What our troops are being handed to read before deployment...MUST read

[Danieljay]

The men eagerly received the books and carefully read them during times of waiting. The soldiers learned that their ultimate protection would not come from their guns or equipment, but from God.

A senior chaplain, Colonel McLeroy, stated, “The book about the power of crying out came at the right time and has been well received.” He notified other United States Army bases, and additional requests for books are being received. Fort Polk asked for 5,000 books; Fort Bragg ordered an initial quantity of 600; and the chaplains at Fort Riley in Kansas ordered 900 books.

The most important cry explained in the book is for salvation and then for God’s protection during times of danger and uncertainty.


http://www.iblp.org/iblp/news/2003/04/001/

Link to the first chapter
http://iblp.org/media/products/pocom/pocom.pdf?show=true

Opinions anyone?

[expatriot]

1. OMFG!

It would be bad if it was just generic "prayer" and "spirituality" and "faith" and "god" but the excerpt makes it perfectly clear it is talking Bible, Jesus, Fundies, and I love how it starts out with the September 11th attacks. Jesus.

[Karenina]

29. Jesus say, Whoomp, upside yo haid!

[beam me up scottie]

32. BWA!!!

:spray:
:rofl:
Where did you get that?

[Karenina]

62. Da chilluns done got dey ol' Tante

up-to-speed on image posting AND html codes, bless dey little patient hand-holding hearts!!!! I got shit in the cyber-cellar up the ying-yang!

[beam me up scottie]

63. I can't wait to see what

else you come up with!

ps don't forget to drop by our new group !
it's a smashing success !

[Imagevision]

47. I'll bet they would have preferred the right body armor...

[Deep13]

2. God, huh?

How many divisions does he have?

[Clark2008]

69. Last I heard, He had the Arch-Angels

and... when Michael gets pissed off, ain't NOBODY gonna win but him.

[Spinzonner]

3. Just what the world needs ...

The 'New Crusades'

As if the old ones weren't bad enough.

[Misunderestimator]

4. Onward Christians Soldiers....

Marching as to war.

[Bozita]

5. endorsed by Pat Boone? ... Are these my tax dollars at work?

[Wickerman]

6. The publisher knows how to get what he wants from the govt.

http://www.nuggetnews.com/archives/20001011/front5.shtml

Don Jacobson, the head of the 114-employee Christian publishing house headquartered in Sisters, has petitioned the city council at its last two meetings for help in acquiring a parcel of Forest Service land alongside the proposed road site.

If the company succeeded in acquiring the 20-acre parcel, the planned road would, in the words of City Planner Neil Thompson, "...be in their (Multnomah's) front yard."

The ODOT-funded road project could, in fact, save Multnomah a considerable sum of money.

Thompson said that, customarily, "If you're the first (developer) out of the box and creating a demand...you're responsible for putting in the road and (responsible) for the cost."

[elehhhhna]

7. O.M.G. 1st chapter-- If you SCREAM REAL LOUD Jesus PAYS ATTENTION BETTER

[PunkPop]

8. Sick

Kind of familiar though...


An Arab fighter in Falluja, reading the Koran, his holy book, waiting for the fighting to begin.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Oh, Lord. Well I believe that people should have spiritual sustenance. As

long as folks aren't having it shoved down their throats I guess it's.. okay.

Still, you would hope the Chaplain would have more variety of reading materials on hand to encompass a larger circle of beliefs.

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. See my post 11 below.

They ARE getting a specific religion shoved down their throats. It's Evangelical. The chaplin that was fired is Catholic.

[Modem Butterfly]

10. Religion has always taken advantage of fear and stress

Fucking disgusting.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Air Force Academy has over 50 complaints

They've been taken over by fundamental evangelicals there and the complaints are flying. The #2 chaplin, a woman, was fired after she spoke out about religious intolerance. I saw a show about it a week or two ago (don't remember which news show it was though).

Here's an article about it:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/relintolafa.htm

It was the same night that I heard a soundbyte teaser for the next segment of what I had on...it was showing Gen. Abizaid saying, "They're doing God's work." My jaw dropped.

[NAO]

13. "Cry out to God in Loud Voice"? Haven't they heard the shouts of "Allah"

OMG, this is the DUMBEST thing I have seen recently.

Praying to God as you go into battle against another very religious people makes about as much sense as people praying to God at sporting events. Both teams pray that God will help them play their best, and help them achieve victory "to His Glory".

It never occurs to each team that the other team is also praying to God for victory.

And if there is anything to this "crying out with a loud voice" business, don't people realize that the Iraqis have been crying out to God over the loss of their children, their parents, their homes, their businesses, their spouses, everything they have lost since the bombing started? And now they are calling out to God to help them expel the foreign occupiers, and they are calling out to God to avenge the deaths of their loved ones.

