US Armed Forces and abortion would seem to be an unlikely pairing for a blog article but a recent news report raised an alarm on their interaction. It seems that the US Armed Forces are having a major recruitment problem for their bases in States that have banned abortion.
Many republican-dominated States wasted no time, after the controversial abortion law was revoked by the US Supreme Court, in enacting their own versions of that ban at the State level; these lower level laws are often more punitive, strict, and religion-based than their federal antecedent. Some states even included clauses that would impose jail sentences on women, and their supporters, who travel to another state where abortions are legal. Draconian, hardly describes these ridiculous, religious, fanaticism-based initiatives.
Stupid as these draconian laws are, it had never occurred to me that they could also affect the US Armed Forces’ readiness and, even, their ability to function properly. Many of us regard the growing religious fanaticism in the US, and its ability to direct republican national policy, as a not-so-funny joke that can be, and is, extremely dangerous. I hadn’t realized just how dangerous.
I was reminded of how this fanaticism is intruding on all out lives the other night. I was sitting in the bar of a country inn with friends. One of the friends had arrived a little early and, while saving us a table by the fireplace, had struck up a short conversation with the people at the next table. The rest of us arrived, and ordered drinks and food. After a while, I remembered a joke someone had sent me a few days before, and told it to our group: Question: “Why are Sunday mornings so peaceful and quiet? Answer: All the evil people are in church.” We all thought it was funny. Sometime later the people at the next table – I had my back to them – got up to leave. My friend, who had arrived early, said, “Thank you for sharing the fire with us”. One of the people leaving said, in a very nasty tone, “That was an extremely offensive comment”. If I had thought quicker, I would have said, “If you don’t want to be offended, you shouldn’t listen to other people’s conversations.”
I can only say that the rise of this sanctimonious, religious crap will destroy the country if it isn’t put back in its place, and not allowed to rise to the point of influencing national and state policy. Unfortunately, the Founding Fathers did not put a clause in the US Constitution which requires the separation of church and state. We are now paying the price for that omission….and god help us if we let the omission run rampant.
Jokes in bars aside, the fact that the US Military can be compromised by sanctimonious politicians voting against abortion, can be lethal to national security. It is yet another window available for exploitation by China and Russia.
Currently, there appears to be a rising tsunami of religious fanaticism in the United States. It has always been there but, beginning with Senator Newt Gingrich and enabled by Donald Trump – not that he believes in anything but Donald Trump, he has merely used the theme to his advantage – the steady rise of religious influence in Washington, and in many State houses, is extremely worrying. I wrote a blog, some time ago, about a long-time undercover group in Washington that is devoted to bringing Jesus into national politics, and even into world politics. I imagine they must be smiling at the present state of affairs.
Virtually every secular ruler in the history of the world has created a system that separates church and state. The church, in whatever form it takes, has one huge power advantage that secular rulers cannot fight, and that’s faith. You cannot argue with faith, by definition. If the US descends into a religion-dominated nation, we will be no different than Iran. If that happens, the effects of abortion restriction on the US military recruitment will be the least of our worries.
