This kind of shit sickens me:

After complaints by a government watchdog group, the Air Force and the Army partially distanced themselves yesterday from a three-day evangelical Christian event this weekend at a Georgia theme park.

The Memorial Day weekend “Salute to the Troops” celebration at Stone Mountain Park is sponsored by Task Force Patriot USA, a private group that says its purpose is “sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all U.S. military, military veterans and families,” and whose Web site says “Christ is our Commander-in-Chief.”

In recent days, both the Task Force Patriot USA Web site and the newspaper of Robins Air Force Base, Ga., described the celebration as “an official U.S. Air Force 60th Anniversary event.” Along with speeches by evangelical ministers, church services and distribution of Bibles, the published schedule promised “hourly flyovers” by Air Force jets, performances by military bands, color guard presentations, a parachute demonstration by the Army’s elite Silver Wings jump team from Fort Benning, Ga., and exhibitions of Air Force equipment.

The promotional materials also said that an active-duty B-2 pilot, Air Force Maj. Brian “Jethro” Neal, would give Christian “testimony” during an outdoor worship service punctuated by a special flyover of B-2 “stealth” bombers.

I am so sick of the religious right trying to turn the U.S. military into God’s Own Army. The military — as a fully funded public entity that defends our Constitution, which guarantees the right of religious freedom, among others — must remain a secular organization in order to effectively carry out its duties.

Tacit approval of blatant sectarianism is unacceptable. It can only promote dissension among the ranks. If you want to kill unit cohesiveness, start pushing one religion above all others.

Further, it is unacceptable that the services aren’t better vetting the activities with which they are associated as “official sponsors.”