Which group poses the greatest threat to America? If you attended a recent
briefing on extremism at an Army Reserve unit in Pennsylvania, you would conclude that
evangelicals pose the greatest threat. Evangelicals were listed along with other threats. Al
Qaeda was fifth on the list. Hamas was sixth. The Ku Klux Klan was eighth on the list.
At the top of the list was “Evangelical Christianity.”
The Family Research Council put it this way: “Most Christians who enlist in the
Army do so to fight terrorists and other enemies of our country—not be called one!” Not
surprisingly, the Department of the Army stated that this was an isolated incident. While
that is true, you have to wonder how such a presentation sees the light of day.
I think it is one more illustration of a federal government that no longer welcomes
Christian values. Remember the incident a few years ago where the Department of
Homeland Security was “profiling” conservatives. A few months ago, there was a West
Point report from their Combating Terrorism Center that warned about people with
“strong convictions regarding the federal government, believing it to be corrupt and
tyrannical.” This could apply to lots of people. The latest Pew Research poll found that a
majority of Americans (53%) do view the government as a threat to their liberty.
Todd Starnes, of Fox News, discovered why evangelical Christians were listed as
extremists and members of extremist organizations. The presenter got her information
from the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you go to their website, you will see they have
files on the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and the
Family Research Council. These appear on the same website with dangerous extremist
groups like the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and Skinheads. It is easy to see why someone could
draw the inaccurate conclusion that evangelical Christians are dangerous.
The real danger is that individuals (like the Army presenter) and groups (like the
Southern Poverty Law Center) cannot tell the difference between Christians and
extremists.