Month: August 2010

Christian Military Perspective: Pagans, Religious Freedom, and Officership

Recent articles have highlighted the moral struggle faced by Christian men and women in the US military.  When the US Air Force Academy established an official area for pagan congregation, it aroused a wide variety of emotions, from those who found the pagan belief system repulsive to those who felt anyone should be free to do as they please.  Military Christians, too, experienced tension between the tenets of their faith and the dictates of their profession.

Following an article documenting the creation of the Academy pagan area, a commenter highlighted this very conflict (as she intended) when she asked:

That’s great news…It shows a willingness to be accepting of “other” faiths. Don’t you think it’s great news?

Is the creation of a pagan circle at the US Air Force Academy “great news?”  There are two distinct perspectives at issue, that of a Christian and that of a member of the military.  Ultimately, they form the perspective of a military Christian.  Read more

Wikileaks “Morally Guilty,” Alleged Source Outspoken, Lonely

Army PFC Bradley Manning has been highlighted by a variety of papers from around the world and even his hometown.  Manning is the alleged “leaker” of the “collateral murder” video, and has apparently been implicated in the latest “WikiLeaks” releases as well.

Interestingly, news reports continue to focus on his personality as non-religious, withdrawn, and needy:

Those who went to school with him say he was often frustrated that others didn’t listen to his views on politics or religion; those views often differed from those of his peers…

In a series of online conversations with a stranger, a fellow computer enthusiast, Manning wrote about feelings of isolation.

He said the feelings stem from growing up without religious views in a very church-based town.  Read more

Government Prayers Continue to be Treated Differently

In a flashback to an item noted earlier this month, the city of Phoenix, AZ, was extremely grateful for the prayer at a City Council meeting led by Hindu Rajan Zed.

[Zed] started and ended the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work. Zed sprinkled few drops of sacred water from river Ganga in India around the podium before the prayer.

Zed also provided the Mayor and the AZ Secretary of State with a copy of the religious text Bhagavad-Gita.

Meanwhile, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State continues to complain about Christian prayers in other cities, as has the ACLU in the past.  Even Read more

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