Christian right says medal of honor should only be given to 'Soldiers Who Kill People' - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Politics Daily]While a divided nation last Tuesday finally rallied around one bright shining moment of patriotic glory -- President Obama's awarding of the Medal of Honor to Afghan hero Army Sgt. Salvatore Giunta -- a popular right-wing Christian commentator sharply split opinions even within his own camp. He blasted the award as "feminized" because it honors Giunta for saving his comrades rather than killing the enemy. The Army's official citation details how Giunta "exposed himself to withering enemy fire" during a daring effort to engage the enemy and extract his wounded comrades from an ambush. But Bryan Fischer, a columnist for the American Family Association who has often provoked headlines and consternation with his commentaries, read the narrative as hardly the sort of thing American soldiers were once known for. "When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements," wrote Fischer, director of issue analysis for the AFA, a longtime lobby on the Christian right. "That kind of heroism has apparently become passé when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them." "So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things, so our families can sleep safely at night?" he asked. Fischer based his claim on a line in a column in The Wall Street Journal by William McGurn, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. In the midst of his high praise for Giunta's heroism, McGurn noted that rather than "Rambos decorated for great damage inflicted on the enemy," every Medal of Honor awarded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "has been for an effort to save life." In fact, that's not exactly the case. The official account of the first Medal of Honor given for service in Iraq, to Army Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, shows how, among other courageous acts, Smith "braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons," losing his life in the process." But such details didn't stop Fischer from asserting that "We have feminized the Medal of Honor" -- a claim that sparked a string of fierce criticisms on the blog post that are continuing. "Your artciles [sic] reek of ignorance and evangelical stupidity," said one of the first commenters. "What utterly disgusting, false and un-Christian drivel," said one of the most recent. Fischer is hardly one to slink away under hostile fire, as he told me after a post last month in which he said that the firefighters in South Fulton, Tennessee did "the Christian thing" by letting a family's house burn because they were delinquent on their $75 annual fire protection fee. That was the column that had generated the most outrage among all of Fischer's writings, until the Medal of Honor article. But in characteristic fashion, Fischer wasn't retreating. In two follow-up posts he pointed out that he believed Giunta did deserve the award, and that the media "so badly twisted and distorted my words that they are accusing me of saying the exact opposite of what I actually said." My point in all this is that we appear to have reached a point in awarding the MOH that we are squeamish about awarding to those who "take the hill" as well as awarding to those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their comrades. Fischer reiterated his central criticism that "our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery." Indeed, while Fischer's column irked many of his allies, his views are in keeping with a strain of conservative American Christianity that frets about the "feminization" of the faith as evidenced by the widespread emphasis on God's love and mercy rather than his anger and punishment, for example. And some such Christian conservatives are also concerned about efforts to accept gay clergy and to portray Jesus as a passive, wimpy victim rather than a tough-guy martyr like the Messiah portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie, "Passion of the Christ." "Jesus' act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless -- yes, meaningless -- if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life," Fischer wrote in his original column on Giunta's Medal of Honor. "The cross represented a cosmic showdown between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and our commanding general claimed the ultimate prize by defeating our unseen enemy and liberating an entire planet from his bondage." With repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy still possible during the lame duck session of Congress after Thanksgiving, it's likely that Fischer -- and others -- will have plenty of other opportunities to make their point, and perhaps with more support from their own troops on the religious right.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/11/20/christian-right-activist-blasts-medal-of-honor-as-feminized-s/[/url] People like this piss me off :rolleyes: I'd like to see him go to afghanistan and get shot at, and then call the Medal of Honor 'feminized.' Giunta has more balls than he'll ever have.

Don't give it to soldiers who risk their lives to save others! Only to those who kill in a war that we shouldn't be in. Sigh.

Who else but Fischer? HE'S FIIISCHER! FIIISCHER! YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW WHAT, HE'S GONNA SAY NEXT! HE'S FIIISCHER! FIIISCHER! "Gays in the military gave us... six million dead Jews."

He seems like a guy who goes against the bandwagon just to get publicity.

[QUOTE=Darkebrz;26212022]He seems like a guy who goes against the bandwagon just to get publicity.[/QUOTE] Honestly, I'm starting to think he's a brilliant left-wing troll, who's goal is to make the AFA look as ridiculous and cartoonishly evil as possible.

I unfortunately thought it was referring to the game when I read the title.

[QUOTE=Zackin5;26212085]I unfortunately thought it was referring to the game when I read the title.[/QUOTE] Same here.

