Sprinting Toward Gomorrah: The Folding of Virtuous Leadership in America’s Military Leaders
Written by Lieutenant Colonel David G. Bolgiano
In 2013, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, an inspirational painting
referencing a Bible verse was removed from a dining hall after an
anti-religion group filed a complaint. The more recent uproar surrounding
Indiana Governor Mike Pence and the Progressives continual assault on
religious liberty only served to open a raw wound for those in the Armed
Forces suffering similar assaults. What is so astounding about these
reports is not necessarily the facts of each case, rather it is they are
symptomatic of a disease that appears to have plagued America’s senior
military and civilian leadership: moral cowardice.
For the military, the message from the Obama Administration is loud and
clear – either toe the line on its radical social agenda or get out.
The general and flag officers’ failure to stand up to a seeming unending
and corrosive assault upon its core values by what were once society’s
fringe elements, radical homosexuals and atheists, will doom their
services to failure on the home front and the battlefield.
The painting at Mountain Home featured a medieval crusader and
referenced biblical verse Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called children of God.” The Military Religious Freedom
Foundation, led by Atheist Mikey Weinstein, called the painting
“repugnant” and an “overt display of Christian nationalism.” One could
be hard pressed to find anything repugnant about this verse, which has
become a core part of our Republic’s Judeo Christian ethic. Pursuant to
Weinstein’s logic, Saint Michael the Archangel should be removed from his place as Patron Saint of the Paratroopers; Chaplains, such as Medal of Honor recipients Emil J. Kapaun
and Rocky Versace, would be stricken from active duty; and, all of the
glorious chapels throughout the military, like those at the Naval Academy and West Point, would be forever closed.
This assault on our military’s core values is nothing short of an attempt to replace the cardinal virtues of temperance (self-control), prudence, justice and fortitude (courage)
with those of secular humanism: self-aggrandizement, narcissism and a
nihilist worldview of relativism. In a quote attributed to G.K.
Chesterton, “The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in
anything” or its corollary, “If one believes in everything, they believe
in nothing.”
The military’s senior leadership would be well served to reexamine its
conscience and regain the intestinal fortitude to tell the Mikey
Weinsteins of the world – and their pusillanimous supporters at the
White House – to practice the tolerance
which they so often preach. Unfortunately, based on recent trends, the
opposite seems to be happening. Instead of standing up for those asking
the “hard” questions – like Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley, who quite
logically asked the question, “Is Islam compatible with a
Constitutional Republican form of government?” – the military folks, at
the behest of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR),[1] often turn on the inquisitor. When told to implement the concept of homosexual partners
– in defiance of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – again, the
military’s leaders fold without any serious reflection, pushback or
consideration of how this is fundamentally offensive to the core ethics
and morality of its warriors.
Truth, the seeking of the truth, and even acknowledging that there are
fundamental truths, are all quickly being defined as hate speech within
the military. Do you think that the current culture of political
correctness, which is nothing more than progressive dogma, fosters
creative thinking, planning and thought? Think again. The rapidity of
the military’s retreat on these matters is saddening and worrisome. And
the further down the road it retreats, with military leaders more
concerned about their next promotion instead of what is truly the right
thing to do, the less likely we will maintain our ability to dominate
and favorably shape world events.
The painting at Mountain Home featured a medieval crusader and
referenced biblical verse Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called children of God.” The Military Religious Freedom
Foundation, led by Atheist Mikey Weinstein, called the painting
“repugnant” and an “overt display of Christian nationalism.” One could
be hard pressed to find anything repugnant about this verse, which has
become a core part of our Republic’s Judeo Christian ethic. Pursuant to
Weinstein’s logic, Saint Michael the Archangel should be removed from his place as Patron Saint of the Paratroopers; Chaplains, such as Medal of Honor recipients Emil J. Kapaun
and Rocky Versace, would be stricken from active duty; and, all of the
glorious chapels throughout the military, like those at the Naval Academy and West Point, would be forever closed.
The military’s senior leadership would be well served to reexamine its
conscience and regain the intestinal fortitude to tell the Mikey
Weinsteins of the world – and their pusillanimous supporters at the
White House – to practice the tolerance
which they so often preach. Unfortunately, based on recent trends, the
opposite seems to be happening. Instead of standing up for those asking
the “hard” questions – like Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley, who quite
logically asked the question, “Is Islam compatible with a
Constitutional Republican form of government?” – the military folks, at
the behest of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR),[1] often turn on the inquisitor. When told to implement the concept of homosexual partners
– in defiance of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – again, the
military’s leaders fold without any serious reflection, pushback or
consideration of how this is fundamentally offensive to the core ethics
and morality of its warriors.
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