Do these people think that whoever cries out to God the loudest is the one that he listeners to?

[Wright Patman]

14. Bill Gothard is founder of IBLP

http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_bkreviews/bkrev_billgothard.htm

He reopened an abandoned campus of the old Worldwide Church of God near where I live and transformed it into a paramilitary training center called the ALERT Academy.

http://www.alertacademy.com/

These people are very disciplined and militaristic. All of the adults associated with ALERT homeschool their kids (not that there's anything wrong with that).

[Danieljay]

22. wow...check this out....

Character Training
Training in Godly character is organized into clusters, the chief cluster encompassing the area of compliance. The principle of authority is taught with a view to differentiating between obedience, submission, honor, and loyalty. ALERT provides a quality alternative to young men considering military service,

"as it imports the best features of the U.S. military while filtering out the humanistic and combative elements of today’s armed services"

Geez..its all the benefits of the Military without the risk!! We'll leave that for lower class grunts!

Within the context of compliance training, recruits master the elements of basic obedience (rote compliance motivated by consequences) and balance that with responsible boldness in learning appeal techniques. Moving on to the second level, submission is learned in light of phileo mutual trust. The third and highest level of compliance, honor, is imbued with the agape understanding that we die to self as we strive for the success of a God-appointed authority.

[notadmblnd]

70. OMG.. Gothard is my maiden name

My mother divorced my father when I was 6 mo old because she said he beat her and he skipped town to get out of child support. So I've never known my father, I wonder if we're related?

[LibDemAlways]

15. They have no money for body armor but

are spoonfeeding the troops pap like this? And the US taxpayers are footing the bill? Another day, another outrage.

[cap]

18. I'd sure as heck want to pray if I knew I wasnt

getting well supplied.

[northzax]

16. well Gee, the Big Guy's sure doing a great job

of protecting troops, isn't he?

[cap]

17. People should be able to get what religious texts that they want but

it should be at the request of the soldier; not as a blanket distribution.

[MadHound]

19. Another step along the path into brainwashing our soldiers,

And having them turn out to be Christian Crusaders.

This kind of act is both despicable and quite scary. Not only does it send the wrong message, that we are engaged in a new set of Crusades, but it is the perfect sort of brainwashing that will come in handy when Bushco wants to turn the military loose on some domestic targests, maily us godless, heathen liberals.

[Eloriel]

20. What concerns me most, ASIDE from the First Amendment issues

which are pretty damned intense, is that while I'm not anti-religion (as some people here are), I am very well aware that there are versions of certain religions that encourage people NOT to think for themselves, and instead to be dependent on something perhaps called "God's will" which can very easily be supplanted by a lot of human voices, or perhaps more onerously, one human voice.

That is, of course, precisely what happened with some of our infamous cults over the last several decades. But it doesn't require a cult to do damage and take away or seriously erode someone's free will. And oh! the karma for doing that (interfering with or taking away another person's free will) is severe.

[Hobarticus]

21. There's no athiests in foxholes...

These young men and women are facing death. How they comfort themselves is none of my concern.

[pop goes the weasel]

26. that's a myth

The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers will be glad to correct the misunderstanding.

[Hobarticus]

39. Oh fer chrissakes...

The point of this WW2 saying is that everyone is going to seek some comfort somehow, in battle.

I never had any intent to slight our athiest servicemen and women, nor their overly sensitive supporters on DU.

:eyes:

[pop goes the weasel]

64. *sigh*

At the risk of offending you with my "over-sensitivity," it is an insult to call people over-sensitive when they tell you that you are spreading a falsehood. I was polite, and assumed that you were misinformed--not that you were attempting to be insulting, and directed you to a link that would provide information.

[BiggJawn]

27. You have proof of that?

What happens to the Atheists in the service? Do they not allow them into the foxholes? "You don't believe in GAWD??? Well! No foxhole for YOU!!!"

You can't actually BELIEVE that worn-out WWI-era truism , can you?

[Hobarticus]

40. Relax. n/t

Sheesh.

:eyes:

[BiggJawn]

60. No.

You're the one who crammed his foot in his mouth all the way to the scrotum, and *I'M* the one who needs to "relax"?

MY turn to say "Sheesh"...:rofl:

[BiggJawn]

61. Hah.

YOU'RE the one with his foot in his mouth and *I* need to "relax"?
:rofl:

That WAS a pretty damn stupid thing to say, Hobarticus. And you know it, which is why instead of trying to defend the indefensible, you're telling me to "relax"...

OK, buy yourself a drink and relax along with me....:beer:

[beam me up scottie]

30. What a stupid thing to say.

Did you think of that all on your own?
No, of course not. What am I saying?:banghead:

That would require actually engaging your brain, wouldn't it?
Much easier to parrot dittohead leaders.

