Tag Archives: douglas lee

Christians in Camouflage: The PC Minefield

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 Read more

FRC Releases Latest Religious Liberty Report

The Family Research Council released an updated version of its “Clear and Present Danger” (PDF) (previously discussed in January). There are a variety of new issues added, including the removal of the POW table at Patrick AFB over the presence of a Bible, the Navy Gideon Bible kerfuffle, Col Marquinez’s banned article, Chaplain Joe Lawhorn’s punishment, Mikey Weinstein’s “Blessed Day,” Chaplain Wes Modder, Maj Gen Craig Olson, and court-martialed US Marine Monifa Sterling.

One of the more interesting ones was actually an “old” case recently added [emphasis added]:

Soon after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy was repealed, an Army chaplain of Lieutenant Colonel rank received an e-mail copy of a published article presenting some thoughtful points about the whole DADT debate, from a senior chaplain who was a Colonel. The Lieutenant Colonel chaplain thought it was a good article and sent it to his subordinate chaplains.

It was intercepted by his chaplain Colonel supervisor who indicated she was very angry Read more

Military Chaplain Conference Discusses Effects of DADT Repeal

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary‘s Institute for Faith and the Public Square recently hosted an aptly named conference on chaplains in the US military:

Chaplaincy: Ministering in Caesar’s House

“There is a growing negative atmosphere toward evangelical Christianity,” said Lloyd Harsch, church history professor and institute director. “Under the guise of tolerance, everyone who holds a religiously informed position is now viewed as suspect because they’re [considered] intolerant.”

A panel specifically on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal included retired Chaplain (MajGen) Douglas Carver, former Army Chief of Chaplains.  Carver specifically noted Read more

Panel: Chaplains Already Counseling Gays, Serving Atheists

A panel discussion in Washington, DC, entitled “Current Topics Facing Today’s Military Chaplains” included Chaplains (LtCol) Carleton Birch, (LtCol) Lisa H. Tice, and (CAPT) John H. Lea of the Christian faith, Chaplain (LtCmdr) Abuhena Saifulislam of the Islamic faith, and Chaplain (Capt) Jerry Seidler of the Jewish faith.

Birch reportedly said that the DADT repeal may be fairly benign for Chaplains, given that they’ve been counseling homosexual servicemembers all along.

Army Chaplain Lt. Col. Carleton Birch said Wednesday that chaplains already have experience in counseling homosexual soldiers and will likely be able to adjust easily to an openly homosexual military.

“I’ve counseled homosexual soldiers when Read more