{"id":41271,"date":"2017-07-07T00:25:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T03:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=41271"},"modified":"2017-07-07T01:57:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T04:57:01","slug":"retired-chaplain-norris-burkes-admits-giving-bad-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/07\/retired-chaplain-norris-burkes-admits-giving-bad-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired Chaplain Norris Burkes Admits Giving Bad Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"One of the roles of a military chaplain is to advise commanders on the religious rules and rights of both the commanders and their subordinates. Retired Air Force Chaplain Norris Burkes recently tried to capitalize<\/a> (again<\/a>) on his military career by publishing an awkwardly worded article in which he admitted giving bad advice.<\/p>\n

Burkes told the story in prose:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this about, Chaplain?\u201d asked the USAF squadron commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the fish, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fish?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes sir,\u201d I said, pointing toward the wall…Constructed of bent wood, it was a 3-foot-wide outline of a fish…<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, the Fish,\u201d he said. \u201cIt reminds me of Jesus\u2019 teaching for us to be fishers of men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aware we were both Baptist, he asked, \u201cDo you like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it…,\u201d I said, slamming the pronunciation of first person, I…<\/p>\n

\u201cI think some airmen find it intimidating.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is where the poor writing of Burkes’ article makes it difficult to understand. He ultimately makes two separate\u00a0insinuations: One is that it is wrong for the fish to be hanging on the wall of a commander’s office. The other is that this commander explicitly commended the Christian faith to his subordinates while they were being reprimanded.<\/p>\n

Burkes interrupts the story of the fish [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

Two airmen \u2014 one an atheist and the other Wiccan \u2014 told me how the commander had recently reprimanded them for a minor infraction. During the course of the scolding, the commander suggested that the airmen might call upon the Christian faith<\/strong> to stay out of future trouble.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a great deal of missing context — and it’s also a third party recollection — but for the sake of clarity let’s just allow that such a conversation, as portrayed and assumed by Burkes,\u00a0was inappropriate on the part of the commander.<\/p>\n

Oddly, Burkes never explains how the commander responded to that accusation of misconduct. Instead, in his story Burkes returns to the fish — and only the fish:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a right to hang that on my wall. No one can say I don\u2019t \u2014 not you, not our commander, not even our president…\u201d [Burkes replied:]<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the right to practice your religion, but using oversized religious objects to do so will likely incite complaints that you disrespect the right of your airmen to be nonreligious.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, sir. Some folks are going to read your fish as an official goal to hook them into converting to Christianity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So which is it? Did the commander actually say<\/em> something proselytizing, or was it the mere presence of the fish? The two are very distinct issues. Even if\u00a0a commander can’t proselytize in the context of Burkes’ assumed-to-be-true story, the fish is outright permitted.\u00a0 Chaplain Burkes\u00a0should know better than to imply it would properly “incite complaints.”\u00a0 Burkes should have been just as keen to counsel the Airmen on tolerance as he was the commander on being “intimidating.”<\/p>\n

Either Burkes’ column edited out important details, or his color commentary got the best of him, and the commander didn’t<\/em> proselytize: He just had a fish on his wall that subordinates didn’t like.<\/p>\n

Importantly, though, Burkes confession reveals an insight into the military that has been frequently denied. There is no policy that says commanders cannot have religious items in their offices, on their walls, or on their desks. In fact, military policies and the law actually permit them to do that very thing. (Granted, this is an old story, and recently updated language in the law makes that protection more clear.)<\/p>\n

Yet every now and then someone will come forward and say they were told not to have a Bible on their desk or a fish on the wall of their office or some such other restrictive advice regarding religion.\u00a0 The defensive response from the military has been that it supports the religious exercise of its troops and no such policy or rule actually exists.<\/p>\n

Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean that’s not what they were told.<\/em> Just last year an officer was told he couldn’t have a Bible on his desk<\/a> and an investigation had to ensue for people to read the policies and realize they were wrong.<\/p>\n

Similarly, a General officer was once told not to go to chapel<\/a> because it might offend his subordinates. An outgoing commander once told an officer he was allowed<\/em> to — but shouldn’t<\/em> — have a Bible on his desk, because, like Burkes’ easily offended Airmen, someone might be intimidated. All of this “advice” was given despite military policies to the contrary. It was an unofficial restriction on religious liberty perpetuated by self-censoring US commanders and officers who thought they knew better than those who wrote the laws and policies governing religious liberty and expression.<\/p>\n

One final note. Burkes ends his article with this lament:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy bottom line,\u201d [the commander] finished, \u201cis that the fish stays on my wall, Chaplain.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it did, at least until the commander retired a few years later. But by then, I fear he\u2019d scared away schools of fish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There Burkes reveals his blinders. Burkes sees the world through a filter of offense<\/em> rather than encouragement.<\/em> He sees a world where a Christian symbol can be neutral or negative — but he ingores the potential for positive.<\/p>\n

What of the “schools of fish” who saw the commanders office and were encouraged<\/em> by it? What would Burkes say to them — or do for them?\u00a0 It seems not much.<\/p>\n

Much of the US military has spent the month of June celebrating sexuality — including the sexuality of superior officers.\u00a0 How is it that knowing how a senior officer or commander likes to have sex is appropriate, but knowing they go to church on Sunday isn’t<\/em>?<\/p>\n

That’s the state of morality in the world today.<\/p>\n

As has been noted before, it is disturbing to think of the way religious troops were treated with Chaplain Burkes as the one who was supposed to be helping them exercise their faith and protect their liberties.<\/p>\n

It seems Chaplain Burkes preferred to be a discouraging<\/em> influence, rather than an encouraging<\/em> representative of faith.<\/p>\n

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