Crazy Lew's Crazy Blog Says the Military is Evil

I always like perusing the annals of Mr. Lew Rockwell. Now that the Ron Paul worship campaign is a bust (thanks Orcinus), he can drop the politically correct spiel and tell us blogosphere denizens how he really feels. I divert your attention to a recent article by Theology Scholar, Laurence Vance, entitled "For Christ and Caeser". The article discusses how if you're a Christian and want to join the service, well you're a sinner, mister. I felt it was best to counter this meme before it wades its way into the values stream of anti-American propaganda.

It's a piece that is flat out anti-military, without even the normal contextual references to errors made in the Iraq war. It doesn't cite any specifics except for the recruiting tactics at a small Christian college in Virginia, which I've never heard of. The article discusses what the military does not do:

The military does not defend our freedoms. The military does not secure our borders. The military does not patrol our coasts. The military does not guard our shores. The military does not fight terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here. The military does not protect our First Amendment rights. The military does not keep us safe. The military does not ensure that we can speak English. The military is not retaliating against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.

I give Mr. Vance props for not attributing the 9/11 attacks to being perpetrated by the Bush Administration, which puts him head and shoulders above most of Lew's followers. However, I disagree that the organization I volunteered for doesn't keep us "safe". Whenever there was trouble and our country was under attack from foreign enemies that sought to end our way of life, the US military has risen to the challenge without a lot of hemming and hawing. I'm not being self-righteous, I'm just saying we're public servants with an arsenal of weapons and I apologize to Mr. Vance if he thinks otherwise. But there's more:

It is bad enough when atheists, agnostics, pagans, and the irreligious join the military, but it is an indelible blot on Christianity when Christians do the same.

Now he's taken my agnosticism to task for being some kind of heathen in uniform. I have nothing against religion per se, but could he please stop making ridiculous broad-sweeping assertions about the morality of those that don't go to church every Sunday. I may not read the bible, but I know that killing civilians is wrong, war should best be avoided, and that allegiance to some fanatical satanic Army horde within our community is probably only happening when US military members get online and play World of Warcraft. Mr. Vance makes one last proclamation:

If they really want to honor Christ and the Bible, Christian colleges should discontinue all ROTC programs, ban military recruiters from all their campuses, and discourage their young people from enlisting in the military.

Yes, Mr. Vance, that's what we need. More reasons for people to not sign up for the service. It's bad enough we can barely make recruiting numbers, but your diatribe certainly isn't helping. Thanks.

The heathen minotaur military that exists in the minds of some religious scholars