I have long believed that many of the important stories involving modern Paganism are ultimately interconnected. We may not always see the pattern, but sometimes everything gets distilled in such a way that all becomes clear. Yesterday, Jason Leopold of The Public Record published an article that links the controversy over the National Day of Prayer to several other stories that have been reported at this blog.

“At least half-a-dozen active-duty military officials have been working closely with a task force headed by the far-right fundamentalist Christians planning religious events at military installations around the country to commemorate Thursday’s National Day of Prayer … the declaration signed by the military officials says that they promise to ‘ensure a strong, consistent Christian message throughout the nation’ and that National Day of Prayer events scheduled to take place at their military installations ‘will be conducted solely by Christians.’”

To comment on these troubling violations of church-state separation, Leopold talks to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Weinstein has been targeted with extremist Christian death-magic, and is currently suing the Defense Department for widespread discrimination and hostility towards atheists and minority faiths.

“…please immediately note that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation fully intends to include this despicable collusion in our current Federal litigation against the Department of Defense as yet another stunning example of a pernicious and pervasive pattern and practice of unconstitutional rape of the precious religious liberties of our honorable and noble United States soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.”

The “Christianization” of our (theoretically) secular military has been a hot topic for several years now. A consequence of this movement is the harassment and marginalization of religious minorities in the military culture. Which incorporates yet another thread into Leopold’s story: Don Larsen’s derailed quest to become the first Pagan military chaplain.

“Rodda said she and Weinstein were ’surprised’ to come across the name of Chaplain Kevin L. McGhee of the Missouri National Guard. According to the NDP Task Force website, Maj. McGhee is scheduled to participate in the NDP Task Force prayer rally at Missouri State Capitol. This is the same Chaplain McGhee who, last year, came to the defense of Chaplain Bob Larsen, when Larsen converted from Christianity to Wicca and applied to be the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces. When Larsen’s application was denied, and he was removed from the chaplain corps, McGhee, who was Larsen’s supervisor at Camp Anaconda in Iraq, said that a “grave injustice” had been done, and that “What happened to Chaplain Larsen — to be honest, I think it’s political. A lot of people think Wiccans are un-American, because they are ignorant about what Wiccans do.” MRFF informed Chaplain McGhee during a conference call last week of the discriminatory nature of the Missouri State Capitol event and the pledge on the part of its organizers to exclude non-Christians and asked him to reconsider his participation. McGhee has not responded to an email sent yesterday from MRFF asking if he still planned to participate.”

So it all comes together. A Christian “task force” that has hijacked the National Day of Prayer celebrations across our nation and in the military (with the help of groups like the Alliance Defense Fund), an organization that is fighting for a return to secular values within the military on behalf of men and women who aren’t conservative evangelical Christians (and receiving death threats because of it), and the ongoing struggle of modern Pagans to gain equal treatment within the military. An interwoven thread of people and organizations that point to a single problem: the improper influence of Christianity on our military (and, to varying degrees, our government).

The solution to this problem will most likely require a new president committed to “cleaning house” in our military forces (no clear answer on who that might be), and an ongoing grass-roots campaign to fight for the rights of minority faiths (both in the military and out). So on this National Day of Prayer, which happens to fall on May Day, why not say a prayer or perform a working to empower those fighting for us, and bind those acting against us.

The Philadelphia Jewish Voice has posted a chilling interview with Michael Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and a former Naval serviceman who served with the Reagan Administration. Since 2004 Weinstein has been waging a very public battle over what he sees as the pernicious influence of a certain strain of evangelical Christians on our supposedly secular military. Since starting his organization, Weinstein claims that nearly 7000 active duty members of our military have come forward complaining of harassment due to their religious faith.

“By last week, over 6,800 active duty members of the United States Marine Corp, Navy, Army and Air Force have come to our foundation pretty much as spiritual rape victims/tormentees and the shocking thing is 96% of them coming to us are Christians themselves. Roughly three-quarters are traditional Protestants, like Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodist. We get Mormons, we get Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Southern Baptist. One-fourth of that 96% percent of that total universe of 6,800 — more each day — one-quarter of that 96% are Roman Catholic. About 4% will be Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, Jain, Shinto, Native American spirituality or atheist or agnostic.”

Weinstein has also received death threats, “talks” from fellow Republicans and military men who tell him that the Jews who died in the Holocaust are burning in hell, and malicious magical prayer workings from evangelical Christians.

