Tag Archives: Religion

First Top Female Marine Chaplain Announced

The DoD announced that US Navy Captain Margaret Kibben, who was recently selected for promotion to Rear Admiral (lower half), will be the new head Chaplain for the US Marine Corps:

Capt. Margaret G. Kibben…will be assigned as chaplain of the Marine Corps/deputy chief of Chaplains/deputy director of Religious Ministries, N097B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.  Kibben is currently serving as executive assistant to the chief of Chaplains, Washington, D.C.

Kibben is apparently a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and represents the Presbyterian Church (USA).  She has also been a Chaplain at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Also noted at the Navy Times.

Troops Gather for National Day of Prayer

Despite a spate of controversy, American military members gathered for National Day of Prayer celebrations around the world. A Chaplain’s assistant in Iraq had a fairly basic explanation for the popularity of the chapel services in the combat theatre:

“I believe people are more passionate [in Iraq],” said [Sgt. Antonio Henderson, the brigade chaplain’s assistant]. “They get more into it. I believe prayer works, no matter where you are, but I believe people pray more when their lives are in danger.”

Religion and the Military in Pictures

The first set of pictures documenting religion and its place in the US military is now up on the Resources page.  Chaplains are shown “in action,” alongside the servicemembers with whom they serve everyday.

Many seem to be surprised by the presence of men and women of faith in the US military, and the fact that they can (and do) express that faith.  These pictures and those to come — all of which are publicly available — will show that faith has a fitting and integral role in many lives in the military.

Franklin Graham Prays at Pentagon

As promised, Franklin Graham prayed outside of the Pentagon yesterday before joining other National Day of Prayer events in the Capitol area.

At least one organization that opposed Graham’s invitation applauded the “religious freedom” that allowed Graham to pray on the sidewalk:

Rev. Franklin Graham may not have had all the bunting and military brass of an official Pentagon event backing him, but he managed to pray today anyway, and in what I consider a more suitable venue: impromptu on the sidewalk. There, any American of any faith can pray, without needing an invitation, without appearing to speak for the government, and without compromising their prophetic voice. Religious freedom is alive and well in America.

They are not the only ones to presume that Graham’s presence would be “speaking for the government,” and they are also not the only ones to forget the “religious freedom” of the men and women in the military Read more

MRFF Tangles with the Rules. Again.

Michael Weinstein’s MRFF has again demonstrated its tendency to hold others to a standard to which it does not hold itself.  It previously exhibited such behavior with its loose honoring of copyright, and also when it distributed letter from a member of the military, and of the MRFF, that was derogatory to military leadership.

This time, the MRFF (specifically, Bekki Miller) posted an email on their website written by Dustin Chalker (the plaintiff in the abandoned MRFF lawsuit).  His email was in response Read more

Franklin Graham to Pray at Pentagon

Despite being “disinvited” from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer events, Franklin Graham has said he will still go to the Pentagon to pray.

If President Obama fails to intervene to allow controversial evangelist Franklin Graham to lead a National Day of Prayer event Thursday inside the Pentagon, “it will be a slap in the face of all Christians,” Graham said Tuesday.

And invited or not, he’ll stand in front of the Pentagon and pray, Graham said in an interview… 

Graham says after he prays at the Pentagon, he’ll join the [NDoP] group on Capitol Hill.

Thirty-six members of Congress have reportedly taken the military to task over the treatment of Graham.

USCIRF Counsels Government on Religious Freedom

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan US government panel that issues an annual report on the American government’s support of religious freedom.

This year, the report indicates that the US government is becoming less concerned with “religious freedom in its foreign policy and national security decisions,” despite evidence of religious persecution around the globe.

In particular, the USCIRF took issue with the government’s recent semantic change that replaced “religious freedom” with Read more

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