this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.

From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.

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[–] shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Religion can certainly be problematic but I think its worth bringing up how monotheism specifically acts as a mind virus at its worst. It's inherently exclusivist and closed minded, priming people to see those that don't believe in their god as not human and can even act as justification to bring pain, suffering and death upon nonbelievers. It's also inherently centralized and authoritarian which is why it to works synergistically with oppressive forms of governence.

Polytheism is riddled with mystical thinking but, generally, beleiving in more than one god makes it more difficult to use it as a justification to hurt people that don't believe in your god. By having a wide variety of divinities it is naturally decentralized.

Christianity wiped out Roman polytheism with relative ease and ushered in a millenia long dark age. Politicians/Rulers of long past and even today recognize the coercive and unifying power of monotheism and are often keen to wield it to stamp out dissent and concentrate power.

Monotheism is also effective at priming people to accept autocracy. If you believe in one supreme all knowing deterministic god then it's not that hard to believe in a human ruler wield absolute power as god's chosen one.

Democracy and monotheism in many way incompatible phiosophies. It's why the Greeks, South Asian and indigineous confederacies were able to arrive at democractic systems at various periods in history (they were not monotheist) and also why the West had to institute seperation of church and state to become democratic.

I say this not to disparage spirituality as a whole. I personally have been made better by it and believe that it's core to the human experience but acknowledge that some do not feel a need for it. What we need to be wary of is monotheism. It has brought great civilizations to ruin and promotes conformity of thought which stifles human ingenuity.