I ownder if that would apply if a
Muslim shared his? How does this monster
in the Whitehouse continue to get away
with these things?
The Pentagon has released a
statement confirming that soldiers
could be prosecuted for promoting
their faith: "Religious
proselytization is not permitted
within the Department of
Defense...Court martials and
non-judicial punishments are decided
on a case-by-case basis...”.
The statement, released to Fox
News, follows a Breitbart News
report
on Obama administration Pentagon
appointees meeting with anti-Christian
extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop
court-martial procedures to punish
Christians in the military who express
or share their faith.
(From our earlier report: Weinstein
is the head of the Military Religious
Freedom Foundation, and says
Christians--including chaplains--sharing
the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
military are guilty of “treason,” and of
committing an act of “spiritual rape” as
serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He
also asserted that Christians sharing
their faith in the military are “enemies
of the Constitution.”)
Being convicted in a court martial
means that a soldier has committed a
crime under federal military
law. Punishment for a court martial
can include imprisonment and being
dishonorably discharged from the
military.
So President Barack Obama’s civilian
appointees who lead the Pentagon are
confirming that the military will make
it a crime--possibly resulting in
imprisonment--for those in uniform to
share their faith. This would include
chaplains—military officers who are
ordained clergymen of their faith
(mostly Christian pastors or priests, or
Jewish rabbis)--whose duty since the
founding of the U.S. military under
George Washington is to teach their
faith and minister to the spiritual
needs of troops who come to them for
counsel, instruction, or comfort.
This regulation would severely limit
expressions of faith in the military,
even on a one-to-one basis between close
friends. It could also effectively
abolish the position of chaplain in the
military, as it would not allow
chaplains (or any service members, for
that matter), to say anything about
their faith that others say led them to
think they were being encouraged to make
faith part of their life. It’s difficult
to imagine how a member of the clergy
could give spiritual counseling without
saying anything that might be perceived
in that fashion.
In response to the Pentagon’s plans,
retired
Lt.
Gen. Jerry Boykin, who is now
executive vice president of the Family
Research Council (FRC), said on
Fox
& Friends Wednesday morning:
It’s a matter of what do they
mean by "proselytizing." ...I think
they’ve got their defintions a little
confused. If you’re talking about
coercion that’s one thing, but if you’re
talking about the free exercise of our
faith as individual soldiers, sailors,
airmen and marines, especially for the
chaplains, they I think the worst thing
we can do is stop the ability for a
soldier to be able to exercise his
faith.”
FRC has
launched a
petition here which has
already collected over 30,000
signatures, calling on Secretary Hagel
is stop working with Weinstein and his
anti-Christian organization to develop
military policy regarding religious
faith.
The FRC petition has now exceeded more
than 40,000 signatures at the time of this
update.
