GUEST, would you care to expand a bit on your premise that Nowhere is the confluence of American patriotism and the Christian religion stronger than in the US military...? Not that I necessarilly disagree with your premise, but I'm sure many in the military would hold themselves up as shining examples of religious tolerance. They would point to the fact that there are chaplains to serve those of Catholic, Jewish and Muslim faiths as well as the Protestant majority. So, how can one say that the military has aligned itself with a Christian (and particularly fundamentalist Protestant) agenda? They would further point out that, in a combat situation, it doesn't matter what religious beliefs a soldier holds. The bonds of soldierhood presumably transcend religious differences. If an evangelical Pentecostal soldier gets gutshot by a sniper, it doesn't matter that the guy who pulls him to safety may be a Jew or a Muslim.

Personally, I don't buy the military's "party line" on religion any more than I do their official stance on racial or sexual equality. They pay lip service to the idea of all soldiers giving each other due respect regardless of race, religion or gender, but their actions and, particularly, their failure to act when transgressions occur, make it obvious that it's all just posturing. Ask ten black soldiers, or ten female soldiers, or ten Muslim or Jewish soldiers if they feel they were treated as equals with white Christian soldiers and nine out of ten will probably say "No".