Posted on 12/30/2005 2:22:23 PM PST by AmethystCrystal
A pattern of hostility to free speech - specifically the rights of Christians to pray - is on the rise in our country.
We saw it in our nation’s public schools ... where prayer was officially banned. We have seen it in our workplaces.
Now, our United States military seems to have “jumped on the bandwagon” ... with Air Force leadership recently releasing proposed guidelines that will restrict how Air Force chaplains can pray.
If approved, these guidelines may well be implemented throughout the entire Armed Forces.
This is an outrage that we cannot allow! Already, it is documented that chaplains are “feeling the heat” to restrict their prayers and mask their faith.
Christian chaplains are being told NOT to pray in the name of Jesus!
For many Christian chaplains, praying in the name of Jesus is a fundamental part of their beliefs. To suppress this form of expression would be a violation of their constitutional rights and religious freedoms.
Furthermore, to censor Christian chaplains is a disservice to the thousands of Christian soldiers in the military who look to their chaplains for comfort, inspiration, and support ... just as military soldiers of other faiths look to their chaplains.
Again, we cannot allow these proposed guidelines to be passed. We cannot sit idly by while our honored Christian military chaplains are singled out and silenced.
I have assembled a senior legal team at the ACLJ, including a 20-year military veteran who worked at the Pentagon. We are drafting a legal analysis and comments to be used in this process.
Thankfully, a group of Congressmen has joined together to call on the President to protect by Executive Order the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith.
In response to this outrageous and blatant religious intolerance and infringement of free speech rights, the ACLJ has embarked on a nationwide campaign to PROTECT PRAYER and the constitutional rights of military chaplains.
In our Armed Forces, all faiths must be respected. Christian chaplains must be permitted to pray in the name of Jesus.
The ACLJ is working to generate a massive grassroots effort, to let the President know that we will not stand for this type of blatant religious intolerance in our nation’s military. President Bush must step in to protect religious freedom.
Please add your name to our letter to President Bush urging him to protect the rights of military chaplains.
"We saw it in our nation’s public schools ... where prayer was officially banned."
WRONG. Teacher-led / Teacher-mandated prayer of any faith is illegal.
There's nothing that prevents students from praying to themselves nor gathering after-hours to pray in a group, as long as it isn't required or forced or led by a teacher.
No arguments about the military factoid, but I, for one, am glad that some Muslim teacher isn't forcing my child to pray to Mecca. Or any other faith. Given the inability to impart the 3 Rs on our nation's youth, having children get religiously proselytized in the classroom is the last thing we need.
Actually, in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe in 2000, the US Supreme Court ruled on this precise issue. I believe it was a 6-3 decision that student led prayer prior to football games violated the "separation requirements"(?).
Luckily, the following autumn (and I hope to this day) recalcitrant students flipped the bird to Sandra O'Connor and Co. and prayed anyway. I think they dared grumbling naysayers including clowns of the Supreme Court Six to do something about it. No one came to the aid of the moron portion of the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, it's a mistake to assume that the earth worshippers among us won't attempt to force their own deism on the rest of us.
Litekeeper
Chaplain, US Army, retired
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