SecDef “Blasts” States Not Granting Homosexuals ID Cards

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel “blasted” nine states whose National Guard bureaus have refused to process requests for homosexual benefits at their state facilities.  In his Oct 31 speech to the Anti-Defamation League, Hagel said

several states today are refusing to issue these IDs to same-sex spouses at National Guard facilities.  Not only does this violate the states’ obligations under federal law, but their actions have created hardship and inequality by forcing couples to travel long distances to federal military bases to obtain the ID cards they’re entitled to.

This is wrong.  It causes division among our ranks, and it furthers prejudice, which DoD has fought to extinguish, as has the ADL.

The situation is intriguing, because by calling these states “wrong,” Secretary Hagel appears to be calling the citizens who voted state laws into place “wrong.”  If a state has a constitutional amendment that refuses to recognize a homosexual relationship — an amendment passed by the citizens of the state — it naturally follows that the offices of the state, including its National Guard, would adhere to those laws.

Secretary Hagel continued:  Read more

Moore: Preach Gospel, Promote Freedom, but Warns Chaplains

President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore recently spoke to the New Orleans Seminary and said Christians should advocate for the Gospel — and religious freedom:

The apostle Paul provides a model for how pastors and other Christians are to maintain “the centrality of the Gospel and the defense of religious liberty at the same time,” Moore told the seminarians.

Preaching from Acts 26:24-32, Moore said Paul both defended his religious freedom and proclaimed the Gospel…

“Paul here understands that freedom itself is not enough,” Moore said. The freedom Paul sought — and Christians today should seek — “is a freedom to do something … the pushing and the pressing and the pleading of the Gospel,” he said.

While some have advocated for Christians to abandon the political realm — an attitude of which Moore was even accused — Moore clearly says Christians have a duty to advocate for religious liberty.

Moore also had words of warning for military chaplains:  Read more

Baptists Update Chaplain Guidance Post-DADT Repeal

Several news reports over the past few months note that faced with growing concerns from its chaplains, the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board — which sends chaplains to the US military — has updated its guidance in light of the repeal of DADT and the open service of homosexuals in the US military:

“Our chaplains want to uphold the authority and relevancy of Scripture while continuing to serve in a very diverse setting,” said Doug Carver, the retired Army major general who leads NAMB’s chaplaincy efforts. “We believe these updated guidelines will help them do that while still sharing the love and the hope of Christ with everyone.”

In short, SBC chaplains must conduct every part of their ministry in accordance with the Christian faith — which reflects the “historic, natural and biblical view of marriage…”  The specificity and clarity was praised by retired Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.

The guidelines also seem to specifically call out marriage retreats, like the US Army’s Strong Bonds: Read more

Chaplain: Christian Beliefs could be Considered Hate Speech

US Senate Chaplain Barry Black recently made waves for his daily prayers scolding the US Congress during the government “shutdown.”

Though it was just as newsworthy, another address by Chaplain Black — himself a former US Navy Chief of Chaplains — was lost in the simultaneous hubbub over Michael Weinstein and his meeting with the US Air Force.

In his address to the Heritage Foundation in April, Chaplain Black noted plainly that Christian doctrine might one day be considered “hate speech:”

Military chaplains…may have problems Read more

Weinstein’s Imbalanced View of So Help Me God

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein penned half of a pro/con debate for the local Colorado Springs Gazette regarding the presence of “so help me God” in the USAFA Cadet Honor Oath.  Weinstein boils his argument down to this:

Removing those words from the published oath does nothing to change [cadets’ First Amendment] right [sic].

In balance, however, if the removal of those words affects not the First Amendment rights of believers, why would the presence of those words affect the rights of others?  Weinstein fails to justify his call for a change.

In one respect, Weinstein’s premise seems to be correct:  No religious Read more

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