Huffman, 29 other lawmakers call for investigation into claims of end times ideology driving Iran war

A handful of Congressional Freethought Caucus members, including North Coast U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, called for an investigation into reports that military commanders are using religious ideology to justify the war in Iran.

“Some commanders have reportedly told subordinates that the American and Israeli attacks will hasten the return of Jesus Christ, and have cited passages from the Book of Revelation and instructed officers to tell their troops that current combat operations are all part of God’s divine plan,” the letter signed by 30 members of Congress states. “If accurate, these outrageous statements — justifying a war based on interpretations of biblical prophecies, and informing troops that they are risking their lives to advance a specific religious vision — raises not only glaring Constitutional concerns, but potential violations of Department of Defense regulations regarding religious neutrality and breaches of professional obligations and standards expected of military leadership.”

Since Feb. 28, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received more than 200 calls from more than 50 military installations reporting “pronouncements from their Christian zealot commanders,” a posting on the organization’s website states.

Huffman called out the reports from troops in a social media post on Tuesday.

“Officers are telling (the Military Religious Freedom Foundation) that this war with Iran is part of biblical prophecy, that Donald Trump has been anointed by God, and that we are manifesting biblical prophecy to hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” Huffman said in the post. “This is exactly the kind of religious extremism that our Constitution was designed to protect us from, and unfortunately, what we’re hearing with today’s news, which is not all that surprising to people like me that are in the trenches fighting for true religious freedom, is that we now have this biblical prophecy operating as policy within our military.”

Huffman, and the letter from lawmakers, say extremist religious views are pervasive in government.

“Right now, extremists are enacting foreign policy, and in this case, life and death stuff involving war powers based on their interpretation of biblical prophecy,” Huffman said. “That is really an unthinkable and dangerous situation.”

The letter from lawmakers to the inspector general calls for an investigation and report to Congress on multiple issues, including whether officers said “military operations against Iran are part of a religious prophesy, divine plan, or apocalypict religious event”; whether those statements violate policies on religious liberty; the scope of the complaints; what training exists on religious neutrality; and whether those who reported complaints experienced retaliation.