Posted on 10/26/2006 4:30:41 PM PDT by Coleus
When Lt. Cmdr. John Dickens, a Navy chaplain at Camp Pendleton in California, was assigned to offer a prayer at a change of command ceremony recently, he knew the parameters of his invocation. He asked for God's blessing on the outgoing Marine officer and for God's help in providing guidance to the new battalion commander. But Dickens, a United Methodist chaplain who recently served in Iraq, was careful not to mention Jesus Christ specifically, the way he frequently does during his Sunday services for Protestant troops.
His goal, he said, was to lend a spiritual tone to the otherwise secular occasion, without alienating non-Christian Marines and sailors who were required to attend. "When you begin to pray in a way that shows a clear affinity to a faith group, that could knock out a lot of people who could otherwise feel included in a prayer that refers to God in a way that all can acknowledge," he explained. "You may wind up doing greater harm in the name of religion than good."
The distinction between his prayer language at public military events and at voluntary church services on base or in the field follows Navy tradition and recent policy. But those customs are at the heart of a debate about a chaplain's liberty to express his own faith in a secular setting and whether phrases such as "praying in Jesus' name" could offend others and cause divisions in the military ranks.
This year, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter issued instructions that religious portions of events such as graduations or command changes should be "non-sectarian in nature" and that chaplains must "be willing to function in a pluralistic environment." Chaplains faced no restraints in "divine services," such as Easter Mass for Catholic sailors or Passover seders for Jewish Marines. Pentagon officials say the rules, and similar recent ones in the Air Force, just reinforced long-standing tradition, albeit in more detailed language.
But the rules triggered strong opposition from some House Republicans in Congress and from some religious groups, especially conservative evangelical Christians. Contending that any limits on prayer violate freedom of religion, they proposed legislation that would allow chaplains to invoke their denominations' beliefs in non-sectarian settings. "Chaplains do not leave behind their First Amendment rights when they put on a uniform," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Though a military graduation may be a secular occasion, the prayer portion of it is "not a secular moment any more. That is a spiritual moment," Land contended. "We believe if you have a God, you've got to name it. It is disrespectful to our deity, Christ, to not mention his name in prayer," said Billy Baugham, a retired Army chaplain who is executive director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, a group based in Greenville, S.C.
Non-sectarian prayer "is neutered prayer," said Baugham, a leader in the Associated Gospel Churches. Land, Baugham and others supported a House version of a defense appropriations bill that stated: "Each chaplain shall have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible." However, Pentagon officials opposed the proposal, as did the major associations of military chaplains. The Senate version of the spending bill did not mention the chaplaincy matter and a standoff between Republicans of the two houses lasted for weeks. Last month, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said he had not made up his mind about the "conscience" item, urged it be deferred for a full debate later.
The issue is expected to be taken up in the next Congress. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., who strongly opposed the original House proposal, said he wants to ensure that any rule changes do not allow the proselytizing and religious coercion that some non-Christian cadets had complained about at the Air Force Academy. Last year, a Pentagon investigation found the Air Force Academy had failed to accommodate people of non-Christian beliefs and confirmed that professors used their positions to promote their Christian faith. But the probe did not find "overt religious discrimination" and said incidents of religious intolerance were more misguided than malicious.
Strange. In WWII, after sea battles in the Pacific, the ONLY flag to fly ABOVE the Stars and Stripes was the Christian cross flag meaning that burials at sea were in progress.
Someone who gets it. Thank you.
At the same time that the military has ordered chaplains not to speak the Name of Jesus, they are proudly boasting that they have built a mosque at West Point for increasingly larger numbers of Muslim candidates admitted into the Academy.
This stinks.
I rest my case...
(see post #3)
Is it that time of year already?
Sorry. I agree. I want God aiding my defenders - no Allah.
Ah, now that's the problem. He's offering his prayer to the people present and not to God. I wonder if they have the power to answer his prayer since he isn't offering it to God.
Non-sectarian prayer "is neutered prayer," said Baugham, a leader in the Associated Gospel Churches.
Amen to that, Brother Baugham!
Remember what I'm saying here.....and apply it to those little nibbles you're hearing and reading about every single day.
We frogs are still in quite lukewarm water for the nonce........
Leni
A number of the Change of Command and Retirement ceremonies I have been attending have had civilian ministers vice uniformed chaplins. This may well be the cause.
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