December 19, 2009
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
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A research paper written by a U.S. Army major for the School of Advanced Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., calls for Americans to lose the evangelical Christian belief of pre-millennialism because of the damage it does to the nation's foreign interests.
"As a result of millennarian influences on our culture, most Americans think as absolutists," Maj. Brian L. Stuckert wrote in his 2008 course requirement at the school for military officers.
"A proclivity for clear differentiations between good, evil, right, and wrong do not always serve us well in foreign relations or security policy," he said. "Policy makers must strive to honestly confront their own cognitive filters and the prejudices associated with various international organizations and actors vis-à-vis pre-millennialism.
"We must come to more fully understand the background of our thinking about the U.N., the E.U., the World Trade Organization, Russia, China and Israel. We must ask similar questions about natural events such as earthquakes or disease."
He warns against the Christian beliefs espoused by many that the end times will involve Israel as God's chosen nation, a final 1,000-year conflict between good and evil and an ultimate victory for God.
"The inevitability of millennial peace through redemptive violence and an exceptional role for America have been and continue to be powerful themes running throughout the security and foreign policies of the U.S.," Stuckert wrote. "Official U.S. government policy expresses these themes in a number of ways from the national seal that reads Novus Ordo Seclorum – the New Order for the Ages – or the nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile known as the Peacekeeper.
"As demonstrated by American history, millennialism has predisposed us toward stark absolutes, overly simplified dichotomies and a preference for revolutionary or cataclysmic change as opposed to gradual processes," he said. "In other words, American strategists tend to rely too much on broad generalizations, often incorrectly cast in terms of 'good' and 'evil.'"
The Army declined to put WND in touch with Stuckert, reportedly assigned in Afghanistan, to query him about his monograph. But Robert Baumann, director of the graduate degree program at Fort Leavenworth told WND it was simply an "academic paper" like works at any college across the nation, "which is to say it reflects the author's own opinions."
"It has no institutional consequences," he said.
However, he could not provide information about whether the writing had earned Stuckert a passing grade for his course or even whether it was graded.
"The content does not represent anyone's views but the author's," he said.
But he also said he could not say whether any other writings ever had attacked a religious belief as Stuckert's work.
"Gratuitous criticisms of a religious point of view would not pass academic muster unless it was evidence based and argument based," he told WND.
Others were more blunt in their assessments of Stuckert's work. Blogger John McTernan, for example, called it "the most dangerous document to believers that I have ever read in my entire life."
"After reading this document, it is easy to see the next step would be to eliminate our Constitutional rights and herd us into concentration camps," he said.
"The last third is an interpretation of Bible belief on world events. This report blames all the world evils on believers! World peace would break out if it were not for Bible believers in America," he said.
WND has reported the U.S. Department of Homeland Security previously has identified those who hold fast to the basics of Christianity as possible terror suspects.
Full story HERE
