving Christian Embassy, a group whose expressed purpose is to proselytize to military personnel, diplomats, Capitol Hill staffers and political appointees. In a shocking breach of security, Defense Department officials allowed a Christian Embassy film crew to roam the corridors of the Pentagon
unescorted while making a promotional video featuring high-ranking officers and political appointees. (Christian Embassy, which holds prayer meetings weekly at the Pentagon, is so entrenched that Air Force Maj. Gen. John J. Catton Jr. said he'd assumed the organization was a "quasi-federal entity.")

The Pentagon's inspector general recently released a report recommending unspecified "corrective action" for those officers who appeared in the video for violating Defense Department regulations. But, in a telling gesture, the report avoided any discussion of how allowing an evangelical group to function within the Defense Department is an obvious violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.

The extent to which such relationships have damaged international goodwill toward the U.S. is beyond measure. As the inspector general noted, a leading Turkish newspaper, Sabah, published an article on Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, who is the U.S. liaison to the Turkish military -- and who appeared in the Christian Embassy video. The article described Christian Embassy as a "radical fundamentalist sect," perhaps irreparably damaging Sutton's primary job objective of building closer ties to the Turkish General Staff, which has expressed alarm at the influence of fundamentalist Christian groups inside the U.S. military.

Our military personnel s

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.

That certainly was the case with Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence. The Pentagon put him in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in 2003. The same year, Boykin was found to be touring American churches, where he gave speeches -- in uniform -- casting the Iraq war in end-times terms. "We're in is a spiritual battle," he told one congregation in Oregon. "Satan wants...

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.

That certainly was the case with Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence. The Pentagon put him in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in 2003. The same year, Boykin was found to be touring American churches, where he gave speeches -- in uniform -- casting the Iraq war in end-times terms. "We're in is a spiritual battle," he told one congregation in Oregon. "Satan wants to destroy this nation . . . and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army." The story wound up in newspapers, magazines and on "60 Minutes." And, of course, it was reported all over the Muslim world. The Pentagon reacted with a collective shrug.

American military and political officials must, at the very least, have the foresight not to promote crusade rhetoric in the midst of an already religion-tinged war. Many of our enemies in the Mideast already believe that the world is locked in a contest between Christianity and Islam. Why are our military officials validating this ludicrous claim with their own fiery religious rhetoric?

It's time to actively strip the so-called war on terror of its religious connotations, not add to them. Because religious wars are not just ugly, they are unwinnable. And despite what Operation Straight Up and its supporters in the Pentagon may think is taking place in Iraq, the Rapture is not a viable exit strategy.

Michael L. Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote "With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military." Reza Aslan, author of "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," is on the MRFF advisory board.

Maybe the difference is that we leave TOO MUCH of the religious alone. If pointing out the evil done by people in the name of religion is your "calling" right now,why not try to do it more equitably.There is so much evil being perpetrated as direct result of some religion's dogma and practice. They involve murder, rape, disfiguring,assault,etc. and are more rampant and harmful than idiots who fail to measure up to their own standards or criminals and abusers who would be doing the same thing even if they were not religious. Sure they're worthy of mention but how is it they rise above the most brutal and truly religiously spawned behavior? Often we are afraid to criticize a certain religion ...

Maybe the difference is that we leave TOO MUCH of the religious alone. If pointing out the evil done by people in the name of religion is your "calling" right now,why not try to do it more equitably.There is so much evil being perpetrated as direct result of some religion's dogma and practice. They involve murder, rape, disfiguring,assault,etc. and are more rampant and harmful than idiots who fail to measure up to their own standards or criminals and abusers who would be doing the same thing even if they were not religious. Sure they're worthy of mention but how is it they rise above the most brutal and truly religiously spawned behavior? Often we are afraid to criticize a certain religion because to do so might draw their wrath upon us. Or criticizing other than Christianity or Judaism may put us out of favor with our "progressive" counterparts and that is too important to risk by balancing our critiques to include targets deemed untouchable -- no matter how evil.

Well, this is another example of the blind leading the blind.

While the freedom of religion is an important point, a more immediate concern....LIVING is at issue here. These poor, deluded "souls" would have put our soldiers at risk had they been captured with these materials ...TRANSLATED INTO ARABIC.

I do not want to give these Pentagon "souls" more critical thinking skills than they deserve. I don't think they were trying to use OSU to train martyrs to go STRAIGHT UP TO HEAVEN. In my mind, I can imagine these Operation Straight Up planners, happy in the thoughts that our soldiers would proselytize in Arabic and the Iraqis would like it.

Frightening! Revolting! I don't know much, but ...

Well, this is another example of the blind leading the blind.

While the freedom of religion is an important point, a more immediate concern....LIVING is at issue here. These poor, deluded "souls" would have put our soldiers at risk had they been captured with these materials ...TRANSLATED INTO ARABIC.

I do not want to give these Pentagon "souls" more critical thinking skills than they deserve. I don't think they were trying to use OSU to train martyrs to go STRAIGHT UP TO HEAVEN. In my mind, I can imagine these Operation Straight Up planners, happy in the thoughts that our soldiers would proselytize in Arabic and the Iraqis would like it.

Frightening! Revolting! I don't know much, but I do know that some Islamists routinely kill those they believe are proselytizers. Most recently, just think about the Koreans in Afghanistan. It would seem to me that finding an Arabic version of Christian dogma could be enough to prove the soldier was proselytizing.

Did these Pentagon planners come from the Air Force Academy?