L’USAF In The Name of God

L’USAF In The Name of God

30 avril 2005 — Certes, la révolution “bushiste” est en marche. On parle ici du cœur de cette révolution, qui est la dimension religieuse. Des nouvelles étonnantes nous parviennent. L’une d’elles, non des moindres à la lumière d’une réflexion qui mesurerait toutes ses implications, concerne l’U.S. Air Force Academy de Colorado Springs, où sont formés les futurs officiers et chefs de l’U.S. Air Force. (Cette remarque étonnante: « Colorado Springs [is] a testing ground not just for new artillery but for ideas, as if the mental frontier of America is still up for grabs. »)

Deux articles, publiés en 24 heures, documentent largement ce phénomène surprenant de l’investissement de l’Air Force Academy par les radicaux chrétiens évangélistes. On trouve un article sur le site OnLine Journal du 29 avril, un autre sur le site WSWS.org du 30 avril.

L’origine de l’invasion évangélique à Colorado Springs, selon OnLine journal:

«One of the many casualties of this ''war on culture'' has been the US Air Force Academy, which has traveled through a door in the wall that is supposed to separate church from state . . . a door that has been installed by a group of “Theocons” called Focus on the Family.

»After the Colorado-based Savings and Loan scandal erupted in the late 1980s, Colorado Springs became known as ''the forfeiture capital of America.'' The city council and a local foundation, in an effort to boost the economy and diminished spirit, turned to and offered Focus on the Family — a highly influential radio-based evangelical ministry — a generous grant and land deal. A new Focus on the Family headquarters was opened in 1993, located just across the highway from the Air Force Academy.

»Today, the majority of Colorado Springs' evangelical organizations, churches, and people fall under Focus on the Family's web of evangelical influence, which extends from Colorado Springs to Washington, DC, and beyond.

» Focus on the Family's radio show, hosted by the organization's founder James Dobson, has about 200 million listeners in over 170 countries. In a recent survey of Protestant pastors, Dobson was voted one of the four most influential Christians in the world, placing him well ahead of former Pope John Paul II.»

L’Air Force Academy fut rapidement investie par les armées de la croyance évangéliste installées à Colorado Springs. L’invasion reçut des aides de l’intérieur, semblables à l’actuel commandant de l’école: «The academy's born-again commandant, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, stated that the cadets' first responsibility is to their God.» Aujourd’hui, la situation de l’Air Force Academy est totalement à l’image de la foi extrémiste des évangélistes.

«“The academy is ''systematically biased against any cadet that does not overtly espouse Christianity,” said one cadet. During basic training, an academy chaplain urged cadets to warn other cadets that those who were not “born again will burn in the fires of hell.” The cadets were also told that Jesus had ''called'' them to the academy as part of God's plan for their lives.

»A Yale University report, based on first-hand observations, took notice of an academy worship service that had an “overwhelmingly evangelical tone” and “encouraged religious divisions rather than fostering spiritual understanding.” An official from Yale said non-Christian cadets who feel the leadership is endorsing a certain faith are being intimidated by the call to evangelize.

»Additionally, according to Yale's report: “Protestant Basic Cadets were encouraged to pray for the salvation of fellow BCT members who chose not to attend worship. . . . Cadets were encouraged to return to tents, proselytize fellow BCT members, and remind them of the consequences of apostasy.”

»According to Vice Commandant Col. Debra Gray, normal conversations around the campus are closing with: “If you don't believe what I believe, you are going to hell.” The atmosphere has gotten so out of hand that a Jewish cadet was called a “filthy Jew” on numerous occasions, while another was told the Holocaust was revenge for the crucifixion of Jesus. »

L’U.S. Air Force vient de réagir à la suite de diverses plaintes adressées au Pentagone. Un nouveau cours, enseignant la tolérance aux autres religions, vient d’être institué et est obligatoirement dispensé chaque semaine à toutes les classes. Le résultat n’est pas convaincant, tant la pénétration de la religion évangéliste est forte au sein de l’Académie. Un rapport de l’association “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” observe: «At a more basic level, we have been informed that General Weida has cultivated and reinforced an attitude—shared by many in the Academy Chaplains’ Office and, increasingly, by other members of the Academy’s permanent [staff]—that the Academy, and the Air Force in general, would be better off if populated solely by Christians. A stronger message of official preference for one particular faith is hard to imagine.»

Les implications de ce phénomène sont peu ordinaires. D’abord, une remarque de base concerne la démonstration, faite une fois de plus, de la fragilité des structures soi-disant publiques américaines, qui s’avèrent aisément manipulables par des groupes s’appuyant sur la conviction de la foi. Ces structures sont d’une très grande vulnérabilité à cause de l’absence de légitimité régalienne.

De façon plus concrète, il s’agit de mesurer les effets à terme (pas nécessairement long) d’un endoctrinement si radical effectué au sein de la structure d’une puissance aussi grande qu’est l’U.S. Air Force. Comme exemple, on rappellera le cas du général Curtiss LeMay, chef du Strategic Air Command puis de l’USAF, qui avait une psychologie conformée à cet extrémisme évangélique et qui, pourtant, n’évoluait pas dans un environnement humain comme pourrait le devenir celui de l’USAF. Son influence et son action furent extraordinaires au cœur de l’USAF et mesurent, par analogie d’évidence, ce que pourraient être l’influence et l’action d’un cadre hiérarchique de l’USAF “évangélisé”.

Le site WSWS.org écrit justement en conclusion de son article sur le sujet:

«The implications of this are quite staggering: it means the Air Force officer corps is being educated not as a military force subordinate to a civilian authority, but as soldiers who are “accountable first to God.” Those who will be placed in control of the vast destructive power of modern aerial weaponry, including “smart bombs” and nuclear missiles, are to constitute a sort of praetorian guard of Christian fundamentalists.

»Aside from its dire meaning for American democracy, there is the overriding question of mankind’s survival: The Pentagon is putting the power to incinerate the human race in the hands of religious zealots who believe in an imminent “second coming” in which Jesus Christ will stage a fiery return. Certainly an officer corps steeped in such a religious dogma will have few moral qualms about the use of nuclear weapons. Quite the contrary, they may well see a nuclear holocaust as a religiously ordained and even desirable way of hastening the “end time.”»