US military Chaplains serve all. They serve regardless of faith or lack thereof. They provide counsel and reassurance independent of affiliation. While staying true to their own religious tenets, they aggressively support all personnel with whatever they require to meet their spiritual and religious needs.
That’s why it is not surprising that a US military Chaplain recently handed out religious texts to local Iraqis. Read more
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then, I said, Here am I; Send me.” – Isaiah 6:8
From a recent article by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s researcher:
[This] Bible verse…was the theme of Secretary of the Army Pete Geren’s commencement address at West Point last year. Geren opened and closed his speech by quoting the verse, and, throughout his speech, painted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a religious struggle.
The entire text of Geren’s commencement speech, given to the US Military Academy in 2008, is available online. He mentions a religious topic four times, none as conspiratorial as the MRFF asserts. Each citation follows: Read more
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the IRS claiming that Liberty University was violating the federal tax code (as a tax-exempt entity) by “banning” a Democratic group while allowing a Republican one.
Liberty Counsel, the legal arm of the Falwell associated group that includes Liberty University, has responded by filing its own complaint to the IRS, claiming that AU uses IRS complaints as a means to “intimidate, silence, and harm” those with whom it disagrees. Read more
Much ado has been made of the GQ article which includes a slide show of government Top Secret briefing coversheets. The pages contain pictures of the military and Biblical quotes. (Ironically, the topic was a short lead-in to a completely different subject, which has been largely ignored.)
While interesting, the issue is a non-story. Read more
Christianity Today covers former Top 5 American Idol contestant Phil Stacey, who is also a Navy Reservist and Christian. Asked if he could “end up like Elvis” and have to put a singing career on hold to serve, he said:
I suppose being called up is always a possibility, but that’s what I’m there for. I enlisted not long after September 11. I felt like if I’m supporting the efforts our country is doing against terrorism, then maybe I should put my money where my mouth is.
His “big picture” view is also evident in his admirable perspective on Christian service in the military:
It’s a great ministry opportunity. I think it’s important to have a presence around those young sailors. For people who get out of high school and go right into the military, every opportunity for being bad is presented to you immediately in the military. They need to see that life is full and abundant.
As noted at the Huffington Post, al Jazeera has posted a news article and segment (video on YouTube) showing military Chaplains in the Middle East with Bibles in the local language and preaching “conversion.”
While seemingly inflammatory on its face (as evidenced by the outrage in subsequent comments on the websites), the newsreel is actually an “exercise in context.” For example, it highlights this quote, also re-posted in both the al Jazeera and Huffington Post articles:
[T]he chaplains appear to have found a way around the regulation known as General Order Number One.
“Do we know what it means to proselytise?” Captain Emmit Furner, a military chaplain, says to the gathering.
“It is General Order Number One,” an unidentified soldier replies.
But [another soldier] says “you can’t proselytise but you can give gifts.”
The voiceover then continues, and the Huffington article goes on to emphasize the crime of conversion in Afghanistan.
Both ignore the significance of the very next statement by the Chaplain, which is almost obscured by the al Jazeera narrator. Read more
United Airlines has reportedly settled a lawsuit with a female aircrew member who complained of repeatedly finding pornographic material on the flight deck of her aircraft.
Court documents show that Stout, a United 737 captain based out of Seattle, found pornographic photos of women on more than 20 flights in 2004 and 2005…The photos were mostly found in hidden spots, such as under a cap on [the] “stick shaker,” or taped to the lid of the unused ashtray.
The reason this is of even remote interest to military Christians (particularly aviators) is that the allegation appears to duplicate a long military tradition Read more
In an era where the most vocal concern about religion in the military is “illegal Christian proselytizing,” Newsweek carries the opposite side of the story: a US Army soldier who was “proselytized” by the Islamic prisoners he oversaw.
Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks [of the 463rd Military Police Company] had been a guard at Guantánamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as “the General” [in] early 2004… Read more