Tag Archives: jimmy m. browning

Military Commanders: Religious Expression or Religious Coercion?

The Journal of Faith and War has published articles on a variety of topics covering aspects of national security, leadership, God, religion, and the military.

They recently re-published the 2010 paper by Chaplain (then-LtCol) Jimmy Browning, entitled “Religious Expression or Religious Coercion: Commanders Caught in the Crossfire.”  The paper was noted here last year, and is a brief but very interesting perspective on religious issues as they pertain to military leadership.

Chaplain (Col) Browning is now Deputy Commandant of the US Air Force Chaplains’ Corps College.  The College is part of the joint Chaplain school at Fort Jackson, SC.

Military Paper: Religious Coercion vs Religious Expression

On the continuing theme of military papers discussing religion in the military comes Lt Col Jimmy M. Browning’s “Religious Expression or Religious Coercion: Commanders Caught in the Crossfire.”  LtCol Browning, a Colonel-select, was an Air War College student when he published the paper in February of this year.  He is also a USAF Chaplain.

The paper brings an interesting perspective to the “conflict” between those who believe in a right to religious expression and those who believe religious expression is de facto coercion in a military environment:

[The] Military Religion [sic] Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is one group that describes itself as a watchdog against religious coercion…These groups are especially leery of evangelical Read more