PENTAGON CONFIRMS MAY COURT MARTIAL SOLDIERS WHO SHARE CHRISTIAN FAITH

[zulater]

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.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/05/01/Breaking-Pentagon-Confirms-Will-Court-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith

[NJarhead]

*facepalm*

I wonder if that dick hole ever wore a uniform. I'm so sick of these extremist fucks.

[fansince'76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6x9JgueoA

[GBMelBlount]

Toast.

[fansince'76]

Bu-bu-bu-Christianity isn't under attack. Not in THIS country! :rolleyes:

[NJarhead]

Bu-bu-bu-Christianity isn't under attack. Not in THIS country! :rolleyes:

Wasn't that you who posted the camel in the tent photo? I think that will apply here too. These Anti-American, PC/Feel Good, pieces of shit are attacking us on all fronts.

[zulater]

*facepalm*

I wonder if that dick hole ever wore a uniform. I'm so sick of these extremist fucks.

Actually he did. He was an honors graduate at the Air Force Academy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_L._Weinstein

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-aslan22aug22,0,4674900.story



Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion. At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.


Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended.

What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.

The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU. Headed by former kickboxer Jonathan Spinks, OSU is an official member of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. The group has staged a number of Christian-themed shows at military bases, featuring athletes, strongmen and actor-turned-evangelist Stephen Baldwin. But thanks in part to the support of the Pentagon, Operation Straight Up has now begun focusing on Iraq, where, according to its website (on pages taken down last week), it planned an entertainment tour called the "Military Crusade."

Apparently the wonks at the Pentagon forgot that Muslims tend to bristle at the word "crusade" and thought that what the Iraq war lacked was a dose of end-times theology.

In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.

Take, for instance, the recent scandal involving Christian Embassy, a group whose expressed purpose is to proselytize to military personnel, diplomats, Capitol Hill staffers and political appointees. In a shocking breach of security, Defense Department officials allowed a Christian Embassy film crew to roam the corridors of the Pentagon unescorted while making a promotional video featuring high-ranking officers and political appointees. (Christian Embassy, which holds prayer meetings weekly at the Pentagon, is so entrenched that Air Force Maj. Gen. John J. Catton Jr. said he'd assumed the organization was a "quasi-federal entity.")

The Pentagon's inspector general recently released a report recommending unspecified "corrective action" for those officers who appeared in the video for violating Defense Department regulations. But, in a telling gesture, the report avoided any discussion of how allowing an evangelical group to function within the Defense Department is an obvious violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.

The extent to which such relationships have damaged international goodwill toward the U.S. is beyond measure. As the inspector general noted, a leading Turkish newspaper, Sabah, published an article on Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, who is the U.S. liaison to the Turkish military -- and who appeared in the Christian Embassy video. The article described Christian Embassy as a "radical fundamentalist sect," perhaps irreparably damaging Sutton's primary job objective of building closer ties to the Turkish General Staff, which has expressed alarm at the influence of fundamentalist Christian groups inside the U.S. military.

Our military personnel swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the Bible. Yet by turning a blind eye to OSU and Christian Embassy activities, the Pentagon is, in essence, endorsing their proselytizing. And sometimes it's more explicit than that.





Some of what he says makes sense. But he paints with too broad a brush and in the end comes off as much an extremist ( of a different ilk) as those that he proposes that he's protecting us against.

[st33lersguy]

The tyranny of political correctness. If this doesn't expose Obama and Holder and other far-left secualrist nutjobs as anti-freedom, anti-christian, anti-religious nothing will. Worse, it comes from the same whackjob secualrist that won't even call the Boston bombing terrorists Muslim terrorists.

[fansince'76]

Wasn't that you who posted the camel in the tent photo? I think that will apply here too. These Anti-American, PC/Feel Good, pieces of shit are attacking us on all fronts.

Naw, GBMelBlount posted the camel/tent cartoon.
And you can bet your sweet ass that practitioners of the "Religion of Peace" will be exempt from this. :coffee:

[NJarhead]

Naw, GBMelBlount posted the camel/tent cartoon.
And you can bet your sweet ass that practitioners of the "Religion of Peace" will be exempt from this. :coffee:

Thanks for noticing. I've been working out. :chuckle:


well, at least I have my sense of humor.....or will they try to restrict that next?

- - - Updated - - -


Actually he did. He was an honors graduate at the Air Force Academy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_L._Weinstein

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-aslan22aug22,0,4674900.story



Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion. At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.


Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended.

What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.

