An interesting article at Army.mil notes the stories of Army Chaplains who serve everyone in their units, not just those who might share the tenets of their faith:
Army Chaplain (Maj.) Chuck B. Rizer, 172nd Infantry Brigade chaplain, believes all faiths — and even agnostics or atheists — can receive help from a chaplain… Read more
Much ado has been made of the GQ article which includes a slide show of government Top Secret briefing coversheets. The pages contain pictures of the military and Biblical quotes. (Ironically, the topic was a short lead-in to a completely different subject, which has been largely ignored.)
While interesting, the issue is a non-story. Read more
Christianity Today covers former Top 5 American Idol contestant Phil Stacey, who is also a Navy Reservist and Christian. Asked if he could “end up like Elvis” and have to put a singing career on hold to serve, he said:
I suppose being called up is always a possibility, but that’s what I’m there for. I enlisted not long after September 11. I felt like if I’m supporting the efforts our country is doing against terrorism, then maybe I should put my money where my mouth is.
His “big picture” view is also evident in his admirable perspective on Christian service in the military:
It’s a great ministry opportunity. I think it’s important to have a presence around those young sailors. For people who get out of high school and go right into the military, every opportunity for being bad is presented to you immediately in the military. They need to see that life is full and abundant.
Traditionally, Space Shuttle crews in orbit receive a musical “wake up call” at the end of their “sleep cycle” (“night” occurs every 90 minutes or so). From the NASA website:
Wakeup calls are a long-standing tradition of the NASA program. Each day during the mission, flight controllers in the Mission Control Center will greet the crew with an appropriate musical interlude.
Apparently, the music is chosen based on requests by the crew or their families. This morning, the Atlantis crew awoke to “God of Wonders,” as performed by members of Third Day and Caedmon’s Call on the City on a Hill album, for astronaut Michael Good. This morning’s transmission can be heard on NASA’s site. After the song was played, Astronaut Mike Good said he looked forward to a productive day that would “bring glory to the Lord of all creation.” From the transmission Read more
As previously discussed, the US military has said it destroyed the local language Bibles mailed into Afghanistan by a church in the United States. Dr. Carl Moeller of Open Doors USA, which has ministries focused on delivering Bibles and support for persecuted Christians, called the destruction a waste that was “beyond necessity.”
There’s certainly many organizations that could put them to good use…I don’t think it had to go to the degree that they took it. I think it sets a very bad picture of the U.S. military’s perspective on Christianity, and frankly that troubles me.
CNN also covered the story (video). In the end, the military’s decision Read more
The internet is awash with people calling for court-martial and other repercussions for the soldiers shown on al Jazeera (as discussed previously). Some have even said their actions are evidence of a larger conspiracy, and that they have endangered their fellow troops.
Problem is, they’re talking about fictional events Read more
Updated: Obama’s proclamation can be read here. Text below the fold.
This year’s National Day of Prayer is Thursday, 7 May 2009. As discussed every year at about this time, the President proclaims a National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May in accordance with Public Law 100-307 (history).
Much ado was made of President Obama’s failure thus far to make the proclamation, in addition to questions that circulated over whether he would continue the tradition of hosting an observance at the White House. (Former proclamations by President Bush, which normally preceded the day by several weeks, have been removed from the White House website.) It has now been reported that Obama will make the proclamation, as required by law, but not host a White House observance of the day.
Last year Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation threatened to add military associations with the National Day of Prayer task force (a private group) to his DoD lawsuit, though he never followed through on his threat. Read more
In an apparent response to the claims that it took things out of context, al Jazeera has posted a seven minute unedited video clip of the “Bible study group” in which the local language Bibles were shown. The original video, discussed here, was severely edited and has caused an internet uproar calling for court martial for the Chaplains and discharge for all the military members involved.
The fuller video is somewhat vindicating, and demonstrates that the al Jazeera clip did, in fact, take the Chaplain’s and soldiers’ words out of context. The Chaplain, accused in some places of illegal action, gives very good, very legal advice, and talks about the “hearts and minds” of the Afghani and Muslim culture. He very specifically, and very emphatically, says violating General Order number one is not the “sword they want to fall on.” Read more