	Bob Hostetler > Writing

Four Things You Can't Say in America

by Bob Hostetler

It happened about five months ago. In church.

Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, spoke at an annual "Patriotic Service," held to honor veterans at the Good Shepherd Community Church in Sandy, Oregon. The service was full of veterans and active-duty personnel, many-like Boykin-in military uniform.

But three weeks ago, the L.A. Times broke the story, so to speak, on Boykin's four-month-old remarks. An editorial accompanied the report, judging, "A Christian extremist in a high Defense post can only set back the U.S. approach to the Muslim world."

What did this "extremist" say... in uniform... to a roomful of church-goers... that prompted the L.A. Times expose? Well, to be fair, it wasn't just in June. He also said some things the previous January. And way back in 2002. That's not exactly "breaking news." But it turns out that a number of Boykin's comments were things you really can't say anymore in America.

"The enemy is Satan." It has been reported-inaccurately-that Boykin called Islam a "Satanic" religion. And ABC's Peter Jennings paraphrased him (again inaccurately) as saying "that the war on terrorism is God's war against Satan." What he said was (showing a slide of Osama bin Laden): "Is he the enemy?" And, showing a slide of Saddam Hussein: "Or is this man the enemy?" Then he added, "The enemy is none of these people I have showed you here. The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He's called the [Prince] of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan." In other words, there are spiritual forces promoting evil in the world today, and all that evil is part of a grand design, not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but all around us. But it turns out, General Boykin, that you really can't say such things in America today; your comment offends on so many levels. It offends naturalists, who think a belief in a supernatural evil being is just plain loony. It offends relativists, who don't believe in such absolutes as good and evil. And it offends delusionists, who think Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are motivated only by the purest of motives.
"America is a Christian nation." NBC's Lisa Meyers played video of Boykin's comments in June, in which he advanced the view that Islamic radicals hate America because we're a Christian nation, which NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin called "a dangerous, extreme and pernicious view." See, you just can't say that, General. Sure, you have first amendment rights. Sure, you were speaking in a church. Sure, you said nothing that George Washington didn't say many times. But whether it's true these days or not, it's just not kosher anymore, if you'll pardon the phrase. You can call America any number of names, but "Christian" is not one of them.
"God put [George W. Bush] in the White House 'for a time such as this.'" This may have been the general's worst offense. Sure, Boykin's Bible says that "The authorities that exist have been established by God" (Romans 13:1, NIV). But you can't go around saying that about a president whose opponents not only disagree with but actively hate him... not unless you want to bring down the L.A. Times, NBC, ABC, and CBS on your head!
"My God was a real God, and his was an idol." NBC's report went back to a January 2003 audio recording of Boykin (this time in a Baptist church in Florida) to find irrefutable evidence of Boykin actually saying that he believed his God was real. That's bad enough. But he also called the god of Somali warlord Osman Ato an idol. That god happened to be Allah, so Boykin-in a Christian church-called Allah an idol. That's bad, really bad. You see, General Boykin, it's not that the news media don't know that Christianity , Judaism, and Islam itself are all monotheistic religions-that is, that they believe in one true God, making all the rest mere idols in their view. It's that they don't think you should say that. Not in America. Not even in church.

CBS's Dan Rather Rather framed the issue regarding "a U.S. Army general who says publicly that God put George Bush in the White House. The issue is this: No matter how strongly he may believe it, should or should not an American general, in uniform, be publicly proclaiming it to the world?" Perhaps Rather was unaware that Boykin's remarks were not proclaimed "to the world" until he, Brokaw, Jennings, and the LA Times got into the act. But knowingly or unknowingly, his words are a warning to us all: There are some things you just can't say in America anymore, and the self-appointed religious speech monitors of the media will get you if you do.

This article appeared in the November 7, 2003 edition of the Hamilton Journal-News.

More articles by Bob Hostetler...