And cyanide in my Styrofoam cup.”
You may have heard that last week the Department of Defense dropped 180 religions from its “faith codes” list, reducing that list from 211 to 31 recognized religions.
This has been widely regarded as a bad thing.
Mainly because it so obviously comes from the ludicrous bigotry of Christian nationalism.
Of the 31 religions remaining on the list, 21 are “Christian – [something]”, 2 are not actually religions and 1 is “Other Religions”.
Leaving the Department of Defense as recognizing by name only 7 non-Christian religions.
And 21 variations on “Christian”.
So far, so normal for the “Christian Soldiers” administration.
But that’s actually missing the real problem with this news.
Which is that the Department of Defense provides specific recognition and support to 8 religions.
Well, 28 by their count; but their count is stupid, so here I’m going with 8.
And that’s 8 religions too many.
Because the State should not actually be doing anything that recognizes or supports any religion.
And the United States is, in its Constitution and the public statements of its founders, specifically opposed to any State involvement with religion.
There’s supposed to be a “wall”, if you will, between Church and State here; though the U.S. has never been good at maintaining that wall.
But it can, and should, do better.
So, while this obviously bigoted change in Department of Defense policy is bad, it’s only bad in that it still leaves 8 religions with official recognition and support.
With time, I have faith that we can get that down to zero.
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