The U.S. Army is taking criticism for a slideshow presentation to U.S. Army Reserve recruits. A dozen lawmakers have signed a letter demanding the Army to apologize for a statement listing religious extremist groups. In the presentation, a slide labeled, “Religious Extremism” understandably listed the Klu Klux Klan, Al Quaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, but lawmakers are reacting to other parts of the list: Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism.
To Americans, this charged term reasonably incites an immediate, negative reaction. For the past 10 years, the U.S. has been bombarded with news about religious extremist groups terrorizing cities throughout the world. Because the list likens large religious groups in the U.S. to the very same groups with which this country is at war, lawmakers are understandably angry. A 2012 Gallup poll found 77 percent of American adults identify with a Christian religion, 23 percent identify as Catholic and 2 percent identify as Jewish. The presentation has effectively insulted more than three-quarters of American adults.
The list is clearly offensive, but is it that serious?
Along with any religious group come extremist sects. Al Quaeda is the global militant terrorist group that attacked the U.S., not Muslims. The Westboro Baptist Church has been termed a hate group, but it does not represent the better part of Christians. Even look at organized feminist groups like Femen. Although they get international press coverage, not all feminists protest naked. But to write simply “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” without specifying a specific extremist group certainly raises eyebrows and seems discriminatory.
The list was not distributed or posted to a website. It is not an official U.S. Department of Defense document. There is no official Army seal. But because the Army created the presentation for the Army, shouldn’t there be some oversight checking training slide shows to make sure all information in training is fair and balanced? The list almost presented a fair listing of extremist groups from around the world, but someone should have noticed that the slide singled out religions and not specific sects.
The slide probably mirrors attitude soldiers have coming back form war. It’s drilling into recruits the idea that any religion can have extremists and not just the ones most prevalent in the daily news. Unfortunately, the presentation came off as extremely biased and anti-Christian.
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