Navy Decides To Allow Religious Freedom

J.J. Jackson* | January 8, 2006

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

There is a reason why our Founding Fathers put those words into our Constitution via the first amendment. Religion and religious freedom was important to them and they wanted to make sure that Americans retained the right at all time to worship almighty God as they saw fit.

When one joins the military one does give up certain liberties. You cannot just come and go as you please for example. But should you be forced to give up your religious liberty? The Navy sure thought so. For years now they have been requiring their chaplains to conduct non-denominational prayer to God. Mentioning Jesus was a no-no even if the chaplain?s faith requires that he or she recognize Jesus.

Supposedly this was done with the plan of inclusiveness. We don’t want to offend the Jewish or Islamic soldiers after all right? So the Navy reversed years of precident and legal cases that allowed chaplains to pray according to their own faith and clamped down on the religious liberties of some Americans.

So what did Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt do? He went on a hunger strike, accepting only water until the Navy agreed to allow him to wear his uniform AND pray according to his own faith. It took 18 days before the Department of the Navy realized he was serious and willing to die from starvation. He has now reportedly received a letter from his commanding officer allowing him to be both a Navy sailor AND accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior AND state so.

One has to wonder if there were any phone calls from the Commander in Chief on this one.

The Navy’s excuse given by Lt. William Marks was

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. - WorldNetDaily

Which is all well and good IF the founding fathers would have said anything about a difference between public and private worship. They did not. And the fact that it took them 18 days to figure out how to spin this should be an eye opener that it is not as open and shut as they claim.

We have religious freedom in this country and that is NOT one of the freedoms you give up when you enter the military.

Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity

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Authors:David Limbaugh
Manufacturer:Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Released:25 September, 2003

The New Thought Police: Inside the Left’s Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds

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Manufacturer:Prima Lifestyles
Released:23 October, 2001

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