KMCAS OAHU HAWAII '69 - 72 SEMPER FI
Posted on 09/23/2005 8:47:09 AM PDT by FeeinTennessee
RenewAmerica alert!
U.S. Air Force bombs freedom of religion
September 23, 2005 RenewAmerica staff
Friends,
Your action is needed! Please send this to everyone you know.
As many of you are aware, on August 29, 2005, the U.S. Air Force issued sweeping new guidelines that essentially prohibit public prayer at all official Air Force meetings and events, except at worship services and under "extraordinary circumstances"--such as "mass casualties, preparation for imminent combat and natural disasters." Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is now thinking of requiring all of the Armed Services to abide by these restrictions as well.
As reported by Citizen Link, "The official pronouncement from Air Force high command cautions unit leaders against promoting faith--or even 'the idea of religion over non-religion'--in any official way or venue, 'including official communications or meetings, sports events or ceremonies.'"
These regulations are the result of buckling by Air Force officials under pressure from liberal lawyers and a few non-Christian and atheist Air Force cadets who complained about the religious atmosphere at the Air Force Academy. Even after Department of Defense and Air Force investigations found that the accusations were unfounded, the lawyers demanded that the Air Force issue these regulations or face a lawsuit.
Mat Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Florida-based religious liberties law firm, said these regulations are "outrageous."
"To say that you can only have prayer in extraordinary circumstances, I think is hypocritical and certainly not consistent with our founding fathers and George Washington--our first general and first president," Staver said.
And as retired Army Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis pointed out, "We're in a time of war. We're currently under unusual circumstances and have been since 9/11, and I think it is unfortunate that the Air Force has stamped on religious freedom and told commanders that they should chill any effort to express a faith in God, given that we have young men and woman that are dying every day on the battlefields."
Maginnis continued, "You know, we shouldn't have to get to a point where there is a disaster and bodies are lying before us before we invoke the name of God in a public way. And yet, that's the direction the Air Force seems to be going."
"We are a 'nation under God,' as our Pledge says," Staver said, "and once we forget that, we've forgotten our heritage. And once we do that, we're no longer America."
These new regulations are a violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. At the Air Force Academy, where cadets must live for four years before they can be commissioned as officers, denying them the right to pray is essentially telling them that they can't pray in their home. It is religious discrimination.
Does this mean that there will no longer be a prayer at USAFA graduation, that the Air Force Hymn will no longer be played, that High Flight is no longer the official Air Force poem, or that God is My Co-Pilot will no longer be sold in Air Force bookstores?
Congress created the Department of Defense, the Air Force, and the Air Force Academy, and therefore restricting prayer in the Air Force makes no sense, since the Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
We need to show the liberal lawyers and judges that they can't make up law or re-write the Constitution, and we need to admonish those in the Air Force who created these restrictions to respect the guarantees of the Constitution.
Below is the famous painting of General George Washington praying at Valley Forge. We think it should be entitled: "If it was good enough for General George Washington, it's good enough for me!" We encourage you to send a copy to every service man or woman or cadet that you know and ask them to display the photo on their desk in their office on whatever military installation or ship they're assigned.
Let's see the lawyers say that these service personnel can't display an historic picture of the Father of Our Country, who just happens to be praying!
Join the fight!
Please contact the following individuals and demand that the Air Force reinstate prayer:
President George W. Bush president@whitehouse.gov Phone: (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2461 The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20500
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld public@defenselink.mil Phone: (703) 692-7100 Fax: (703) 697-9080 Department of Defense 1000 Defense, The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 www.defenselink.mil
Honorable Pete Geren Acting Secretary of the Air Force pete.geren@pentagon.af.mil 1670 Air Force Pentagon Washington, DC 20330-1670
General T. Michael Moseley Chief of Staff of the Air Force Michael.Moseley@pentagon.af.mil 1670 Air Force Pentagon Washington, DC 20330-1670
General John W. Rosa, Jr. USAF Superintendent, U.S. Air Force Academy Phone: (719) 333-7749 2304 Cadet Drive, Suite 342 USAF Academy CO 80840-5001 Website: www.usafa.edu
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Because it's illegal. I'm sure there are many people who didn't join the army to be preached at and I for one would rather my taxes not go to religious purposes. Would be singing the same song if they put a stop to muslim prayers on your tax dollar?
Well, golly. Would you be singing the same song in, say, a free country, as opposed to North Korea?
