Below:

• Jewish Endorser Backs Punished Christian Chaplain
• Chaplain Lawhorn Requests Religious Accommodation
• Commander Denies Request to Rescind Letter of Concern
• Atheist Soldier Derides Christian Faith

Jewish Endorser Backs Punished Christian Chaplain

Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim, a Jewish endorsing agent for US military chaplains, has publicly backed US Army Chaplain (Capt) Joseph Lawhorn — a Christian chaplain punished for sharing his personal story of how faith enabled him to weather depression [emphasis added]:

[YPS] believe[s] the Letter of Concern is inappropriate and will have negative consequences on all military chaplains…

YPS supports the right of all Army chaplains, regardless of their faith background, to incorporate faith and spiritual health into suicide prevention training. Therefore, we object to any adverse action, administrative or otherwise, against a chaplain who wishes to incorporate faith and spiritual health into their suicide prevention training.

Note YPS’s jab at the Army’s claim Chaplain Lawhorn wasn’t technically “punished.”

Chaplain Lawhorn Requests Religious Accommodation

Through his attorneys at the Liberty Institute, US Army Chaplain (Capt) Joseph Lawhorn has requested a “religious accommodation” for future training events he may be asked to conduct. He requests that, as a chaplain, he be permitted to speak about his faith:

Chaplain Lawhorn’s sincerely held religious beliefs are such that he believes it is his religious duty to offer both religious and secular resources to his soldiers. Accordingly, Chaplain Lawhorn requests a religious accommodation to provide both religious and secular information when he conducts suicide prevention training.

It’s a fascinating tactic, because, as the letter points out, Col Fivecoat has a high bar to meet to deny a request for accommodation. In the end, though, it is somewhat disappointing that a chaplain feels he must ask for permission to include both faith-based and secular content in his duties.

Commander Denies Request to Rescind Letter of Concern

In another fascinating development, Colonel David Fivecoat denied Chaplain Lawhorn’s request to rescind the LOC, but the focus of his denial is interesting.  Col Fivecoat said:

Your rebuttal…did not disprove nor dissuade me that your actions made it impossible for those in attendance to receive the necessary resource information without also receiving the biblical information.

That’s it. Col Fivecoat’s entire reason for not rescinding the LOC is the fact participants couldn’t get one side of the handout without the other.

Of course, that begs an important question: What rule, regulation, law, or policy did the chaplain violate in creating or distributing the handout? It turns out the answer is none: Chaplain Lawhorn wasn’t required to produce a handout to begin with, and he made clear no one had to take it.  So, it would appear Col Fivecoat has taken adverse action against a chaplain for producing an optional piece of paper with a broad range of information on it.  How is that bad again?

Interesting that no one found it harmful that those in attendance couldn’t receive the biblical information without the non-biblical information, isn’t it?

Atheist Soldier Derides Christian Faith

As an aside, it has come to light that the soldier who complained to Jason Torpy at the MAAF is quite vocal about his atheism within his unit, and even to his students. It seems he recently proclaimed to his fellow soldiers that Jesus “basically committed suicide.”

An atheist who proclaims his religious beliefs while complaining that a Christian does the same?

If only that was ironic.

Also at the Christian Institute, One News Now, the Daily Caller, and CNS News.

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