In the times recently, there was a piece on the boss of the army, General Dannatt claiming more should be done to equip soldiers for a life after death:

“In my business, asking people to risk their lives is part of the job, but doing so without giving them the chance to understand that there is a life after death is something of a betrayal,” he said.

Now, it goes without saying that, while soldiers who think death will give them a wonderful afterlife (where have I heard this before) may well fight better, it is worrying that the Chief of the General Staff is becoming concerned about the soldiers’ afterlives. Does he anticipate lots of them dying? Is he revving up for a jihad holy war in Iran? Is he trying to soften the blow when hundreds of body bags come home – at least the families can think their loved ones are in a better place (along with all the goldfish, cats, dogs, budgies, etc…)?

Personally, I hope not and I do actually think this is just an example of how evangelical Christians are fundamentally idiots. Dannatt continues:

“I think there is very much an obligation on . . . a Christian leader to include a spiritual dimension into his people’s preparations for operations, and the general conduct of their lives,” he said. “Qualities and core values are fine as a universally acceptable moral baseline for leadership, but the unique life, death, resurrection and promises of Christ provide that spiritual opportunity that I believe takes the privilege of leadership to another level.”

Which pretty much proves my point. Well spoken idiocy is still idiocy. Moving on from his witterings though, the comments are where the real stupid burns away. As you can imagine, the words of a rightwing, Christian soldier appeal to all the baser instincts of the Times’ readership. This leads to comments like:

Would that we have a world free of all violence: until then, our armed forces serve to protect US. Forget the rights and wrongs of Afghanistan or Iraq: our forces are there whether they like it or not and so THEY at least deserve our full support. Why should not a general offer spiritual support and advice? Oh, and does God exist? Or can anyone here prove that they exist rather than being a figment of my imagination? Paul R. Kent

Would that I could meet Paul R from Kent and see if his imagination makes his nose hurt. I agree 100% that our forces deserve our full support, but I have to question what value support they are getting from being told that death is great and a wonderful afterlife awaits them as long as they adhere to Creed X.

Gen Dannat is not a war Monger, nor a fanatic, If he were he’d be keeping our Boys out there instead he’s going against Govt Policy & trying to get them back home to their families And trying to get them better equipped and paid so if there is a need to fight they are More likely to survive than they are now. As for his Christianity, look around you…this country could certainly do with getting back to it’s traditional British Christian based Family Roots. Adrian Peirson, Bedford, Awakening Britain

Wow. It is that special kind of history again. “This country” (assuming Mr Peirson means the Great Britain) has no “traditional British Christian based Family Roots.” Giving them capital letters doesn’t change anything. Traditionally the British peoples are worshippers of dead religions with a family and social structure unrecognisable today. If he means that weird form of “traditional” which has an arbitrary start date then when is it? Does he mean the Catholic traditions, Anglican traditions? Both? Neither?

When people write idiotic things like this, they tend to mean the Victorian traditions which are far from traditional (yet have captured the public imagination as “real history” – especially in Scotland, Wales and Ireland). Any one who harks for a return to “Victorian” values is certifiably insane.

True, religion (or rather our response to God) is a personal matter, but it is clearly not a private matter, as Jesus clearly demonstrated by his final words to the disciples to ” go and make disciples of all nations… ” So, General Dannet’s comments are entirely understandable. Jesus requires a very personal decision from every single one of us to either believe what He said or choose not to believe what He said. General Dannet is simply wanting to ensure that each soldier does infact know what Jesus said so they can make that very personal choice for themselves prior to going into battle because after death, if Jesus’ words are true ,as in His parable of the rich man amd lazarus ..it will definitely be too late to change ones mind. rebecca pluke, hemingford grey,

Hmm. I assume Rebecca thinks every soldier in Britain managed to avoid the compulsory religious education lessons and a quick chat from Gen Dannatt will rectify their ignorance. Hmmm. Still, her nonsense is mild compared to this bit of drivel:

The Victorian British Army would have understood where General Dannatt was coming from. The British nation and it’s great army then was a God fearing nation who honoured Jesus Christ and respected the Bible. God’s favour on England from the reformation to the second world war is obvious, God made us great. Now we have turned away from christianity and become weaker and embraced other religions and no religion. Queen Victoria said….The secret of Britain’s greatness is the Holy Bible. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away sin and make us fit for heaven. Nothing else has the power to do this. Therefore British soldiers and us dying outside of Christ have no hope. Philip, Dorset, England

The only positive thing I can take from this is that is proves my point about how people (idiots) think anything Victorian is traditional and good. For those outside the UK, Dorset is very rural with all that implies about peoples intelligence. Philip has obviously been reading too many novels about Sharpe et al., to realise that the “God Fearing” nation under Queen Victoria was very dissimilar to what he describes here. The whole “Gods Favour” thing is so stupid it burns. Philip also seems to assume Queen Victoria was so knowledgeable that everything she says has divine authority – Tutatis forbid she say something stupid or proven wrong… As for the blood of Jesus Christ… Does this mean that EVERYONE who died before Jesus went to hell? What sort of sacrifice was it for Jesus to make when he was actually giving up the mortal realm to go home? It is a bit like me claiming leaving work at the end of the day is the ultimate sacrifice (the opposite is true).

The stupid, painful as it is, continues:

Jesus, the author of the Christian Faith said “Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”. Dying on the battlefield does not guarantee a place in heaven. Obeying Jesus’ commandments does. Brian Pennington, Launceston, Tasmania

Actually, I would have thought the killing part of being on a battlefield makes it hard to obey Jesus. Did he have some sort of get out clause which allows a secular authority to override his dads main commandments? Is the override only allowed for killing (which could explain why homosexuals are still persecuted)? Also, more obviously, where can I find this book called “the Christian Faith” which Jesus wrote? I mean, he didn’t even have the courtesy to write the bible…

From the depths of idiocy came this nonsense: (emphasis mine)

At one time it was gays who had to stay in the closet – now it’s anyone with a faith that is serious enough that they want others to think about the big issues of life too. But good for General Sir Richard Dannatt in raising his head above the parapet by daring to suggest that believers have as much right to speak about their faith as atheists do about theirs. The snipers will no doubt attack him for what they will dub his outrageous involvement of personal views in a public office, for they always manage to think that their atheistic, secular worldviews are soemhow neutral in a way that the General’s aren’t. But never mind the snipers, Sir Richard. Thank God for a man who faces up to the realities of life and death! Mike Beaumont, Oxford, UK

Blimey. Since when have the bloody “faithful” shut up talking about their belief? All the major newspapers have religious correspondents. All have daily references to God and the Christian faith. The rest of the imagined oppression (a Christian speciality…) is pure drivel. A secular worldview is, almost by definition, more neutral than Dannatts….

Fortunately it is not all bad – and I have had my fill of nutters, if you want to read more go to the Times article itself – for balance (does this count as “Both Sides?”) we have:

Soldiers beware – your military leader believes there is something good waiting for you after death! Let’s hope operational planning is not based on this delusion. ken Jones, Dundee, UK

and

It’s bad enough having religious nutters on the other side let alone your own. TomS, Essex, UK

Strikes me, as that says it all.