Posted on 04/30/2013 3:53:52 PM PDT by markomalley
Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to rape and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.
President Mikey Weinstein and others from his organization met privately with Pentagon officials on April 23. He said U.S. troops who proselytize are guilty of sedition and treason and should be punished by the hundreds if necessary to stave off what he called a tidal wave of fundamentalists.
Someone needs to be punished for this, Weinstein told Fox News. Until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Fox News he was stunned that the Pentagon would be taking counsel and advice from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Why would military leadership be meeting with one of the most rabid atheists in America to discuss religious freedom in the military, Perkins said. Thats like consulting with China on how to improve human rights.
The FRC has launched a petition drive urging Defense Sec. Chuck Hagel to protect the religious freedom of troops and not to proceed with the purge of religion within the ranks called for by anti-Christian activists.
Pentagon officials met with Weinstein and his group to discuss a policy called Air Force Culture, Air Force Standards, published on Aug. 7, 2012.
Section 2.11 requires government neutrality regarding religion.
Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for an individuals free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion, the regulation states.
Military leaders were admonished not to use their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.
Weinstein said its time for the Air Force to enforce the regulation with zeal.
If a member of the military is proselytizing in a manner that violates the law, well then of course they can be prosecuted, he said. We would love to see hundreds of prosecutions to stop this outrage of fundamentalist religious persecution.
He compared the act of proselytizing to rape.
It is a version of being spiritually raped and you are being spiritually raped by fundamentalist Christian religious predators, he told Fox News.
He said there is a time and a place for those in uniform to share their faith but he took issues with fundamentalism that he says is causing widespread problems in the military.
When those people are in uniform and they believe there is no time, place or manner in which they can be restricted from proselytizing, they are creating tyranny, oppression, degradation, humiliation and horrible, horrible pain upon members of the military, he said.
Perkins said the military regulations have Weinsteins fingerprints all over it.
It threatens to treat service members caught witnessing as enemies of the state, he said, referring to a Washington Post article highlighting Weinsteins meeting with Pentagon officials. Non-compliance, the Pentagon suggests, even from ordained chaplains could result in court-martialing on a case-by-case basis.
The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News that Christian evangelism is against regulations.
Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense, LCDR Nate Christensen said in a written statement. He declined to say if any chaplains or service members had been prosecuted for such an offense.
Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome in specific cases, he said.
Ron Crews, the executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, warns that the Air Force policy would significantly impact the religious liberties of Air Force personnel.
Saying that a service member cannot speak of his faith is like telling a service member he cannot talk about his spouse or children, Crews said. I do not think the Air Force wants to ban personnel from protected religious speech, and I certainly hope that it is willing to listen to the numerous individuals and groups who protect military religious liberty without demonizing service members.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Weinstein called proselytizing a national security threat.
And what the Pentagon needs to understand is that it is sedition and treason, he told the newspaper. It should be punished.
Perkins said it was troubling the Obama Administration would place so much trust in someone like Weinstein.
"Unfortunately, it appears our military is on a forced march away from the very freedoms they are sworn to protect, he said. This language from Weinstein that Christians who share their faith or offer comfort to others from their faith in Jesus Christ is "sedition and treason" is a treasonous statement in and of itself.
But Weinstein said they count thousands of Protestants among their ranks and said they are simply going after fundamentalists.
As soon as we find a fundamentalist Muslim, atheist, Jewish person or anybody else, we will be happy to fight them but so far they have been few and far between, he said.
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, an executive vice president with the Family Research Council, told Fox News that hes deeply concerned by what he call a pattern of attacks on Christianity within the military.
Mickey Weinstein has a very visceral hated of Christianity and those who are Christians, he said. Hed like to see it eliminated from the military entirely.
If the Air Force policy is implemented, Boykin said Christians who speak of their faith could now be prosecuted as enemies of the state.
This has the potential to destroy military recruiting across the services as Americans realize that their faith will be suppressed by joining the military, Boykin said.
In the meantime, Weinstein and his group said they will continue to push for the Pentagon to fully implement its ban on proselytizing.
There is a time, place and manner in which proselytizing is not only allowed, but its something we support among our Christian clients, Weinstein said. However, you cant scream fire in a crowded theater and you cant scream Jesus in a crowded theater at certain times, places, and in certain manners.
Just.
Wow.
Honestly, I didn't think the country was going to be this far gone for another 4-5 years. This is fast.
It’s coming if it’s not already there . . . we have an anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, pagan, and pro-muslim in our White House . . . his handlers have no use for Christianity, which they’ve made obvious by their wholesale endorsement of allowing sodomites to flourish in all the barracks and the muzzling of the chaplains.
Need a Congressional investigation as to why this organization is advising the Pentagon. Need to fire some three- and four- stars who are allowing this. I don’t care if they end up begging on the streets. The country would be better off without them.
Of course they are going to purge the military of Christians. They’re not going to use the military against Muslims.
The problem with the speed isn’t the acceleration but the inertia. We’re moving at breakneck speed to pure Communism, and the people are none the wiser. American Idol is still on, Obamaphones are still available, EBT cards can still get you a 40 oz. malt liquor and Wagyu beef. When those things STOP being available, the true inertia of this nation’s descent will be felt as it slams into the wall of Civil War. It’s coming.
