Posted on 09/14/2006 10:29:02 AM PDT by Dubya
NORFOLK, Va. - A jury recommended Thursday that a Navy chaplain receive a letter of reprimand for disobeying an order by appearing in uniform at a political news conference at the White House.
The jury also recommended that Lt. Gordon Klingenschmitt forfeit $250 pay per month for a year but suggested that the monetary punishment be suspended.
Rear Adm. Frederic Ruhe, commander of the Navy's Mid-Atlantic Region, must decide whether to approve the recommendation.
The jury of five officers at Klingenschmitt's special court-martial determined Wednesday that he had disobeyed a superior officer's order prohibiting him from wearing his uniform during media appearances without prior permission.
Klingenschmitt said he believes he was punished for making a political speech in uniform because he prayed in Jesus' name. He had argued that he was allowed to wear his uniform if conducting a "bona fide worship service."
"I will continue to pray in Jesus' name, I will continue to worship in public and I will not be broken," he said Wednesday.
He said he would appeal the conviction and fight to remain a chaplain. He said senior naval officials had already decided to fire him before the March 30 event, which protested Navy policy requiring nondenominational prayers outside of religious services.
Last December, the chaplain went on an 18-day hunger strike in front of the White House over the right to invoke Jesus' name outside such services.
"I will continue to pray in Jesus' name, I will continue to worship in public and I will not be broken," he said Wednesday.
Just boot this 10 percenter out...He's already proven to be a cancer on the COC.
If it was a political event, praying in the name of Jesus had nothing to do with it. Military members are not allowed to appear at political events in uniform.
I respectfully disagree. He's in the military and he's obligated to follow orders. We can't have thousands of soldiers disobeying superiors whenever they feel like it.
I just don't understand the problem here.
The guy's a US Navy Chaplain. So, he got a court martial because he wore his uniform to some type of political event in front of the White House? Is that it?
And now he says he's being persecuted because he's praying in Jesus' name. Well, if he's a Christian chaplain, of course he prays in Jesus' name. That's axiomatic.
I don't get it.
"The jury of five officers at Klingenschmitt's special court-martial determined Wednesday that he had disobeyed a superior officer's order prohibiting him from wearing his uniform during media appearances without prior permission.
Klingenschmitt said he believes he was punished for making a political speech in uniform because he prayed in Jesus' name."
I was pretty political my first time around in the military, but I carefully obeyed the law about wearing the uniform while doing my personal activities.
This must be one of the Christian extremists Rosie was worried about. /sarc
Klingenscmitt has lied and obfuscated his way through this whole fiasco. He claims that he had prior permission to do what he did but that is not true. His Command Chaplain told him it would be ok to wear his uniform and pray in public only if he was attending a 'bona fide' worship service. I think every reasonable person knows what a 'bona fide' worship service is and standing at a microphone in front of the White House and saying a prayer...for the sole purpose of illiciting the kind of response that he received...is not a worship service. This clown has gone on the radio and denounced the President, he'd denounced his Command Chaplain and his Commanding Officer. Everyone is wrong except him. He's a psycho publicity hound who should be drummed out of the Navy.
He's a idiot. He has no right to make a political speech while wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. He was publicly protesting the rule that Chaplains are not allowed to give "denominational" prayers in public in uniform and he wore his uniform while protesting that rule in public and then deliberatly broke that rule when he offered a public prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
That rule may be stupid, but nevertheless it is on the books and as a paid Chaplain in the Navy, he is subject to it. He has no right to wear a uniform while publicly protesting that rule. And pursuant to that rule he cannot offer a public prayer in Jesus' name while wearing his uniform, which he did.
This guy may ultimately lose his pension over this issue. If he has a family, then he is being a poor steward of that which God has entrusted him. Ultimately that uniform is going to be taken away from him. At that point he would be free to protest and pray in Jesus name all he wants. He might want to offer up a prayer for a new job, cause he's decided he's going to throw this one in the trash.
Trashing your chain of command from the top down is a severely career-limiting move.
I think he should have known, as he was a Major in the AF before becoming a USN Chaplain.
Having been out of uniform a long time, I'm a bit fuzzy on chaplain rules...but I seem to remember a lot of chaplain's praying in Jesus's name while I was in the Navy (most saying the words "as a Christian minister I pray in Jesus's name").
But, if he were at a political event, I can see why the service got so ticked because UCMJ regs forbid ANY one in uniform at a political rally.
If it was a political event, praying in the name of Jesus had nothing to do with it. Military members are not allowed to appear at political events in uniform.
Agreed, but this guy obviously believes that the rules don't apply to him.
And there will undoubtedly be some here who agree, that he should be able to break the rules because of his religion. Were it a Muslim chaplain who spoke at a political rally in his uniform, they'd be screaming to have the traitor court-martialed....
This fellow has been persecuted for righteousness sake : whosoever stands by me publically will be saved, the rest are lost, so saith the Lord Jesus.
This fellow has been persecuted for righteousness sake
No, he isn't. He's being reprimanded because he broke the rules. Rules he doesn't agree with.
I have two questions for you, timer:
We can't participate in political events in uniform because it gives the impression that the military is taking sides in civil, political affairs, and the military is required to be subservient to the civilian in our system.
This includes Klingenschmitt. And to make sure he understood this, a general officer (admiral) in the Navy DID THE GUY A FAVOR and gave him a direct order not to participate in that event in uniform.
Being a bit too full of himself, he disobeyed a direct order from a general officer. If he didn't see the handwriting on the wall, then he was a bit blind.
His issue about praying in Jesus' name was perfectly sound. Sadly, the numbnutz submarined a good issue by disobeying a widely known provision of military policy.
Could he be full of the Holy Spirit?
I think they're to confine themselves to non-denominational prayers if it's not an actual worship service of their denomination.
When we had a change of command ceremony when I was in the Army (way back in Vietnam), the chaplain gave a nonsectarian prayer for the invocation, and it wasn't in Jesus' name.
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