No it isn't. But that statement proves nothing anyway.
It's more a case of "When the law is on your side, talk the law; when the facts are on your side, talk the facts; when neither is on your side, pound the table!"
Try to imagine a Muslim Continental Congress writing the Constitution that you are depending on to secure your liberties. Wouldn't have happened.
I can't believe I'm hearing this.
The Air Force has been holding public prayers for YEARS! So now, a few people get offended and BAM...we can't say prayers in public anymore. It's ridiculous! Our military has prided itself on acknowldeging God, and when a few people whine, it makes me sick. Our country is steeped in religious tradition, and to deny that is to deny who we are.
Freedom of religion.
It means that Congress shall not pass a law establishing a national religion that all must follow (a grievance for the colonists, as they were forced to join the Church of England prior to the Revolution).
It doesn't mean that religion itself must be stamped out.
This is not advocacy of religion; this is not taxes being diverted for religious purposes. This is simply a stamping out of public prayer. If anything, this is more unconstitutional than the previous status quo.
Thoughts??
From time to time I'm called upon to give an invocation (apparently because I'm not bashful about it). I try to be sensitive to the fact that there will be both Christians and Jews in the audience, so I choose my words carefully. I call upon God, which isn't going to bother either the Christians or the Jews. If there are some Muslims in the audience, they can interpret God any way they choose. Since Buddhists don't have a god, they shouldn't be bothered either (Buddha was not a god; he was a man who achieved Enlightenment). My approach seems to work. No one has ever complained.
"So why is this happening?"
Because a few idiot commanders have used command influence to engage in aggressive prosletyzing that goes way beyond the boundaries of propriety, and the Air Force isn't willing to fire idiots as the Navy is. So, instead, they make an idiotic rule to accomodate their senior idiots.
We are becoming the perfect little communists. Sexless, tasteless, and Godless we are rapidly becoming that which we once opposed.
Red6
Because a very few over-zealous folks in charge of different commands took it on themselves to try to convert the Jews and other non-Christians to Christianity on an official basis.
I remember a Captain in the USAF like that, during Basic Training. He decided that everyone either went to chapel on Sundays or did KP that day. So, on Sundays, the mess hall was populated with the non-religious, while the rest took most of the day off, even in Basic.
He didn't like Jewish airmen, either, and distributed Christian tracts to them.
He shortly resigned his commission.
KMCAS OAHU HAWAII '69 - 72 SEMPER FI
I opened my retirement ceremony with a prayer. I wouldn't of had it without a Chaplin. No one complained.
I hope it does blow over. It would totally suck for guys to be getting ready to go out on a mission, looking to the Chaplain for inspiration to get "Good luck boys. You're on your own" but sometimes that looks like where this is heading. Ugh!
Speak for yourself.
Ahem. Sorry - a little levity.
I live in a wonderfully free country by most standards.
Thankfully it's one where my tax dollars can't be used to preach to people about God, you guys can do that on your own nickel.
I LOVE that picture by the way.
Our nation is going in the wrong direction....now the military? No! Our soldiers fought for so much for us to have the freedom to speak of God (I'm sure they talk to Him when they are under fire daily and are in the trenches) and this is what we do? It's a shame!
You're aboslutely correct, because the Muslims use their religion as law which is a recipe for disaster. Just as if we had law based on the Bible it'd be a disaster.
I'd hate to live in a world where the Bible is the law of the land. If that ever happened that would be my cue to take up arms against the government.
A prayer for our country:
H eavenly Father,
you are the real foundation of nations,
raising them up to serve and care
for the people dwelling in their boundaries.
I thank you for making me a citizen of this land
of freedom and unlimited opportunity---
these United States.
S end forth your Spirit to this country
and make it a source of wisdom and strength,
order and integrity throughout the world.
--Author Unknown
Amen! This nation is HIS--Fee
Priests in my city (Philadelphia) have been raping little boys for years, this week a bunch of people got offended and BAM..now they have to stop (or learn to cover it up better).
Just because something has been "going on for a long time" doesn't mean it's right and shouldn't be fixed.
"Our military has prided itself on acknowldeging God"
Silly me, the whole time I thought our military prided itself on kicking butt.
"Our country is steeped in religious tradition, and to deny that is to deny who we are."
That's great, not everyone drinks that kool-aid however and I think the founding fathers realized that when they wrote the establishment clause.
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