This is THE dumbest complaint the right has ever had, I think.

I don't even know how to respond, other than saying this guy is a huge cunt. I swear to god these "Christians" are becoming more un-Christ like everyday.

[QUOTE=Zackin5;26212085]I unfortunately thought it was referring to the game when I read the title.[/QUOTE] No, the game should only be given to soldiers who commit war crimes.

This guy has to be trolling. I mean, his views are just grossly... perverted. That's it. He must be doing it for attention, either that or someone else is sensationalising everything he says.

so uh soldiers protecting the ass of your wimp son who enlisted because he is overly patriotic no medals for those I guess

Isn't it a fact or something that only 20% of soldiers ever shoot their weapon in a battle? I read it on that online encyclopedia, cracked.com or something.

[QUOTE=Lukasaurus;26212201]Isn't it a fact or something that only 20% of soldiers ever shoot their weapon in a battle? I read it on that online encyclopedia, cracked.com or something.[/QUOTE] yes in the most intense hardcore firefights to someone trained on action movies it sounds like an one on one gunfight real shootings are not for pussies

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;26212114]This is THE dumbest complaint the right has ever had, I think.[/QUOTE] Oh there's been far worse, at least this makes a seriously twisted sort of sense if you look at it through their perception of the military, i.e. killing machine. Brian Fischer is a stupid cunt though, as is the entire AFA org. This is a pretty wacko complaint too: [url]http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/11/19/peter-labarbera-why-did-a-gay-man-get-treated-with-respect/[/url]

fuck Medal of Honor give me Metal Gear of Solid

The man was able to help his fellow brothers in arms out of a goddamned ambush without spilling anymore blood. That's a great man by my standards and he deserves to be honored for what he did. Also, "Fischer is hardly one to slink away under hostile fire, as he told me after a post last month in which he said that the firefighters in South Fulton, Tennessee did "the Christian thing" by letting a family's house burn because they were delinquent on their $75 annual fire protection fee." This guy must be taking us for a ride because I find it hard to believe that ANYONE could really have an opinion like that. And that whole line about how soldiers should 'kill people and break things so our families can sleep at night' is nothing short of infuriating. He doesn't think that our presence in other countries 'breaking things' doesn't terrify the local population? Contrary to what hyper-Patriotic elitists like him think, they are people too. They have rights and we're killing their countrymen and breaking their shit. I don't really care who is supposedly 'right' or 'wrong' in any war, I don't see in Americans versus Germans or Americans versus Iraqis. Both opposing factions consist of people with equal rights and neither deserve to die. Nonviolent conflict resolution is something that needs improvement among our leaders apparently.

Killing is now the only thing honorable?

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;26213316]Killing is now the only thing honorable?[/QUOTE] According to this fellow, yes. I'm just glad not many people share his opinion.

Good lord, Fischer! Have you gone insane? The missions over!

I don't think this one man represents the Christian right. Not that I like either of them, but still.

[QUOTE=DamagePoint;26211905]his views are in keeping with a strain of conservative American Christianity that frets about the "feminization" of the faith as evidenced by the widespread emphasis on God's love and mercy rather than his anger and punishment[/QUOTE] "Pff, God loves everyone? Dude, that's gay!"

what ever happened to thall shalt not kill

[QUOTE=ASmellyOgreV2;26213444]I don't think this one man represents the Christian right. Not that I like either of them, but still.[/QUOTE] He doesn't. I live in an area where probably 60-70% of people are conservative Christians. Some of them can really be hate mongering dickheads but the majority are good, understanding and peaceful folks.

[quote]"So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things, so our families can sleep safely at night?" he asked.[/quote] This has to be satire, right? Wait, that source. :ohdear:

[QUOTE=staticman;26211939]Who else but Fischer? "Gays in the military gave us... six million dead Jews."[/QUOTE] That's why I want gays in the military.

What a faggot

The hell? Is this idiot even thinking about what he's saying? "You're only a good soldier if you kill another human being."

It's a medal of honor, not medal of psychotic killing

Groups like the American Family Association are not exactly sane, they are very passionate to say the least about any perceived degradation of their faith. I don't think it would be fair to say that the "Christian Right" as a whole said this though. This is an example of their stupidity, but they do a lot more nonsense as well. Most of their crap tends to focus on virulent, homophobic stances. It's only in this case that their fellow groups (the Christian Right) actually call them out, while they can cover for their homophobic actions unfortunately, things like this are universally looked down upon.