Analyst: Military's Proposed Quashing of Religious Expression Could Be Contagious
by Chad Groening
November 21, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A military analyst and West Point graduate is concerned that the draconian restrictions that could be imposed on Air Force chaplains could also spread to the entire Defense Department community. The proposed sanctions on Christian proselytizing has prompted more than 70 members of Congress to ask the president to intervene.Four Air Force officers have joined a lawsuit filed by two other plaintiffs claiming that senior officers and cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy illegally imposed Christianity on others at the school. The suit has prompted Air Force officials to consider a new set of guidelines on religious conduct in the Air Force. But U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bob Maginnis is concerned that this could lead to religious intolerance in the military.
Maginnis says the "draconian sanctions" that would be imposed under the proposed guidelines "could very easily go across the entire armed services so that the entire Defense Department would be completely void of any open expression of one's faith."
That is why Maginnis says he is pleased that more than 70 members of the House and two senators want President Bush to take action in the matter. He says a letter signed by those individuals calls on the president to issue an executive order "protecting the right of people of faith to be open about their faith."
Maginnis says he has no doubt that restrictions of religious expression will spread if not sanctioned now. "And that's why those ... congressmen are calling for the president to provide an executive order saying that you can't do this," he says. "You have to give these people the right to speak out, especially chaplains." He asserts that if chaplains are prohibited from doing that, it makes one wonder why the military even has chaplains.
The letter signed by the national lawmakers stated they had learned that in all the military branches "it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christian chaplains to use the name of Jesus when praying" -- and that "it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christian chaplains to use the name of Jesus when praying." They described such guidelines as restrictive and suppressive.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
