The United States of America The Greatest Nation of Hypocrites on Earth

"They hate us for our freedoms"

No they don't, they hate you for your genocide wrapped up in a cloak of pious hypocrisy. What a shitty bunch, what a shitty nation.

Air Force Academy Taps Member of "Lord's Army" to Speak at National Prayer Luncheon

Wednesday 19 January 2011
by: Mike Ludwig, truthout | Report

During the first two weeks of February, military bases and schools across the country will join dozens of other organizations in holding annual "prayer breakfasts" and luncheons in coordination with the controversial National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.

While military chaplains are expected to provide non-denominational options to those in uniform, critics charge that prayer breakfasts sometimes favor conservative and evangelical brands of Christianity that are intolerant of other faiths and perspectives.

Consider professional motivational speaker Lt. Clebe McClary, a veteran from South Carolina whose web site features praise from right-wing Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham. McClary is a retired Marine, who was wounded in Vietnam and now serves the "Lord's Army," and believes that USMC (US Marine Corps) will always stand for "US Marines for Christ," according to his web site.

McClary will be speaking at the National Prayer Luncheon at the US Air Force Academy on February 10, one week after the National Prayer Breakfast.

McClary joined the Marines after witnessing Vietnam War protesters burning an American flag on a college campus, and he was seriously wounded during hand-to-hand combat in Vietnam. He now travels the world speaking on veteran's issues, teamwork and born-again Christian values.

Chris Rodda, a researcher with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), is concerned that the Air Force Academy's decision to hire McClary as the main speaker at its National Prayer Luncheon is another example of how the Air Force and the military favors evangelical Christianity over other forms of faith.

"It's like they're flaunting it," Rodda said of the Air Force's support of evangelical Christianity. "They're not even trying to hide it."

Rodda pointed to the academy chaplain's web site, where the only regularly scheduled Protestant services offered at the academy chapel are "evangelical" and "gospel" services.

Catholic masses are also offered at the academy, and information on Buddhist and Wiccan services are available upon request.

The Air Force Academy's National Prayer Luncheon was inspired by the National Prayer Breakfast, a controversial annual event in Washington that brings more than 3,000 international power brokers, lawmakers and politicians together for a day of prayer and reflection.

The National Prayer Breakfast is sponsored by The Fellowship, a foundation associated with The Family, a secretive group of influential Christian lawmakers and politicians whose mission is to advance the evangelical Christian agenda in Washington and across the world. more Truthout