Alan Dowd at byFaith, a production of the Presbyterian Church in America, writes a fairly thorough and balanced article on the state of religious liberty in the US military entitled “Christians in Camouflage: Chaplains in a Political Correctness Minefield.” After summarizing some of the more well-known “scandals” regarding military religious freedom, Dowd says [emphasis added]:

While some contend that one man’s evangelizing is another’s proselytizing, there’s more than a semantic difference here: Proselytizing carries a connotation of recruiting and pressuring, whereas evangelizing — rooted in the Greek for “bringing good news” — carries a connotation of sharing and inviting.

Christians — whether on the battlefront or the homefront — are called to follow the example set by Jesus. And it was always the latter. To expect Christians in the military to do less than this is to ask them to disobey their Lord. But to allow them to do more than this — to cross that line separating evangelizing from proselytizing — presents other problems…

The government cannot demand that a person confess, renounce, or practice a certain faith in order to serve in the public sector, which, of course, includes the military. Americans don’t want military personnel to feel that their service and/or advancement are dependent on espousing certain religious beliefs…

Of course, Americans don’t want military personnel to be prohibited from espousing religious beliefs, either…Chaplain Brig. Gen. Douglas Lee (U.S. Army Reserve-Ret.)…is concerned that “a culture of fear has come into the military since the changes made to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Christians in the military are not sure what they can say and when they can say it.”

That’s not healthy. After all, our troops are human beings with consciences, beliefs, and opinions. We don’t want them to be turned into unfeeling, unthinking automatons. While every American — civilian or military — has a right not to believe in this god or that god or any god, we do not have a right not to ever hear about this god or that god or any god.

Read more here.

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