The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU. Headed by former kickboxer Jonathan Spinks, OSU is an official member of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. The group has staged a number of Christian-themed shows at military bases, featuring athletes, strongmen and actor-turned-evangelist Stephen Baldwin. But thanks in part to the support of the Pentagon, Operation Straight Up has now begun focusing on Iraq, where, according to its website (on pages taken down last week), it planned an entertainment tour called the "Military Crusade."

Apparently the wonks at the Pentagon forgot that Muslims tend to bristle at the word "crusade" and thought that what the Iraq war lacked was a dose of end-times theology.

In the end, the Defense Department realized the folly of participating in any Operation Straight Up crusade. But the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups.

Take, for instance, the recent scandal involving Christian Embassy, a group whose expressed purpose is to proselytize to military personnel, diplomats, Capitol Hill staffers and political appointees. In a shocking breach of security, Defense Department officials allowed a Christian Embassy film crew to roam the corridors of the Pentagon unescorted while making a promotional video featuring high-ranking officers and political appointees. (Christian Embassy, which holds prayer meetings weekly at the Pentagon, is so entrenched that Air Force Maj. Gen. John J. Catton Jr. said he'd assumed the organization was a "quasi-federal entity.")

The Pentagon's inspector general recently released a report recommending unspecified "corrective action" for those officers who appeared in the video for violating Defense Department regulations. But, in a telling gesture, the report avoided any discussion of how allowing an evangelical group to function within the Defense Department is an obvious violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.

The extent to which such relationships have damaged international goodwill toward the U.S. is beyond measure. As the inspector general noted, a leading Turkish newspaper, Sabah, published an article on Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, who is the U.S. liaison to the Turkish military -- and who appeared in the Christian Embassy video. The article described Christian Embassy as a "radical fundamentalist sect," perhaps irreparably damaging Sutton's primary job objective of building closer ties to the Turkish General Staff, which has expressed alarm at the influence of fundamentalist Christian groups inside the U.S. military.

Our military personnel swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the Bible. Yet by turning a blind eye to OSU and Christian Embassy activities, the Pentagon is, in essence, endorsing their proselytizing. And sometimes it's more explicit than that.





Some of what he says makes sense. But he paints with too broad a brush and in the end comes off as much an extremist ( of a different ilk) as those that he proposes that he's protecting us against.


Fuck him anyway.

Shit, they've been handing out proverbs at MEPS since the beginning of time! I have mine and my Grandfather's from WWII (Father lost his).

[SteelerEmpire]

I was approached many times by Christian missionaries while on active duty. There were rules (of some kind, can't remember exactly) in the books on this for quite a while now but no one ever enforced them, I guess until now.
But if it all went down "exactly" as the article mentioned above, this is unusual and bizarre.

[zulater]

Reading a bit more on this guy Weinstein and a few things strike me. It looks like what set him off is that his sons were approached by a proztelizing Christain at some point in their military experience, as was he in his .Claims some anti semitism occured. I'm sure it did, stuff like that happens no doubt. But I also get the sense they all had their rabbit ears on and were looking to take offense at the drop off a hat.


I was in the Air force a hundred years ago, and yeah you might have the one over zelous guy at every base. But so what? It's not as if religion was ever shoved down your throat, or you were threatened or ostracized for not being devout. I have friends and family still in, we're all pretty much agnostic or future death bed converts :lol: Never have I heard of anyone I know becoming "radicalized Christians" due to military initiation as seems to be Weinsteins contention.

Another thing I noticed. He's carefull not to include Muslim clerics in his call to paint Christians as inciting anti gay sentment in the military.
Funny, but there is no faith under the sun that is as violently anti gay as Islam.

This guy is a phoney.

[43Hitman]

Reading a bit more on this guy Weinstein and a few things strike me. It looks like what set him off is that his sons were approached by a proztelizing Christain at some point in their military experience, as was he in his .Claims some anti semitism occured. I'm sure it did, stuff like that happens no doubt. But I also get the sense they all had their rabbit ears on and were looking to take offense at the drop off a hat.


I was in the Air force a hundred years ago, and yeah you might have the one over zelous guy at every base. But so what? It's not as if religion was ever shoved down your throat, or you were threatened or ostracized for not being devout. I have friends and family still in, we're all pretty much agnostic or future death bed converts :lol: Never have I heard of anyone I know becoming "radicalized Christians" due to military initiation as seems to be Weinsteins contention.

Another thing I noticed. He's carefull not to include Muslim clerics in his call to paint Christians as inciting anti gay sentment in the military.
Funny, but there is no faith under the sun that is as violently anti gay as Islam.

This guy is a phoney.

My Dad did 20 in the Air Force. He was an OSI Agent.

[NJarhead]

Do the promotion warrants still read "in the year of our lord" on them?