Pentagon May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith

[Zimbow]

by Ken Klukowski
1 May 2013, 8:12 AM PDT

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.

**UPDATE**

The FRC petition has now exceeded more than 40,000 signatures at the time of this update.
Breitbart News legal columnist Ken Klukowski is senior fellow for religious liberty with the Family Research Council and on faculty at Liberty University School of Law.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2...hristian-Faith

[JustAlex]

I'm not reading ANYTHING from Breitbart or Fox News.

If someone has another source which is actually credible, I'll read it there.

[Zimbow]

April 29, 2013 - Monday

The very troops who defend our religious freedom are at risk of having their own taken away.

Last week, anti-Christian and left-wing activists met at the Pentagon with military officials to discuss pressing issues in the military. What issues would be of such importance to gain such a high-level hearing?
According to these far-left consultants, religion is one of the chief problems plaguing our troops. As the Washington Post reported, some are saying that "religious proselytizing" is at the top of the list of problems in the armed forces -- even on par with sexual assault.
As a result of such complaints from the left, the Air Force has -- according to the Post --published, but not yet distributed a new document with the directive that leaders of all levels (including chaplains) may not "promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion." The penalty these secularists are seeking for those who don't comply with their view of religious speech is court-martial.
If this policy goes forward, Christians within the military who speak of their faith could now be prosecuted as enemies of the state. This has the potential to destroy military recruiting across the services as Americans realize that their faith will be suppressed by joining the military.
Our brave troops deserve better. If chaplains and other personnel are censored from offering the full solace of the Gospel, there is no religious freedom in the military.
Please join me in signing the petition to Secretary Hagel urging him to protect the religious freedom of our troops - and not to proceed with the purge of religion within the ranks called for by anti-Christian activists.

http://www.frc.org/alert/pentagon-co...-for-chaplains

[JustAlex]

The FRC?

HA!

This is even less credible than I originally thought.


BTW, we talk about the radicalization of Islam and we ignore our own radicalization of Christianity.

Somehow, Evangelical Christians think their religion can not be radical, they are dead wrong.

[notes2us]

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes...permitted.html

[mrveggieman]

Do ya'll really think that any of this will have a snowman's chance in hell of standing up in court? If you are practicing your christian faith with other christians on your own time independent of the military then they have no leg to stand on as far as prosecuting you. Any lawyer fresh out of law school will eat that case up.

[Star_Cards]

I guess it all depends on the definition of promoting their faith means. Practicing and promoting are different things to me. Either way court martial for soldiers seems a bit extreme unless there are soldiers who actually are harassing fellow soldiers about their religion. If that is the case I'd assume it would fall under the same rules as any other type of harassment. If they are not harassing or it's not dominating their time I don't see a reason to punish them with a court martial.

[Wickabee]

Practicing and promoting are different things until promotion becomes a practice, as it has with Christianity.

[shrewsbury]

not all Christians try to get others to be Christian, and how will the fine line of explaining your beliefs and trying to convert someone be established?

[Star_Cards]

not all Christians try to get others to be Christian, and how will the fine line of explaining your beliefs and trying to convert someone be established?

I agree that most christians I know don't push their religion, but some that do can be rather aggressive. I am curious about the specifics this rule would follow. I can only imagine it would be used in circumstances of extreme promotion. Still in the military I'd think they'd be able to control this if it became an issue. It's a world of following orders so I'm confused to hear that it's been a big issue. #didyouorderthecodered!!!