Posted on 12/22/2005 3:29:28 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
WASHINGTON, December 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) issued a report today on efforts to protect the constitutional right of U.S. military chaplains to pray according to their faith.
160,000 people from across the United States have signed on to a national petition urging President Bush to enact an Executive Order protecting the constitutional rights of military chaplains to pray according to their faith. The petition campaign is in conjunction with efforts underway in Congress – spearheaded by Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina – urging President Bush to act.
ACLJ states that “Military chaplains play a vital role in providing comfort and spiritual support for our men and women who serve this country protecting our freedoms. It is troubling to learn that efforts are underway inside the military to censor chaplains and to prevent them from praying according to their faith. The fact is that chaplains have a constitutional right to adhere to the religious expressions of their faith and exercise them freely without censorship. For Christian chaplains to refrain from praying in the name of Jesus, as some have suggested, represents a serious disservice not only to the chaplains but to the many Christian service men and women who turn to their chaplains for comfort, inspiration, and support.”
In addition to working with members of Congress and conducting a national petition campaign in support of military prayer, ACLJ also provided the Air Force with a legal analysis of proposed guidelines, which would restrict how Air Force chaplains can pray. In its analysis, it concluded that Air Force chaplains – and all military chaplains – have a constitutional right to pray according to their faith. They recommended that the Air Force abide by legal precedent, which supports the constitutionality of faith-specific prayer for military chaplains.
In an October 25th letter, Rep. Jones requested that President Bush, as Commander and Chief, “protect by Executive Order the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith.” Nearly 75 members of Congress have signed on to the letter sent to President Bush.
Isn't prayer a part of the job description? This is REALLY weird!!!
Wait a minute, hold the phone - what exactly are these "guidelines" and who came up with them? I think this article's missing some critical pertinent information.
BTTT
Total Political Correctness infested in our Military Brass from what i hear on THIS subject anyway .
wow
The way I got the story from a radio interview of a chaplain under fire, they can't use words specific to one religion. Such as 'Jesus'. It's all got to be very p.c., nonsectarian, non-offensive...non-Christian.
Anti-Christian, perhaps????
Capt Melinda Morton
She is to blame for starting this witch hunt at the Air Force Academy and whining to the New York Times about Evangelicals.
She was a chaplain herself (an ordained Lutheran minister), but she was hostile to biblical Christians the way Linda Blair was hostile to holy water.
Might Capt. Morton be from, er..let us say.. a well known Greek island (Lesbos)?
Well, (true) Christianity is the left's (and another's) greatest nemesis.
She's ELCA Lutheran, I believe. True Lutherans wouldn't have her.
If you believe in this right, try running a prison where the indians want peyote or the rastas want gonja. Or Santaria and on and on.
The problem here is that the military occasionally does something really stupid and the president should stop it.
Wow! What a BULL DYKE...
Sixty-one years ago this week, G.I.'s in the Ardennes Forest said a lot of prayers. I bet many of the prayers included the word "Jesus."
you'd have to pretty pretty dishonest to sign such a petition. (more nuts out there than I realized)
She is also a lawyer. I know her quite well, and she is a [blank] - her husband is a lawyer as well. She was recalled to active duty by a female Air Force Chief of Chaplsins, another woman I happen to know. Many of suspect there was an agenda behind the whole affair!
To avoid creating a generic "military" denomination, chaplains are expected to maintain and exercise the distinctives of their endorsing denominations. At the same time, they are expected to enable the religious practices of all soldiers in their command. It falls under the rubric of "provide or perform" religious support. We either "perform" according to the dictates of our endorsing organizations, or "provide" for the practises of soldiers of other traditions. To do so, ensures the "free-exercise" of religion.
Restricting chaplains to some "politically correct" practices forces us very close to that "generic military denomination" that we work so hard to avoid...and thus avoid the establishment of a generic military religion.
Glad the NY Times mentioned those facts (sarcasm).
This whole charade was an attack on biblical Christianity. That's OK though, God is sovereign, and all their persecution cannot destroy His church.
Don't know why you couldn't pick this up from my first post.
Sorry, I am just not sure what you are referring to
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