[Hobarticus]

37. Wow, insulting me. How enlightening.

Didn't realize it affected your day-today living how a soldier in Iraq pursues his faith. You almost sound like a freeper, yourself.

[beam me up scottie]

41. No reverend, you insulted ME

And all of the OTHER atheists in foxholes.
You use a Fundie talking point and then say I sound like a freeper?
Look around, does this look like the Baptidome?

[Hobarticus]

42. Chill out. You read an insult where none was intended.

And your snotty tone is pretty obnoxious and uncalled for.

Fundie talking point? What fundie talking pint?

Look, I say again, slower this time for you:

Everyone in a foxhole under fire is going to seek some comfort. If it doesn't affect you, why get so sensitive?

On edit:

Now I've done it.

By 'comfort' I mean by whatever means any individual uses to find some comfort or peace in a stressful situation.

If it's praying to God or Buddha or Allah or thinking of loved ones or silent reflection or whistling the 'Star Wars theme'...who cares?

[beam me up scottie]

44. Um, because there ARE atheists

in foxholes and I resent the religious zealots inferring that they will all "turn to god" when their lives are in danger?
You don't think that is an insult to atheists?
If you don't understand I'd guess it's because you don't want to.
I can't make it any more simple for you, sorry.

[Hobarticus]

49. Um, I say it again...

By 'comfort' I mean by whatever means any individual uses to find some comfort or peace in a stressful situation.

If it's praying to God or Buddha or Allah or thinking of loved ones or silent reflection or whistling the 'Star Wars theme'...who cares?

"If you don't understand I'd guess it's because you don't want to.
I can't make it any more simple for you, sorry."

Sorry you feel the need to be so snotty and resentful, too.

On edit: peace, scottie. T'ain't worth the fight. No insult intended.

[beam me up scottie]

55. My brother's going over there this month.

Sorry if I jumped you when you meant no offense but I really hate the idea of him being handed one of these books.
It's an atheist thing.

[Hobarticus]

57. I want him home safe, I want that for you.

:)

[beam me up scottie]

58. Thanks, I really

appreciate that.
Sorry I shot at you, should have asked first.

Peace, Friend

[Hobarticus]

59. Eh, no sweat. Didn't make my case very clear from the get-go.

Peace.

[Walt Starr]

33. Actually, I've known many atheists who passed some time in foxholes

so your canard is a bunch of baloney.

[Hobarticus]

46. I've got a canard now? SWEET! n/t

[The Icon Painter]

65. Canard

Does it quack? Is it a lame canard?

[Solly Mack]

36. That's not true.

Honest

[Hobarticus]

45. No offense intended...

And thanks for the civil reply.

[TreasonousBastard]

23. This article is over two years old...

what are they getting now?

[Walt Starr]

24. Matthew 6: 5-6

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

[geniph]

53. I keep threatening to get that as a personalized license plate

MATT 65

Wonder how many people would get it?

[Art_from_Ark]

68. Probably very few people would get it

I think most people would probably think it was referring to some guy named Matt who was born/graduated in 1965

[reprobate]

25. It's official. there is now no difference between Islamic and christian

fundamentalists, and we will now be the new Iraq, split between various versions of the same wacko faith.

[pocket]

28. amazing, a chaplain handing out religious tracts

I can't believe it!

/sarcasm

[beam me up scottie]

34. I'm sure YOU can believe it.

It is, after all, The Crusades: Redux, isn't it?
Except, of course, for the rest of us who didn't drink the koolaid.
:eyes:

[Hobarticus]

43. CAREFUL! Don't offend anyone!

Some real uptight folk ont his thread may take offense!

[beam me up scottie]

48. Only those of us that

aren't real Americans according to the bushco family and their band of merry zealots.
Or didn't you hear that statement before?

[Hobarticus]

50. Speak of the devil! n/t

[beam me up scottie]

52. No, just a sibling of one of those

"atheists in foxholes".
Sorry to put such a strain on your limited supply of tolerance.

[Hobarticus]

54. Relax. No offense intended to your sibling, or you.

Peace. T'ain't worth the fight.

[Norquist Nemesis]

51. Perhaps you should read up a little bit on the chaplins

such as the #2 chaplin at the Air Force Academy. She was fired for for speaking out about religious intolerance. It's not just that the faith is being pushed; it's that a specific type of faith is being pushed.

[lebkuchen]

31. The US has started a religious war, w/greed as its foundation

It never was about WMD, as should be perfectly obvious to any thinking individual.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

35. Herr Busch called it a "crusade"...and he wasn't stuttering then.

[lebkuchen]

56. That's because the Chimp suffers from a national disorder

[damntexdem]

38. And if this doesn't keep them alive, ...

can their survivors sue for malpractice?

[scarletlib]

66. kick

[Postman]

67. I guess praying for a Discharge was out of the question?...

I'm really getting sick of these blowhard religionists and there BS