This is a good place to blow off a little steam-many are frustrated and scared seeing all of our countries traditions and preciously held beliefs thrown to the wind. Try to be tolerant. Personally I wish non Christians would be a little more tolerant of Christians. Maybe a little more patient and understanding of the fact that many feel they are under assault. I mean no disrespect. Just offering a different perspective.
> This is a good place to blow off a little steam...
I realize that people like to blow off steam, and that in the West these kinds of threats rarely get carried out (not in the name of Christianity anyway — in contrast with what often happens to those who offend Muslims in Muslim countries). Still, such threats don’t seem to be at all consistent with the Golden Rule.
Putting themselves in her place, how would those who want to beat this woman up like having a rather involved religious ceremony — one that expressed religious concepts that they opposed — tied in with a mandatory military meeting, apparently without a clear point of separation and without giving adequate time for those who didn’t wish to participate to leave. That seems to have been the problem.
[If something had been said to clearly mark the division — like “That ends the mandatory part of the meeting. Those who would like to stay for the chaplain’s talk and religious ceremony are welcome to do so.” — then I don’t think she’d have had any justification for her complaint.)
Even without a clear division of the two talks I don’t think general references to God and other religious content amount to an establishment of religion (which I think the Founders took to mean something like the Established Church in England — after all, just a few years previously the Declaration of Independence had referred to a “Creator” and “Nature’s God”).
Still, it seems to me that the Golden Rule would require giving people time to make their own choices about whether to participate in religious ceremonies. It would also require refraining from beating them up if they complain that there weren’t given that time.
> ...many are frustrated and scared seeing all of our countries traditions and preciously held beliefs thrown to the wind.
The freedom of individuals to worship or not worship as they please — with due regard for the rights of others — is one of this country’s most important traditions. I’m frustrated with the growth of government myself, and with the persons who have risen to power.
The way things have been going, I don’t think it’s wise for conservatives to frame arguments in terms of individuals having to comply with the cultural and religious beliefs of the majority. It’s becoming more and more evident that the left controls the establishment in most aspects of American life. It’s in the interest of people on the right to fight for the rights of the individual.