This country has gone way beyond
frightening. Yes, the term frightening wouldn't even come close to
touching it.
For starters, let's look at the press
release from the Archdiocese
for Military Services, USA:
AMS
Calls on U.S. Defense Department to Review Army Reserve Training
Material for Anti-Religious Content
Concern
raised by brief citing Catholicism as example of “religious
extremism”
WASHINGTON,
D.C.—The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) issued the
following statement today on the mischaracterization of
“Catholicism” as an example of “religious extremism” on slide
#24 of this U.S. Army Reserve training brief:
Statement
The
Archdiocese for the Military Services and Chaplain Alliance for
Religious Liberty recently became aware of a U.S. Army Reserve Equal
Opportunity training brief that expressly listed “Catholicism,”
“Evangelical Christianity” and other religious groups as examples
of “religious extremism” alongside groups such as “Al Qaeda”,
“Hamas” and the “KKK.”
The
Archdiocese is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups
that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist.
According
to an investigation and reply from the Army Chief of Chaplains
office, the training in question appears to have been an isolated
incident not condoned by the Department of the Army. The Archdiocese
and the Chaplain Alliance explained that the Army can and should take
steps to prevent such incidents in the future.
The
Archdiocese calls upon the Department of Defense to review these
materials and to ensure that tax-payer funds are never again used to
present blatantly anti-religious material to the men and women in
uniform.
So, the Army Reserve has
determined that Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and other
mainstream religious groups are “extremists”, all a definition
they got, according to The Daily Mail, from the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC).
I don't know about you, but
it seems to me that the extremism may lie entirely within the Army
and the SPLC.
Speaking of The Daily
Mail, Lisa Graas over at Catholic Bandita has an excellent post on
this topic, and she also has a link to The
Daily Mail that shows some images of the slides in question
from the Army reserve training. Her post is called : “Army
Training Slideshow Includes Catholics, Evangelicals, Some Jews as
‘Religious Extremism’”. Go over there and give it a
read, as well as an excellent post also from Father Z called “Obama
Admin in Army Reserve brief lumps Catholicism in with Al Qaeda,
Hamas, KKK”.
As one "extremist" to
another, I think the SPLC and the Army have zero
credibility in their assertions.