ICC Note: While our focus is on the persecution of Christians around the world and not in the US , we thought it important that we bring this to your attention.
We have previously brought you news on the case of Navy Lt. Gordon J. Klingenschmitt who has gotten himself into hot water over his insistence on using the very offensive word Jesus in his prayers.
While he is being charged with violating orders in regards to his appearance at a press conference, his real crime is his refusal to dumb down his prayers per Navy rules and to keep using the name Jesus in his prayers.
We would suggest that you call his commander in chief if you wish to protest.
President George Bush
The White House
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Could It Happen Here: Navy chaplain’s freedom under fire
Posted: September 6, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
For the full article, go toWorld Net Daily. Our [Forefathers] were true lovers of liberty, and utterly opposed any constraint upon the rights of conscience. … [T]hey did not intend to send our armies and navies forth to do battle for their country without any national recognition of that God on whom success or failure depends; they did not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting spectacle of atheistical apathy.
Senate Report No. 32-376 (1853) on the constitutionality of the chaplaincy
On Sept. 12, 2006, a special court-martial will be convened charging Lt. Gordon J. Klingenschmitt, a chaplain in the U.S. Navy, with violations of an order from a superior officer regarding his March 30, 2006, appearance in uniform at a press conference in Washington, D.C. I was also present at that press conference and have been subpoenaed to testify on Chaplain Klingenschmitt’s behalf.
Chaplain Klingenschmitt’s problems actually stem from his continued opposition to a Feb. 21, 2006, directive from the secretary of the Navy that provided, in part, that “absent extraordinary circumstances,” “religious elements” performed by chaplains “should be non-sectarian in nature,” i.e., that prayers during public worship should not be made in the name of Jesus.
Klingenschmitt has protested verbally and in writing to President Bush about this policy, for which he has received adverse fitness reports, reprimands and even transfers for his “whistleblower” activities. His letters to the president through his chain of command have been returned as inappropriate because of his “personal views.” Moreover, some 75 members of Congress, 29 pro-family groups and over 200,000 Americans have also petitioned the president to enforce the law, 10 U.S.C. § 6031, which provides that an “officer in the Chaplain Corps may conduct public worship according to the manner and forms of the church of which he is a member.”
Yet today, Christianity, its ministers and its religious solemnities are under attack! Its enemies proclaim tolerance, neutrality and religious diversity, but they really seek to place government and its various agencies at the “helm” of religious liberty. However, as late as 1931, the Supreme Court in United States v. Macintosh declared, “We are a Christian people … according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God.” Thus, the Supreme Court itself recognized that God is the source of religious freedom, not man a central principle of the Christian faith.
Following the press conference on March 30, which was conducted in front of the White House, the president’s press secretary said, “Our men and women in uniform ought to be able to express their religion freely. And that’s what our view is, and that’s what we’re committed to.” He added that he was not familiar with Klingenschmitt’s case.
Nevertheless, the Department of the Navy, under the authority of the president as commander in chief, now seeks to punish Chaplain Klingenschmitt for an alleged violation of an order and to cover up the real issue. The president should become involved to protect our chaplains in their right to pray in the name of Jesus. In so doing, he would be upholding the religious freedom of all Americans.
Lt. Klingenschmitt deserves our prayers and support for his dedication to duty and religious freedom.