The problem is that nobody but Congress can violate the 1st Amendment imo. And the only reason that anti-religious expression judges get away with legislating religion-targeted hate "laws" from the bench is because citizens are not taught the difference between legislative and judicial powers.
What am I overlooking?
Jesus is the Way and every other way is not the way.
Hope that doesn’t offend you, Mikey.
Easy - if they discriminate against Christians, we sue the tanks off them...
Easy - if they discriminate against Christians, we sue the tanks off them...
HELLO Supreme Court!!
If they purge faithful Christians from the military, there will be no military: perhaps that is the objective.
I see what they did here. They've turned centuries of religious freedom into persecution in an extremely short period of time. You're right. This was fast. End times anyone?
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
I'm not surprised Mikey (what adult man calls himself "Mikey"??) said that he couldn't find "fundamentalist" Moslems. The leftists/Moslems in power are now going pedal to the metal to destroy our country. In order to destroy it, they must destroy the military - iow, turn the military into a tool for tyranny against we the people. Gutting the military of principled Christians is an essential part of this. I agree with markomalley - it's going off the cliff very, very fast.
Anyone wanting on/off either ping list, freepmail me. Sorry I've been absent from pinging, will try to be here more.
There will be a smaller military filled with homosexuals, atheists and Moslems. They will be the tool to finally destroy the country. Or so the so-called president and his handlers hope.
Honestly, I didn’t think the country was going to be this far gone for another 4-5 years. This is fast....
For such a time as this: http://www.patburt.com/
They don’t need Christians anymore. They have legions of fierce gays just knocking down the doors of the recruiting stations. Ankles away!
Just. effing. fabulous. Nothing left to do but party like the sun is about to explode.
Bring the troops home. What is left here isn’t worth getting a paper cut for.
And that is why islam is being pushed in public schools. Soon Christianity will be illegal because it “discriminates”. Wait and see.
“Weinstein spent over three years in the West Wing of the Reagan White House as legal counsel to the White House. He began with an appointment to the Office of Budget Management and was soon named the Committee Management Officer of the much-publicized Iran-Contra Investigation in his capacity as Assistant General Counsel of The White House Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Weinstein served as the first General Counsel to Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation and left in 2006 to work full-time on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit foundation he founded in March 2006. This foundation was formed as a watchdog organization to protect religious freedom in the military in accordance with Department of Defense Directive 1300.17, Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Services.[4][5] MRFF has been nominated on five separate occasions, spanning four consecutive years, for the Nobel Peace Prize.[6]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_L._Weinstein
He’s a Jew who hates Christians.
Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense, LCDR Nate Christensen said in a written statement. He declined to say if any chaplains or service members had been prosecuted for such an offense.
This is simply incorrect. The religious rights of service members on their own time is fully protected. The religious rights of those on government time is protected for the most part. For example, one cannot stop in the middle of the assault on Hill 109 and demand a worship service right then and there. Can that soldier say before attacking the hill, "Who wants to pray with me?" He sure can.
And can he say, "You need to believe in Jesus!"? He sure can. The same as anyone in America can at any point in time.
To say otherwise is to say that there is a government prescribed religion to which one must adhere.
From Army Field Manual 4-0, Chapter 13, Religious Support:
Chapter 13Religious Support
Chaplains, on behalf of the commander, provide and perform religious support (RS) in the Army to ensure the free exercise of religion. Chaplains are obligated to provide for those religious services or practices that they cannot personally perform. Chaplains perform religious support when their actions are in accordance with the tenets or beliefs of their faith group. Chaplain assistants assist the chaplain in providing or performing this religious support.
The First Amendment guarantees every American the right to the free exercise of religion. Title 10 requires the military to ensure that right to military personnel. The Army implements this requirement in AR 165-1. Religious support operations ensure those rights of free exercise of religion to the soldier, family members, and authorized civilians. This includes religious services, rites, sacraments, ordinances, pastoral care, religious education, family life ministry, institutional ministry, professional support to the command and staff, management and administration, religious/humanitarian support, religious support planning/operations and religious support training. Religious support also includes advice to the command on matters of religion, morals, morale, and the coordination with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private voluntary organizations (PVOs), as appropriate. FM 1-05 and JP 1-05 provide detailed discussions of religious support.
FM 1-05 says:
1-4. At every echelon of the force, the chaplaincy is the Armys primary agency for ensuring the right to free exercise of religion for Soldiers on behalf of the commander. The chaplains and chaplain assistants, from the Chief of Chaplains down to battalion UMTs, fulfill this core and essential responsibility. Based upon the requirements of the operational mission, a Soldier exercises this right in a number of ways to include:- Worshipping according to ones faith.
- Seeking religious counsel and care.
- Keeping holy days and observances.
- Participating in rites, sacraments, and ordinances.
- Practicing dietary laws.
One can't "keep observances" such as "witnessing", if one is prevented from doing so. The only way to tell a soldier that he/she can't "keep an observance" of his religion is to force him to follow a different religion.
My career as an Army Chaplain says this is not over.
The proper response is prayer and standing to fight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.