The debate over “don’t ask, don’t tell” reveals that virtually no one understands what is going on. The absence of discipline is impossible in any society, still less in the military. This means that the question is a “not whether but which” question. It means that it is not whether we will discipline servicemen in terms of a sexual ethic, but rather which servicemen we will discipline in terms of a sexual ethic. In other words, it is not whether we will have a set of imposed sexual standards for the military, but rather which standards they will be. As Lenin once put it, with much more insight than our fumblo-rulers, “Who? Whom?”
The public discussion has thus far, in its sophomoric talking points way, addressed whether straight servicemen are willing to “serve alongside” their openly homosexual peers. This question would obviously include evangelical Christians. But this is not the question at all.
Anybody who has spent any time in the military knows that it is not a bastion of righteous behavior. If you join, you will serve alongside fornicators and drunks, and you will learn how to work together with them. Adding patriotic poofters to the mix is a non-issue, and barely worth discussing.
The issue is this. Homosexual behavior in the ranks is now being considered as a protected and honorable lifestyle choice. This means that if an evangelical Christian witnesses to his crewmates, and he says that Jesus died to liberate them from their sins, and somebody says, “Like what, fer instance,” he can still say “drunkenness, cocaine use, gambling away your family’s paycheck, sleeping with hookers in Naples, laziness, stealing, and adultery.” But if he now includes sodomy, then if someone complains about him (and someone will), the witnessing Christian will be subject to the discipline of the service.
It was the case that someone could be discharged from the service for openly defying the law of God. We are not moving from that to a neutral position. We are moving from that to a position that will discipline servicemen for honoring the law of God. There is no middle ground.