Chaplains Persecuted For "Being Christians"

Please read this news story from the Family Research Council. I have personally experienced this kind of persecution during my two units of Clinical Pastoral Education. It's an extremely liberal environment and a difficult place for evangelicals to minister without persecution. It is a honor to suffer for the sake of Christ. He is worth it as I am sure these chaplains already know.

If Monday is when America honors its veterans, then one San Diego agency has a funny way of showing it. The city's Department of Veterans Affairs has reportedly spent the last several months persecuting two of its chaplains for their faith. Today, both men are suing the San Diego VA Department for religious harassment -- which led to one chaplain dropping out of the program altogether. Military-Veterans Advocacy filed the suit on behalf of the Baptist group that acted as the men's endorsing agent. "No American choosing to serve in the armed forces should be openly ridiculed for his Christian Faith," said attorney and Commander J.B. Wells (USN-Ret.).

According to court documents, the head of the VA's Clinical Pastoral Education Program ordered the men not to pray in Jesus's name or recite Scripture, mocked and yelled at them, and even threatened to fail them. The ridicule became so intense that one of the chaplains voluntarily withdrew from the program. The other was put on probation by the boss berating them. If this is the kind of harassment military chaplains are receiving (in a chaplains' faith program!), imagine what non-clergy troops are facing for living out their faith in the ranks. All you need to do is flip through FRC's Clear and Present Danger report or watch the real-life testimonies of mistreated Christians to know that there is a war going on for the soul of our nation's military. "Barack Obama's fingerprints are not on most of these acts, but his anti-religious attitudes are widely enough known to encourage those on the public payroll to charge ahead with extremist politically correct policies," Phyllis Schlafly warned.

Fortunately, Congress is waking up to this climate of hostility in the ranks and is putting itself in a position to do something about it. Just this week, two members cosponsored a bill to protect something as simple as the word "God" in the service academies' oaths. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas), a veteran who spent seven years as a POW in Vietnam, made it clear that he would stand in the way of any attempts to destroy the hundreds of years of religious tradition in the military. "Our Founding Fathers declared we are, 'One nation under God,' and you better believe I'll fight like mad to keep it that way... We are the land of the free because of the brave. Many people don't know this but when you survive a near-death experience you realize that the only thing you had to hold onto was your faith in God."

 

Contact your congressman and urge him to speak up against the country's anti-Christian zealots. Then, join FRC this Sunday in Military Freedom Sunday -- and encourage your pastor to lead the congregation in a prayer of protection and gratitude for America's brave men and women and their families. For more information, click here.