U.S. Army Instructor: Beware Religious Extremism of Evangelicals, Roman Catholics

A U.S. Army training instructor giving a training brief on “extremism” to an Army Reserve unit in Pennsylvania has labeled Evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholicism as examples of religious extremism right alongside Al Qaeda.

In addition to Al Qaeda, the instructor also equated Evangelical and Catholic “extremism” with that of Hamas, Sunni Muslims, the Nation of Islam, and the Ku Klux Klan.

When news of this leaked out, the Army was quick to say the instructor’s position was not condoned by the U.S. military, and that the portions of the power-point slide show used to list Evangelicals and Catholics “was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect [Army] policy or doctrine.”

Throughout President Obama’s presidency there has been a strong, top-down reaction toward what was perceived as a prejudiced focus on Islamist extremism under George W. Bush. No word yet on what actions might be taken to counter a prejudiced focus on Christianity and Roman Catholicism.