For Immediate Release: March 4, 2013

Contact: Paul Fidalgo, Communications Director

press@centerforinquiry.org - (207) 358-9785

New Report Details How Military Leaders Overtly Promote Evangelical Christianity

Christian fundamentalism is on the rise within the United States Armed Forces, a trend evidenced by the explicitly sectarian behavior of senior military leaders. This is the conclusion of an important new report from the Center for Inquiry on the influence of religion in the U.S. military.

The report, authored by James E. Parco, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and former member of the National Security Council under President Clinton, illustrates how a fundamentalist brand of Christianity has infused with American military culture. Parco details how commanders use the power of their positions to evangelize and force a narrow sectarian view on U.S. military institutions and service members – and all in broad daylight, with little to no accountability.

The report, “For God and Country,” can be viewed here.

“Commanders continue to find creative ways to promote their religious beliefs and make the act seem official,” writes Parco. “It is not, and they must stop pretending it is.”

The report offers a set of policy recommendations to begin to correct these constitutional violations, restore the secular character of the U.S. military, and maintain it as an institution free from the dominance of any particular faith or dogma.

Findings covered in the report include:

· Institutional support for fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity in the military has spread and entrenched since the attacks of 9/11