Protect Our Military Chaplains' Religious Rights

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Lee1440

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From the ACLJ website,
Today, the religious freedom of our military chaplains once again hangs in the balance. It’s a constitutional crisis when the men and women fighting on the front lines of freedom are facing religious hostility and suppression. It is an outrage!
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Read the rest of the article…and sign the petition! This truly is an outrage.

And if anyone wonders where the persecuted church is (I saw that post topic earlier), well, there it is. Our own military suppressing prayer in the name of Jesus. Whose name do they want us to pray in, I wonder. Could it be…Satan? :eek:
 
Neither the article, nor the petition, say exactly what this supposed censorship is about. I don’t like signing vague documents which can be interpreted to mean just about anything.

Would you mind telling us what this is all about.
 
This one stems from chaplains having been ordered not to have sectarian prayers except in the context of their ‘liturgies’. IWO, while a Catholic chaplain can certainly celebrate Mass and any other official Catholic liturgy, in public in uniform he cannot simply pray and mention Jesus since that excludes Jews, Muslims, etc.
 
Phemie said:
IWO, while a Catholic chaplain can certainly celebrate Mass and any other official Catholic liturgy, in public in uniform he cannot simply pray and mention Jesus since that excludes Jews, Muslims, etc.
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That seems pretty sensible to me.
 
The chaplains were instructed not to pray in the name of Jesus. But as Christians, that is exactly how we pray. I don’t recall any of the Jewish or Muslim chaplains being instructed not to pray in any particular ways. To me it sounds like just another way to protect everyone’s right not to be offended (which right I don’t recall actually being a right)…except Christians. Somehow we’ve arrived at a point where people can openly be just about anything except Christian. And I don’t get it.

How can this be sensible? If my openly being Christian or praying in the name of my Lord offends somebody, am I supposed, therefore, to stop? Seems to me that the folks who are offended need to do some serious soul-searching to see why they are offended and work to get beyond it. I don’t expect others not to pray in their own traditional ways, and I certainly don’t have a problem with them praying in public. I would encourage them to do so.

So how is it sensible or even fair to ask Christian chaplains not to pray in Jesus’ name in public? Especially when these chaplains are probably praying for, not just their fellow Christians, but for all who are putting themselves in danger in a time of war?
 
Lee1440 said:
The chaplains were instructed not to pray in the name of Jesus. But as Christians, that is exactly how we pray. I don’t recall any of the Jewish or Muslim chaplains being instructed not to pray in any particular ways. To me it sounds like just another way to protect everyone’s right not to be offended (which right I don’t recall actually being a right)…except Christians. Somehow we’ve arrived at a point where people can openly be just about anything except Christian. And I don’t get it.

How can this be sensible? If my openly being Christian or praying in the name of my Lord offends somebody, am I supposed, therefore, to stop? Seems to me that the folks who are offended need to do some serious soul-searching to see why they are offended and work to get beyond it. I don’t expect others not to pray in their own traditional ways, and I certainly don’t have a problem with them praying in public. I would encourage them to do so.

So how is it sensible or even fair to ask Christian chaplains not to pray in Jesus’ name in public? Especially when these chaplains are probably praying for, not just their fellow Christians, but for all who are putting themselves in danger in a time of war?
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You’ve got it right. The whole point with the Talliban is that they refuse to acknowledge the right of other religions to exist. The whole point of a Chaplain is to lead his faithful in prayer. If they can’t say a Hail Mary while they are in uniform, then their religious freedom is being taken away. For Catholics, religion is not something you do on Sunday and forget about it. It is a lifestyle, a way of living. We go to war against a group that is against religious freedom and then take away the religious freedom of those who are sent to war.:mad: It makes no sense to me.
 
Lee1440 said:
So how is it sensible or even fair to ask Christian chaplains not to pray in Jesus’ name in public? Especially when these chaplains are probably praying for, not just their fellow Christians, but for all who are putting themselves in danger in a time of war?
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Because not all in attendance at the public prayer are Christian. The chaplains do not have a right to impose their religion on others - the prayer should be acceptable to everyone listening.
 
As far as I know, this is a dead issue. Congress voted and the President signed into law in 2006 a bill that rescinded the policy of forcing Chaplains to pray “non-sectarian” prayers.
 
Dale_M said:
Because not all in attendance at the public prayer are Christian. The chaplains do not have a right to impose their religion on others - the prayer should be acceptable to everyone listening.
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I wonder if you read my full post. I am not imposing my religion upon you if I pray out loud. You, however, would be imposing your own species of religion upon me if you refused me the right to pray the way I see fit.

Pastors and priests were told to pray in a way that would not offend others in Hitler’s Germany. And eventually these same men of God went to their deaths because they dared to continue to pray to their Lord the way their Lord asked them to, and refused to call evil good or good evil. We fought the Fuhrer and his tyranny only to have this same tyranny show up in our own country.

Christ told us how to pray. We, as Christians, are His followers. I pray the way He taught us and He taught us to pray in His name. He told us not to pray in public just to make a show of it, but He did not tell us not to pray in public. As a matter of fact, He taught us not to hide our lights, but rather, to let them shine.

He also taught us to be more concerned about pleasing God than about pleasing man. When I am praying for others and myself, what in the world could be offensive about it? It doesn’t require belief on everyone’s part, but it is part of my religion to pray for everyone and in the name of Christ.

Why is my religion being discriminated against? Freedom of religion means just that: Freedom. And I aim to exercise my right to freedom of religion every single chance I have.
 
Galnextdoor said:
As far as I know, this is a dead issue. Congress voted and the President signed into law in 2006 a bill that rescinded the policy of forcing Chaplains to pray “non-sectarian” prayers.
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I wish it were true that it were a dead issue. But if FOCA has taught us anything (and also current attempts by the courts to throw out the voters’ decisive victory on Prop 8 in California), it is that things are no longer settled merely because the people have voted or states have passed laws into being.

The people have spoken.
But the courts’ pledge they’ve broken.

As many reservations as I have about being ruled by a majority of people (who I’ve never been convinced have the best of intentions toward their fellow citizens), I used to find it amusing and now find it alarming that a minority view and a smaller minority in a court room can overturn the majority’s will, which they made abundantly clear with their vote.

The chaplains’ right to free speech and freedom of religion issue was on the front page of the ACLJ website when I wrote the OP and is currently an active petition.

aclj.org/Petition/?ac=1&zip=35004&sc=3346
 
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