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they are mostly rebuplican because the republican party has historically supported higher military spending and expansion than democrats, who are more geared for spending on social services.
as far as religion goes, as far back as the roman empire religion has been used to inspire the sacrifice necessary from the masses to commit war. so it goes without saying, even today, religion plays a large part in our military.
your average atheist will put his life above any "cause". your average christian recognizes a higher calling and thus is a ripe resource for military recruters to show them a new path for serving a higher calling.
religion is used to find people willing ot sacrifice themselves for a cause......both here and in the islamic world. scarey, isnt it?
WTF are you talking about? The US Military, and I cant stress this enough, does not use religion as motivation for war.
Religion plays a small part of the US military. Its incidental. The vast number of people that I know I would say 80-90% are not active in any type of church or religion. They may identify with one religion or another but they arent actively participating. And certainly the command isnt using it as motivation to wage war.
Recruiter's use many things to get people to join the military
1, Most young men like to shoot guns and think its cool to blow **** up. (where other than the military can you do that and get paid to do it)
2, Alot of young men want to prove themselves and have a romantic view of war and what it's all about. (Again, the military offers a unique oppurtunity to do this)
3, Alot of people use the Military as a stepping stone to pay for college. Many states offer free or reduced college tuition for vets. This coupled with the GI bill allows many to go to college that might not have gotten to go otherwise.
That's a short list of things recruiters use, religion isnt in there. I have never heard a recruiter talk about how he went down to the local churches to recruit because it was a target ripe environment.
EP, of course recruits in basic training "find religion" during bootcamp. It's the only 2 hours the DI's arent allowed to mess with you. (though I never went and they dont mess with the guys who dont go either). It isnt religion getting them to go its the prospect of an hour or 2 a week where someone isnt messing with you.