Inspector General Releases Report on Military Religious Freedom
As part of the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress required the DoD Inspector General to report to Congress on the US military’s promulgation of religious liberty protections. This was presumably due to perceptions the military was being unresponsive to the wording in laws passed by Congress.
As a result of that requirement, the DoD IG released an initial report (3MB PDF) last week more notable for what it did not say than what it did. Despite specific congressional attention on “individual expressions of belief,” the IG report almost completely ignored that topic — though it admitted why [emphasis added]:
Virtually all…events in a service member’s career involve subjective, discretionary decisionmaking on the part of leaders and commanders. Identifying examples of discrimination based on conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs was unrealistic because those reasons would almost never be cited as the basis for the decision…Further, denials of promotion, schooling, training, and assignment are a subset of adverse personnel actions.
To summarize: Read more
There are innumerable Christians in the Armed Forces who do not embrace the standards of morality that are congruent with the MRFF. This does not mean that Christian beliefs are inferior to the MRFF suppression. Should members of the Armed Forces worry about being adversely impacted by the MRFF acrimony towards Christians? Absolutely, based upon the habitual actions of the MRFF toward Christians, to include their incursion even on a sermon I preached at my civilian church which will be concisely explained in this article. As a Christian, I have forgiven the MRFF for their attempt to stigmatize my sermon and I welcome the opportunity to respectfully dialogue with Mr. Weinstein. This article will discuss some of the disconcerting practices of Mr. Weinstein and how the Gospel can cure his loathing of Christians. According to John Calvin, “Without the Gospel everything is useless and in vain.”
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Despite the Supreme Court’s reassurance that their ruling would not impact the religious freedom of “religious organizations and persons,” a few groups are now using the ruling to call for an end to Christians in the US military chaplaincy.