The following is a June 18 Beckett Fund press release by Melinda Skea:
Washington, D.C. – Moments ago, a Virginia district court heard arguments regarding the Navy’s decision not to admit secular atheists into its religious chaplaincy. The Humanist Society and its parent organization, the American Humanist Association, wage an aggressive anti-religion campaign arguing that religion is superstition and should be stripped from the public square. Yet now, in the matter of Heap v. Hagel, the Humanist Society is suing the Navy to be recognized as a religious organization so it can appoint American Humanist Association’s members as chaplains. The Becket Fund supports the Navy in preserving the right of service members to have chaplains who will respect their religious beliefs, not reject and ridicule them.
“These organizations mock religious teens for having so-called ‘imaginary friends,’ have sued to tear down war memorials that have religious symbols, and have even teamed up with organizations that call chaplains ‘spiritual rapists,’” said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “They can’t attack religion with one hand, and then claim to be able to provide sincere religious ministry with the other.”
The entire purpose of military chaplains is to provide religious ministry to service members who need it. Even before the founding of this country, General George Washington requested a chaplain corps that could minister to the religious needs of the troops. The courts have held that the chaplaincy is necessary to ensure service members’ First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion, since they are often ordered to leave their family and community to serve their country. Secular atheist organizations such as the Humanist Society that reject and mock religion cannot serve that purpose.
“Militant atheists have the right to serve in the military, just like all other patriotic Americans,” said Senior Counsel Eric Baxter, “but that doesn’t mean they’re qualified for every position. You wouldn’t ask a shipman to fly a jet, and you shouldn’t ask an anti-religion atheist to provide religious ministry.”
A court decision is expected on the matter in the next several months.
SEE
“What can Christians do to end military’s double standard?
https://www.onenewsnow.com/national-security/2015/06/22/what-can-christians-do-to-end-militarys-double-standard?
A retired Army chaplain says the military’s double standard favoring homosexuals must stop.
Ron Crews, executive director for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, recently wrote a column titled “Military sacrificing good order for politically correct double standard.”
Since the repeal of the so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Crews says homosexual advocacy has become a sort of “religious” force, with the American military giving it preferential treatment to established faiths in violation of its very own regulations.
Crews, Col…
What collar insignia would an atheist “chaplain” wear? A “null” sign? The word “NO”? Would an agnostic “chaplain” wear a question mark? How does one give spiritual counsel to those who do not believe in the spiritual? Or be a chaplain to those who have no use for chapels?
These guys are like the bratty kid who plays kickball just so he can kick the ball over the fence.
While there are no atheists in foxholes, they may soon be in the chaplains corps.
As a Prop-8 Supporter put on the ‘Lavender Liberal’ Stalker List – I understand the price of Conscience and Gaystapo Retaliation:
Reality is fake, the sham is reality
https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/dunkin/150623 By Tim Dunkin
It’s because American society has become fundamentally unreal. Ours is the society that refers to fake, scripted, grossly disjointed rubbish as “reality TV.”…
I do not for a second believe that the majority of Americans are really on the side of the freakshow. However, I do think that many, many Americans allow themselves to be bullied by the freakshow into remaining silent, or giving tacit assent.
After all, when you pick up your phone, and some microaggression-hunting millennial is on the other…
…
After all, when you pick up your phone, and some microaggression-hunting millennial is on the other end of the line asking you about gay “marriage,” how do you really know that they won’t feed your information to a gay rights group so you can be hounded and “shamed” for giving the wrong answer?
You don’t.
After all, it happened to people in California who campaigned for Prop 8. It’s time to stand up to the bullying… The freakshow relies on the psychology of isolation to bully and shame. When we’re not isolated, the bullying and shaming doesn’t work.
It’s time to show the freakshow what really is reality.
The modern American military has become a disaster. It is more concerned with being politically correct than prepared for war!