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Posted on 05/04/2013 9:23:11 AM PDT by EXCH54FE
Following an uproar over a Defense Department statement saying that military personnel could be court-martialed for sharing their faith, the Pentagon has backed down on that position and now says soldiers are free to proselytize, as long as they don't harass others. “Service members can share their faith,” clarified Navy Lieutenant Commander Nate Christensen in a statement, “but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one's beliefs.”
The Defense Department had released an alarming statement saying: “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense.... Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis.” That statement appeared to come as the result of an April 24 meeting between military officials and Mikey Weinstein of the atheist group Military Religious Freedom Foundation, in which Weinstein pressured Air Force officials to enforce a policy that supposedly bans Air Force personnel from openly expressing their religious faith. The Defense Department has reportedly turned to Weinstein's group to hammer out policies on religious expression in the military.
Weinstein has gained notoriety for his aggressive campaign to sanitize the military of overt faith expressions by service members. He told Fox News that “until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.” Weinstein was referring to examples of supposed religious persecution within the ranks, and said that his group “would love to see hundreds of prosecutions to stop this outrage of fundamentalist religious persecution.”
The outcry from chaplains and religious leaders over Weinstein's rhetoric prompted the Defense Department to issue its updated statement backing down from implying that service members might be targeted for sharing their faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
Force?
Hey, we’ll take the victories while we can get them.
This needs to be codified. Congress needs to pass a law specifically addressing this. Yes, I know the Constitution should be enough, but it isn’t for these clowns running things. They need to allow the chaplains to use the name of Jesus if they so choose not just make spiritual “suggestions” as well as allow people to worship as they choose.
OH really?
Muslims must be complaining.
the cats already out of the bag
there are progressive busy bodies at the pentagon’s highest levels
I concur on your second point. VERY troubling. What seems to be happening is that leftist administrations pack the lower levels of the civilian bureaucracy with mental and philosophical clones of themselves, and when the 'Pubbies come in, they fail to "clean house" and play the "bipartisan game". And as those lower-level players become higher-level players, they push for "like thinkers" to man the military side as well.
I'm actually beginning to think that the old "spoils system" might be better.
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