How Christian Nationalism Spread In The US Military
As tensions between Moscow and Washington, D.C. rise along the Ukrainian border, an officer responsible for some of the most powerful weapons in the U.S. arsenal tells his men that he knows how to respond to the situation because he has seen it all before — in the Book of Revelation.
While the scenario sounds like the plot of a Tom Clancy novel, this is no work of fiction, according to Mikey Weinstein, a former air force officer who is the founder and head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
For Weinstein, it is just one example of the problematic rise in Christian nationalism over the past few years. His organization looks at issues of religious freedom in the military and takes on cases in which soldiers feel their religious liberties have been infringed.
READ: Reflecting On The Capitol Riot And Racial Reconciliation
The Jan. 6 riots involved the military community in a number of ways.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo)., a former U.S. Army Ranger, found his former training instinctual as he worked with law enforcement to safeguard the U.S. Capitol that day, saying later that he relied on “the same mentality that I did when I was at war thousands of miles away.”
While Crow’s actions were later singled out and earned praise from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., he was just one of scores of veterans among Capitol Hill police officers, staffers and members of Congress who relied on their training that day. While the make-up of Congress is disproportionately former military, so was that of the crowd involved in criminal behavior that day.
Of the over 720 people charged so far for crimes in relation to the events of that day, 81 were former or current service members — a figure significantly higher than the national average.
Extremism on Jan. 6
“There were many forms of extremism on display on Jan. 6,” said Weinstein, a former Reagan administration official. “One of those present very clearly was (the) Christian nationalism form of extremism we in our organization have seen for a long, long time.”
Christian nationalism is a moniker that implies a mixture of nationalist politics with Christian theology. Some go further with a Dominionist viewpoint, analysts said, which seeks to institute a theological or theological-based government in the United States. For those in the military, these beliefs can result in loyalty to Christ trumping loyalty to the U.S. Constitution in ways that could potentially impact military operations.
“We’ve warned the military about it, but those warnings have gone unheeded,” Weinstein said. “Oftentimes, we have found there are individuals with extremist views that are joining the military because they want to spread those views. We had some in the current Biden administration applaud us for what they are doing, but they themselves are afraid to speak out about Christian nationalism.”
President Joe Biden has in the aftermath of the 2020 election tried to crack down on extremism in the ranks. Less than a month after Jan. 6, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III ordered a Department of Defense-wide stand down over a 60-day period to focus on extremism in the various branches of the U.S. military. The Biden administration issued the first National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. Though an internal Pentagon report was also released in December 2021, neither document mentions Christian nationalism or the events of Jan. 6.
“The Secretary of Defense sent out a clear edict to eliminate extremism and through vetting and other measures,” said Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army colonel and chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. “I have watched for months after he sent out notice, and at lower levels, we really haven’t seen anything been implemented. Such policies have to be comprehensively and consistently implemented.”
Wilkerson became a board member of the MRFF after becoming concerned about Christian nationalism within the military. During his long military career, he recalled only a single encounter in which a Christian nationalist perspective was an issue.
Now, he said, it is a growing cause for concern. The culprit, Wilkerson said, is an unlikely source — the all-volunteer U.S. military.
All-volunteer military
Following recommendations in a report commissioned by then-President Richard Nixon, Congress allowed the draft to expire in 1973. Since then, the U.S. has been an all-volunteer military force and over time has represented certain demographics with a propensity for Christian nationalism.
“I think that the fact that military service today is seen as a contract of a certain length,” said Dennis Laich, a retired U.S. Army general and author of “Skin in the Game: Poor Kids and Patriots.” “It is not seen as a national service. The insubordination we have seen from service members refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine on what they say are religious grounds is insubordination. It is also a result of the contract mentality in the military today.”
Military recruiters who have tight quotas to fill to meet the needs of an all-volunteer military have said they do not have the power to thoroughly vet potential applicants to the military.
“If someone comes into a recruiter’s office in Ohio and they have some extremist views, Christian nationalist views or far-right views, a recruiter might overlook that in allowing them to join so he can meet his quota,” Laich said.
In addition, a number of military chaplains espouse Christian nationalism, according to sources in the chaplains corps who spoke to Religion Unplugged on the condition of anonymity. A Freedom of Information Act request has shown that the composition of the chaplain corps diverges from the overall makeup of the military.
In 2010, a controversy arose when it emerged that Camp David chaplain and favorite of then-President Barack Obama was quoted as saying “Islam is violent.” Admiral Carey Cash is now the Deputy Chief of Chaplains and Chaplain of the United States Marine Corps. He previously served as Commanding Officer of the Navy Chaplain School.
“Christian nationalism isn’t the same thing as white supremacy, but the two groups share a lot of similarities,” said Kamal Kalsi, who agreed to speak to Religion Unplugged in a personal capacity.
Kalsi is U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and the first Sikh soldier in over a generation to be granted a Pentagon exemption to wear a beard and turban in uniform.
“There has been a well-documented growth of such groups in the military over the past two decades,” he said. “Their existence undermines our national security. The military needs to reflect the people it protects. Diversity is a strategic imperative for our nation.”
Joseph Hammond is a former Fulbright fellow in Malawi and a journalist who has reported extensively from Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East. Hammond is also part of the Interfaith Dialogue on Violent Extremism (iDove) at the African Union. He speaks enough Spanish and Arabic to discuss boxing, a sport he treasures.