Navy chaplain still fasting for right to pray

[Soldier4Christ]

NORFOLK, Va. Lieutenant Gordon James Klingenschmitt has a new three-year contract as a U-S Navy chaplain, but is continuing the water-only fast he started a week ago Tuesday.
Klingenschmitt says he's been ordered not to pray publicly in the name of Jesus while he's in uniform -- and won't eat again until he can.

He's urging President Bush to sign an executive order that would let all military chaplains pray according to their beliefs rather than being restricted to generic prayers.

Klingenschmitt is a chaplain at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

[LittlePilgrim]

You know, I could never do something like that. I admire people like that who can. I certainly hope this gets something accomplished.

[Shammu]

You know, I could never do something like that. I admire people like that who can. I certainly hope this gets something accomplished.

Well I am praying for Chaplain Lieutenant Gordon James Klingenschmitt. I pray that President Bush, will allow all military chaplains pray according to their beliefs.

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob

Job 21:3 Allow me, and I also will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on.

[Soldier4Christ]

Navy surrenders:
Chaplain eating
Hunger strike comes to end with OK
to pray in uniform in name of Jesus
Posted: January 6, 2006
9:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

The Navy chaplain who has gone without food for 18 days in protest of the Navy's policy encouraging "inclusive" prayers at public events says he has received permission to wear his uniform and pray in Jesus' name outside the White House tomorrow and will end his hunger strike by taking communion there.

Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt had said he would not eat until President Bush signed an executive order allowing chaplains to pray in public according to their individual faith traditions. Later, he said if the Navy would allow him to wear his uniform in public and pray in Jesus' name he would end his fast. Klingenschmitt told WND this evening he has received a letter from his commanding officer giving him permission to do so.

A previous letter from his commanding officer at Naval Station Norfolk said the chaplain could not wear his uniform for media appearances, which is standard Navy policy when a service member is expressing his own opinion. Klingenschmitt believed that letter was meant to prevent him from praying publicly in Jesus' name while wearing his uniform.

A 1998 Navy advisory to chaplains suggested that military clergy pray in an "inclusive" manner at "command settings" – secular events or ceremonies. It is that policy that Klingenschmitt objects to, pointing out that 74 members of Congress have asked President Bush to guarantee chaplains the right to pray as they wish.

At 11 a.m. tomorrow near the White House, Klingenschmitt says, he will lead a worship service while wearing his Navy uniform. After praying in Jesus' name, the chaplain says he will serve communion and then begin eating again.

Earlier this week, a Navy spokesman said Klingenschmitt's claim that he was not allowed to pray in Jesus' name in public was erroneous.

Lt. William Marks pointed out that the federal law allowing military chaplains to pray "according to the manners and form" of their own churches, in Title X of the U.S. Code, is under the heading of "Divine Services," which restricts that freedom to the voluntary religious events, he asserts.

"When you go to a command-hosted ceremony, that is not a 'divine service,'" Marks told WND. "That is a secular service." And that is the type of service addressed by the 1998 advisory.

Klingenschmitt says with comments such as Marks', the Navy is "trying to split hairs between public worship and private worship."

[Shammu]

Former Army Chaplain Calls for Executive Order to End USAF's Religious Persecution

By Chad Groening
January 6, 2006

(AgapePress) - An Evangelical leader and retired military chaplain says the United States Air Force is engaged in religious persecution against evangelical Christianity with its new policy forbidding chaplains from praying in the name of Jesus.

Dr. Billy Baugham is Executive Director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers (ICECE). The retired Army chaplain agrees with the more than 70 members of Congress who have signed a letter urging President George W. Bush to issue an executive order to allow chaplains to pray according to their individual faith traditions.

Baugham feels the Air Force's written policy banning prayers in Jesus' name is a direct attack on a specific faith community. Those behind this policy "have targeted the Evangelicals in this to marginalize them," he asserts, "and if they're not marginalized, if they don't carry out these guidelines, they will be punished according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

The former U.S. military chaplain insists that what the military authorities are doing to the chaplains is wrong. "It's religious persecution from the very organization, the United States Air Force, that you would expect to protect American freedoms," he says.

The American Center for Law and Justice has gathered more than 173,000 signatures on a petition asking the President to correct this injustice by signing an executive order protecting the religious freedom of chaplains in the Air Force and other branches. However, Baugham believes Mr. Bush has hesitated to do so because he does not want to embarrass U.S. military officials.

"It would be egg on the face of the Air Force," the ICECE spokesman remarks, "and they ought to have egg on their face for what they've done. For the Commander in Chief to slap down the United States Air Force with an executive order is quite a thing. But he has that authority to do it, and we think he ought to do it."

The U.S. Air Force is discriminating against the Evangelical ministers in its ranks, Baugham maintains. And if the military branch continues trampling the constitutional rights of its Christian chaplains, he insists, it is only right that the executive branch should step in and put a stop to it.

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/62006d.asp