Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[These are my thoughts and not those of Campus Crusade or my parents]

 Here are the facts about religion and chaplains in the military:

1. In the military, there are Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic  etc chaplains.
2. Each chaplain is free to share his faith beliefs all he wants within the military guidelines given him. They are not muzzled.
3. Each chaplain is responsible for providing for the spiritual needs of all the soldiers under him or her. Therefore they provide and announce:

• On Sundays, on many bases, there are different services available for Roman Catholic and Islamic and for any chaplain who chose to provide his.
• Buses pick up some to go off post to Synagogues, Mormon temples, Greek Orthodox etc.
• Even Wiccans can meet as a group as long as the meeting is open to anyone.
• No one is compelled to attend any meeting but can attend any if they choose.

4. Any chaplain can use volunteers to teach classes on Sunday morning as long as that volunteer teaches under his or her supervision.

• Chaplains can recruit their volunteers from the community.

5. All belief groups want to share their beliefs to the world. In the America, they are free to do this as long as they do it by the rules.

For some reason those who are not followers of Jesus have problems with Christian groups ministering to the military.  Here is what I want to know:

• I want to know if there are Pagan, Wiccan,  Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jewish and other groups who send missionaries to the military who raise their own financial support?
• Are their atheist groups who raise their own financial support to assist the military in their emotional and educational needs?
• Show me where the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade has violated the Constitution?   The Separation of Church and State was to protect the Church from the State not the other way around.
• What harm is being done to our military?
• Do those who have a beef really care about the military personnel or are they trying to make a political statement?

These are questions I want answered.  I’m tired of being called a “right-winged bigot” and a “fundamentalist” and every form of profanity in the book.  Personally I’m ready for the US to leave Iraq but I support or military and our leaders.  I’m a follower of Jesus who wants to fulfill the calling God has given me.  I follow the laws and I’m tolerant of other’s beliefs.  It’s time the “other” beliefs showed a little tolerance of Christ followers too.

What do you think?

[News Record]

A Greensboro man was particularly offended when he saw a religious slogan posted in the back of a patrol car.  While a deputy was searching M. Reza Salami’s car at a sobriety checkpoint last Saturday, the deputy asked Salami to wait in the back of his patrol car, Salami said.

There, Salami, a professor at N.C. A&T, saw a sign reading “Jesus is your savior” between the front and back seats.  Salami complained to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office about the sign and sent a letter to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington nonprofit that works to uphold that separation.

Sheriff BJ Barnes  said the sheriff’s office doesn’t have a formal policy on what personal effects deputies are allowed to keep in their patrol cars, but he supports deputies displaying anything that gives them comfort for 12-hour shifts on a dangerous job.

Barnes said sheriff’s employees of all religions are allowed to express their personal beliefs and the issue had never been problematic.

“Religion has never been an issue for us,” he said. “I wish this guy would put his energies toward something else.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

I can’t imagine how stressful it must be to be a first responder like a police officer or firefighter.  What is the big deal about expressing their faith?  If it were a Muslim or Morman I would feel the same way.  Could it be this man complained because he was caught with an open container of booze?

What do you think?

[From Northwest Florida Daily News]

The annual Nativity creche on the Walton County Courthouse lawn will look a little different this year. The County Commission decided this week to include secular items such as a snowman to the display after Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent the county a letter in July claiming that the creche is unconstitutional.

Read about it here.

[From me]

?

[ABC 4]

The fate of more than a dozen crosses honoring fallen UHP troopers was left in the hands of a federal court judge on Tuesday. The issue was taken to court after a group of atheists sued the state claiming the crosses violate the constitutional separation of church and state. The group is now asking the Utah Highway Patrol Association to remove the 12 foot-crosses because they denote the death of Jesus Christ. However, the state and UHP troopers say they are memorials to brave public servants and not religious in nature.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Why would this bother someone? The officers are dead. The only way I would agree with one coming down is if a specific officer was an atheist. Most of them were probably Mormons anyway. I surely don’t agree with their false doctrine but I wouldn’t have a cow over honoring their service to the local government. Why do people feel the need to cause pain for grieving families. Who does this hurt?

What do you think?