The Iran Attack: A Christian Fundamentalist Holy War?
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
THE MEDIA'S MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST:
TRUMP ATTACKED IRAN FOR WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING REASONS?
A. Iran is close to completing its nuclear weapons
B. Iran is developing long-range missiles that threaten the U.S.
C. Iran is an imminent threat to U.S. personnel and allies in the region
D. The U.S. had to attack because--the Israelis. And retaliation against the U.S.
E. Trump forced Israel to attack because Iran was going to if we didn't
F. Regime change: freeing Iranians who want democracy
G. Trump’s ego
H. Oil
I. All of the above
J. None of the above
A choice (K) is missing. Read on...
The Trump regime has given ever-shifting excuses for its attack on Iran, tossing them out hurly-burly, one after another, perhaps speculating that each will appeal to and be accepted by a different American constituency. Failing that, the regime apparently hopes the competing explanations will, as they have in the past, cause pundits and politicians to scratch their heads while they waste time forever pondering which is the real reason. That all the excuses were thrown to the public as afterthoughts demonstrates the regime’s ongoing contempt for the American people.
Given the shamelessness of the liars currently running our government, one reasonably could dismiss all the stated reasons. Alternatively, each of them could constitute motivation for a different faction of Trump’s deep state.
However, there is one additional reason for the attack on which pundits have failed to focus on as a motive. It is the most frightening of them: a Christian nationalist holy war.
As reported by independent journalist Jonathan Larsen, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has received over 200 calls from more than 50 military installations reporting promotion of religious zealotry by their commanders. In the three days from the start of the war on February 28th through the night of Monday, March 2nd, MRFF received more than 110 such complaints about commanders, extending to every branch of the military.
The MRFF told Larsen that the complaints came from more than 40 different units. One report, by a Christian, non-commissioned officer (NCO) speaking for 15 service members, is representative of the concerns expressed to MRFF by service members across the board. This NCO currently was stationed outside Iran but awaiting imminent deployment. The following excerpt of his email to MRFF president Mikey Weinstein is a bit long, but presents a crucial understanding of the depth and seriousness of the situation:
This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be “afraid” as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He urged us to tell our troops that this was “all part of God’s divine plan” and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy. Our commander would probably be described as a “Christian First” supporter. He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing. Besides myself I am reaching out to MRFF on behalf of 15 fellow troops. I know you asked me about the religious views of our group who has requested help from the MRFF. I can only tell you that I am Christian and at least 10 of the others are also Christians. One of the others is Jewish and one is Muslim. I don’t know the religious or non-religious status for the other three at this time.
I and my fellow troops know that it is completely wrong to have to suffer through what our commander said today. It’s not just the separation of church and state as we discussed, Mr. Weinstein. It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire (combat unit’s name withheld) chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command.
MRFF president Weinstein told Larsen: “These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients [service members who seek MRFF aid] report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times" as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation.”
According to the Huffington Post, Weinstein has reported, “They are promised a 200-mile-long river that is four-and-a-half feet deep filled with nothing but the blood that their weaponized version of Jesus will spill at the Battle of Armageddon.”
Weinstein also said some service members told him that, on Sunday—the second day of the assault—they were being invited to Bible studies at their commanders’ personal homes to “discuss how this was all part of the plan and it’s all being lived out in the Book of Revelation and Christian eschatology.”
For a moment, put aside the fact that these actions are a violation of the Constitution’s separation of church and state, and of the U.S. military code.
It appears that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, an avowed Christian nationalist, has embedded fellow zealots in military leadership, and that this war is not for any practical reason, however cynical, but to advance their desire for Armageddon and the end of the world. It seems to me that leaders with such a mindset will not care who or how many die or even whether their war results in a nuclear conflagration.
Personally, I don’t care to see the end of the world if it can be stopped. How about you?
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Horrifying. And enormously frustrating, because apparently nothing can be done about it. Someone suggested to me yet another book about what's happening - I asked if the author had any solutions. No, they didn't. We don't need to read about what's going on. We (the kind of people who read here) KNOW what's going on. But then what? (I didn't know the details of the insanity. But what do I DO with that knowledge?)
Separation of Church and State, yes; the Founding Fathers provided for this, having done their research. And also, our situation exemplifies the need for the nuclear powers to come to their senses and sign on to the U.N. Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We need a global enforceable agreement that no person, entity or government should possess nuclear weapons, obviously not possible with our current criminal administration. Nuclear weapons are incompatible with human life, or any life, and as we see may well lead to omnicide.
These commanders and our leadership are not bigger than God. Only the God of this universe determines when the end times will happen. I believe in the separation of church and state. These commanders and our leadership are crossing the line and walking in dangerous territory by justifying killing many people and risking our own American troops lives and the US economy for Trump’s and Netanyahu’s war.