Posted on 07/06/2005 11:04:32 AM PDT by pabianice
The news that the woefully misnamed Anti-Defamation League is demanding an end end to noon prayer at the US Naval Academy is the latest gasp from the American Left in its attempt to destroy the US and replace it with a noxious sludge of failed Marxist "multicultural" utopian idiocies.
In its assault on the free exercise of religion, Abraham Foxman@, the national director of the ADL described a lunch-time prayer as "a violation of the separation of church and state," one of the international Left's hoariest lies about the US Constitution and the founding of the United States*. Foxman stated that the noon prayer, which takes place when the 4,000-strong Brigade of Midshipmen assembles for lunch in King Hall, constitutes a mandatory prayer for midshipmen and is thus "unconstitutional" and unacceptable. Foxman noted that this torture of midshipmen is exacerbated by their actually being required to stand during the prayer before they can sit down and eat lunch.
As of this posting, Foxman had not received a response from the academy.
The noontime prayer minute is rotated among the academys staff of six chaplains so as not to suggest any religious preference. Further, while midshipmen stand during the prayer, they are not required to participate in it. Several news reports noted that concern about the Naval Academys noon meal prayer was generated by the ongoing controversy over reports of evangelical Christians proselytizing cadets at the US Air Force Academy.
In my opinion, this latest attack upon G-d and the US military is simply the latest, shabby, transparent attempt by the Left to hurt the country and its armed forces. The ill-named ADL -- started to fight real prejudice against Jews and other minorities -- has long ago degenerated into a thinly-masked Marxist organization devoted wholly to hurting the US and stamping upon the values most Americans hold dear. That such a patently communist, anti-American gaggle of misfits is run largely by my fellow Jews is, to me, revolting and a continuing source of shame for most other Jews. That the ADL is also in-your-face anti-armed forces in a time of war is all the more reprehensible.
The clowns and Castro suckups at ADL haven't a clue about the US military. It's been a long time since I went through the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola. I was one of two Jews in the regiment at that time and the other guy didn't practice his faith. Pensacola had two Christian chaplains then, but no Jewish chaplain. When the Navy discovered I was Jewish, they rerouted the base bus so that it pulled-up outside Batt II every Friday evening so I could go to services at Pensacola's only synagogue. After services the bus brought me back. After I finished flight training and joined the fleet, I was the only Jewish officer in a squadron of 430 people. Not once -- ever -- was I made to feel less than a fully accepted member of the squadron and the Navy. In my 21 years in the Navy and Naval Reserve, I often took part in changes of command, dinings-in, and other Navy ceremonies. At every one there was a chaplain offering a prayer. Always, the prayers were Christian. Yet I never felt excluded of "forced to participate in a violation of the separation of church and state (a separation, by the way, which is never mentioned and does not exist in the Constitution). One of the simple truths the dullards at the ADL will never accept is that G-d will always be as big a part in the military as are guns and chow...
We've got autocrats, technocrats, and, now, Demandocrats.
Bunch of a$$hats...all of them!!
Actually, official piety is a pretty good innoculator; I never knew a Zoomie (AF Academy grad) who was impressed with religion. Come to think of it, I never knew one who was impressed with the Air Force, either.
What is it with the left. First of all, I really haven't followed the career of Abe Foxman...but he seems like a bit of a screaming meemee. As with Guantanamo, they want to throw the baby out with the bath water. What use will closing a whole base or a whole school do to cure alleged abused I just don't understand Really I do, and it sickens me.
Vice Admiral Rodney P. Rempt
Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy
U.S. Naval Academy
121 Blake Road
Annapolis, MD 21402-5000
Dear Vice Admiral Rempt:
We write to express our concern about the Naval Academy's formal practice of requiring midshipmen to stand for an organized prayer before they may eat lunch. This requirement is deeply troubling, as it conflicts with a controlling federal court decision and basic tenets of religious freedom.
In Mellen v. Bunting, 327 F.3d 355 (4th Cir. 2003), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that organized mealtime prayer at the Virginia Military Institute violated the Constitution. In reaching that decision, the Fourth Circuit quoted the Supreme Court's observation that "one of the greatest dangers to the freedom of the individual to worship in his own way [lies] in the Government's placing its official stamp of approval upon one particular kind of prayer." VMI's regular mealtime prayer put a forbidden "stamp of approval" on religious observance. So does the Naval Academy's traditional ritual, and it should stop now.
Governmental institutions, like the Naval Academy, bear a special responsibility to respect the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. In keeping with the First Amendment, they must respect the rights of religious minorities and of those who are not religious at all. Consequently, such institutions may not permit any form of religious coercion among their faculty and student body, including compulsory prayer services.
We have the utmost respect for religion and for the enormous strength that our nation has derived from the diversity of faiths practiced by our people. Religion occupies a uniquely important place in our society - a protected place. But the sanctity of that place is jeopardized when 4,000 midshipmen of many different faiths are brought together for compulsory prayer - whether in a chapel or in a mess hall.
We therefore respectfully request that you discontinue the Naval Academy's practice of requiring midshipmen to stand in formation, before lunch, while the chaplain recites a prayer. We would also welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue and our concerns with you at greater length.
Sincerely,
Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Abraham H. Foxman National Director
Dear Mr. Foxman,
We respectfully request that you kiss our collective butts.
Dear Mr. Foxman,
I have read the letter that you have addressed to the Superintendent of the Naval Academy about the Noon Time prayer at King Hall. While I appreciate your concern about this tradition, however I find that your concerns are unwarranted. Since you have probably never been to one of these meals I would find your premese that this is a "formation" prepostrous. As an Alumnius of the Naval Academy I am well aware of the situation as it exists.
I believe that the founders intent in the First Amendment was to provide a nation where there was not a State Sponsored and suppored religion, unlike is visible in some muslium countries today (Saudi Arabia recognizes no religion but Islam). I noticed that you cited Mellon v. Blunting where a "supper prayer" at VMI was struck down. However you did not adequately research the whole opinion since,
"We also note that we[the court] are not called upon to address whether, or to what extent, the military may incorporate religious practices into its ceremonies. The Virginia General Assembly, not the Department of Defense, controls VMI."
The military does have a history of incorprating religious practices into its units and ceremonies as does Congress itself!!! There is a Corps of Chaplains designed to provide spiritual growth to military members. There is a Navy Chapel, Navy Prayers, and Navy Hymns.
You set forth the that the Naval Academy must,
"... respect the rights of religious minorities and of those who are not religious at all. Consequently, such institutions may not permit any form of religious coercion among their faculty and student body, including compulsory prayer services."
I would set forth that those rights are being respected since there is opportunties for midshipmen of many faiths to worship in their own way. This prayer at the Naval Academy is by no mean "compulsory." If a midshipman dosent want to hear the Noon Meal Prayer it would be easy for them to enter King Hall afterwards.
In addition Chaudhuri v. Tennessee the court set forth that "it does not seem to us[the court] that the practice of including nonsectarian prayers or moments of silence at [school] events creates any church-state entanglement at all." 130 F. 3d 232
While I agree with you that Religion should be a personal choice, it offends me that your organization would waste time on this issue. What you seek to do is build a wall between Church and State, something with according to the court,"...it has never been thought either possible or desirable to enforce a regime of total separation...," 258 F.3d 274.
Daniel Schumacher
USNA 2004
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