“I wanted to say one more thing. You know, we do not talk about this a lot, but our family has a lot of stress. We get death threats practically every day. We’ve had the largest windows in our house shot out, we’ve had dead animal sacrifices put on our front door. We’ve had feces and beer bottles thrown at the house. My wife and I have a group of what we presume are fundamentalist Christian women who call about every eight to 10 days, for most of the last 34 months, and they just chant on the phone, “Mikey Weinstein, bullet in the head, praise the Lord, he’s finally dead.” We’ve got little children, three or four years of age, call and say, “Now we lay you in your grave, there was no way you could be saved; you hate our Lord and he can tell, which is why you burn in hell.” And that’s not the worst part. The worst part is listening to the adult males and females in the background telling them what to say and how to do this.”

Anyone from a Pagan tradition that practices magic will instantly recognize those phone-calls for what they are, directed group workings with the goal of Weinstein’s death. The kind of “black magic” that is almost universally seen as morally repugnant within our communities. These claims of abuse, intolerance, and mistreatment towards soldiers of the “wrong” faith, while shocking, points to a trend I have been reporting from the Pagan angle for some time now. A trend that puts our Pagan troops in danger, and is a scary harbinger of what our military could become if left unchecked.

For those wanting to help Weinstein in his struggles, there is a page for making monetary donations to his (non-profit) organization, and I’m certain he wouldn’t mind prayers, devotionals, and workings from Pagans to help counteract the “magical war” being waged against him by Christian groups. For the latest news from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, click here.

The Pew Forum has posted a report from the Religious News Service on Atheist soldiers in the military. The report talks about recent litigation filed by Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, an atheist who claims his religious freedoms have been trampled, and the threats of “fragging” (friendly-fire killings) that have come in the wake of his actions.

“What most soldiers do not get, however, are threats of “fragging” — military slang for death by friendly fire — because of their beliefs. That’s what Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, 22, said happened to him after he organized a meeting of atheists at his base in Iraq in August. The threats came after Hall filed suit last month against the Department of Defense and Maj. Freddy Welborn. Hall said Welborn told a group of atheists that their unbelief was disgracing their country, and threatened to bar Hall’s re-enlistment. Since the threats, the Army has assigned a bodyguard to Hall for protection from his colleagues in arms.”

According to some sources on the ground in Iraq, anyone who doesn’t toe the conservative Christian line are harassed, denied basic rights, and threatened. This includes Pagan soldiers serving overseas.

Pagan soldiers at a nighttime ceremony. Photo: UMPA

Are our Pagan troops in danger? Not just from road-side bombs and terror attacks, but from Christian members of their own military if they decide to get too “uppity” and advocate for equal treatment? While I’m sure some Christian commanding officers are fair and treat their troops justly, there is also an ominous pattern of resistance developing to non-Christian forms of belief in the military. People have been warning for some time that conservative Christian groups have been slowly taking over the military, are we now starting to see the bitter fruits of that project?

Two major stories this past year in the Pagan world have been the fight over getting the Pentacle approved for military gravestones and markers, and the (so far unsuccessful) struggle over the approval of a Pagan military chaplain. In both cases accusations have been made that there is a unspoken bias against non-Christians in our military, and in the case of some religious groups, outright hostility. Now the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, seeking to prove claims of religious bias, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy Hall.

“A U.S. Army soldier who unsuccessfully tried to hold a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing Defense Secretary Robert Gates and an Army major, saying his right to religious freedom was violated. The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court alleges a pattern of practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. According to the filing, Spec. Jeremy Hall received permission to distribute flyers around his base in Iraq for a meeting of atheists and non-Christians. When he tried to convene the meeting, Hall says, Maj. Paul Welborne stepped in, threatening to file military charges against Hall and block his reenlistment.”

I think it is key here to look at the language that the MRFF is using. While Hall is an atheist, they are specifically including “non-Christians” in this mix, which includes Pagans, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and any other “non-Christian” faith. Allowing them to file numerous lawsuits (which they threaten to do), and draw on much larger body of evidence.

“Since he launched his watchdog organization nearly two years ago, Weinstein’s web site has been bombarded by over 5,000 active duty and retired soldiers, many of whom served or serve in Iraq, who pleaded for the Foundation’s help as they were pressured by their commanding officers to convert to Christianity, or face other consequences.”

Which raises the question, how soon before the MRFF subpoenas evidence relating to the alleged anti-Pagan documents from the VA, or material relating to Don Larsen’s convenient “catch-22″ that effectively blocked him from being approved as the first Pagan chaplain. Will Pagan issues within the military get wrapped up in the MRFF’s larger struggle?