Posted on 11/15/2005 5:43:24 PM PST by conserv371
A pattern of hostility to free speech - specifically the rights of Christians to pray - is on the rise in our country.
We saw it in our nation’s public schools ... where prayer was officially banned. We have seen it in our workplaces.
Now, our United States military seems to have “jumped on the bandwagon” ... with Air Force leadership recently releasing proposed guidelines that will restrict how Air Force chaplains can pray.
If approved, these guidelines may well be implemented throughout the entire Armed Forces.
This is an outrage that we cannot allow! Already, it is documented that chaplains are “feeling the heat” to restrict their prayers and mask their faith.
Christian chaplains are being told NOT to pray in the name of Jesus!
For many Christian chaplains, praying in the name of Jesus is a fundamental part of their beliefs. To suppress this form of expression would be a violation of their constitutional rights and religious freedoms.
Furthermore, to censor Christian chaplains is a disservice to the thousands of Christian soldiers in the military who look to their chaplains for comfort, inspiration, and support ... just as military soldiers of other faiths look to their chaplains.
Again, we cannot allow these proposed guidelines to be passed. We cannot sit idly by while our honored Christian military chaplains are singled out and silenced.
I have assembled a senior legal team at the ACLJ, including a 20-year military veteran who worked at the Pentagon. We are drafting a legal analysis and comments to be used in this process.
Thankfully, a group of Congressmen has joined together to call on the President to protect by Executive Order the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith.
In response to this outrageous and blatant religious intolerance and infringement of free speech rights, the ACLJ has embarked on a nationwide campaign to PROTECT PRAYER and the constitutional rights of military chaplains.
In our Armed Forces, all faiths must be respected. Christian chaplains must be permitted to pray in the name of Jesus.
The ACLJ is working to generate a massive grassroots effort, to let the President know that we will not stand for this type of blatant religious intolerance in our nation’s military. President Bush must step in to protect religious freedom.
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bump
If Jay is putting this out...you can count on it...NO internet legend here!!!
>how can they do this?<
Actually, they can't unless we let them.
There needs to be a lawsuit, once and for all. The Constitution guarantees that government will not interfere in religion. And Christians can not sit back and wait for someone else to file either, or we have only ourselves to blame.
For more sources, go here:
http://news.google.com/advanced_news_search?hl=en&ned=us
put this string in the "all the words" box:
military chaplains Jesus
then hit Google Search
The best I can tell, there is tension in the ranks of the chaplains of
the US Military. My best guess is that the liberal Protestants are
feeling threatned at the growth of the evangelicals within their ranks.
I hope this is not true. And if it is, it better be shot down in a big hurry!
As a former Army Chaplain who is now retired, it is true that they don't want military chaplains to pray in Jesus' name. This is not new. What's new is that they want to codify it into military regulation.
Let's be clear and fair. The military is saying that different events require different responses.
1. If it is a worship service where attendance is voluntary, there is no effort to prevent a military chaplain from praying in Jesus' name. In my entire career, no one ever attempted to tell me what to pray or preach in a worship service.
2. If it is a military ceremony with required attendance by everyone, then they want to enforce this prohibition against praying in Jesus' name. They suppose that some in attendance are not Christian and should not be forced to hear the name of Jesus.
Many will say that the above request is reasonable.
I think not.
a. It prescribes a government authorized mode of prayer. The government says that prayers can be this way and not that way. Violates 1st amendment.
b. It creates a "neutral" faith that does not exist in America and then grants it privileged status. No such religion actually exists in America. It is purely a fabrication of the government, and as such, it violates the establishment of religion clause of the 1st amendment. (Finally, something that actually does appear to be the government endorsing a religion....and this time, the government has created it.)
c. It discriminates. Actually, our Jewish and Islamic chaplains are not so constrained. Jews are free to pray to God. Muslims are free to begin their prayer with their testimony to the supremacy of Allah. So far as I can tell, only Christians are targeted.
d. It isn't necessary. Since it is a ceremony, they don't even have to have a chaplain pray. They can simply not invite one.
e. It is immature. Adults know that pastors of different faiths have different beliefs and practices. If one insists on having a chaplain, and if the chaplain is a baptist, an ADULT would expect a baptist like prayer. If the chaplain is a Jew, then an adult would expect a more Jewish prayer. Allowing these chaplains to be themselves is good cross-cultural education, gives insight into the practices of others, and can be listened to in the same sense one listens to a National Geographic documentary on different religions.
f. Distinctions are unclear in some instances. Some occasions, especially memorial CEREMONIES for the dead have extremely blurred lines. This is only heightened by the presence of family members of the deceased, many of whom want a more religious experience to match their and their deceased loved one's faith. Some will tell the chaplain to have a memorial SERVICE instead, but the commanders want their entire units present to honor a fallen comrade. The lines between service and ceremony get blurred. This might also be true with a command Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other ceremony/event. It would be ironic that a chaplain be asked to pray to open a command Christmas event and not be permitted to mention the name of the one for whom the holiday is named.
g. Freedom is far easier to enforce than is regulation. Simply acknowledge that everyone is different, that they pray differently, and that that's what America is like, and there will be no need to police the thoughts and words of others. Freedom's far easier to enforce...because there is no enforcement necessary.... than having some barracks lawyer keeping track of everyone's violations.
Not supposed to admit they believe in Jesus, eh?
Why is the military brass trying to regulate religious beliefs?
As the daughter of an Air Force veteran and as the wife of an Air Force veteran, I went to base chapels every Sunday for nearly 30 years of 63 years of life. This news is so very sad.
No "Merry Christmas" from the Wal-Mart greeter.
No Nativity scene on the town square.
No Santa Claus on my Coke can.
I fear for what comes next.
But in my home and in my heart, Jesus is.
Isn't the Commander in Chief a Christian?
Those are current guidelines not the recently PROPOSED GUIDELINES!!!
Philippians 2:7-11...
"7": But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
"8": And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
"9": Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
"10": That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
"11": And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
You won't be able to in the future if you are an Air Force Chaplain. The Air Force wants to require many of its Chaplains to engage in sin.
..I said they were.
I think I'll send this to him.....he's a strong Christian and a Gulf War Veteran.
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