Military to Prosecute GI's for Sharing Faith?

[Jedi Knight]

Pentagon: Religious Proselytizing is Not Permitted

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarne...religious-proselytizing-is-not-permitted.html“It threatens to treat service members caught witnessing as enemies of the state,”

 

[Salty]

I would assume there are three sides to this story.
Here is one paragraph "
Military leaders were admonished not to use their position to “promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.”
Weinstein said it’s time for the Air Force to enforce the regulation – with zeal.
“If a member of the military is proselytizing in a manner that violates the law, well then of course they can be prosecuted"
A leader is to be careful as to how he influence his sub-ordinates. This could include a multitude of activities, from voting for my candidate to selling items (a one time car sale is okay), and ect.

You can read more in Army Regulation (AR) 600-50 - especially chapter 2

 

[Revmitchell]

Christian Persecution Begins

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”.

The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith.

(From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are “enemies of the Constitution.”)

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...rt-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith

 

[Salty]

something tells me we dont have the whole story yet

 

[Revmitchell]

“Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

Those words were recently written by Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), in a column he wrote for the Huffington Post. Weinstein will be a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops.

Weinstein decries what he calls the “virulent religious oppression” perpetrated by conservative Christians, whom he refers to as “monstrosities” and “pitiable unconstitutional carpetbaggers,” comparing them to “bigots” in the Deep South during the civil rights era.

He cites Dr. James Dobson—the famous Christian founder of Focus on the Family—as “illustrating the extremist, militant nature of these virulently homophobic organizations’ rhetorically-charged propaganda.” Regarding those who teach orthodox Christian beliefs from the Bible, Weinstein concludes, “Let’s call these ignoble actions what they are: the senseless and cowardly squallings of human monsters.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...itution-to-Develop-Religious-Tolerance-Policy

 

[Revmitchell]

Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to “rape” and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed.


The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.

President Mikey Weinstein and others from his organization met privately with Pentagon officials on April 23. He said U.S. troops who proselytize are guilty of sedition and treason and should be punished – by the hundreds if necessary – to stave off what he called a “tidal wave of fundamentalists.”

“Someone needs to be punished for this,” Weinstein told Fox News. “Until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Fox News he was stunned that the Pentagon would be taking counsel and advice from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

“Why would military leadership be meeting with one of the most rabid atheists in America to discuss religious freedom in the military,” Perkins said. “That’s like consulting with China on how to improve human rights.”

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarne...religious-proselytizing-is-not-permitted.html

 

[Jedi Knight]

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”.

The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith.

(From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are “enemies of the Constitution.”)

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...rt-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=85984

 

[Jedi Knight]

I would assume there are three sides to this story.
Here is one paragraph "
Military leaders were admonished not to use their position to “promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.”
Weinstein said it’s time for the Air Force to enforce the regulation – with zeal.
“If a member of the military is proselytizing in a manner that violates the law, well then of course they can be prosecuted"
A leader is to be careful as to how he influence his sub-ordinates. This could include a multitude of activities, from voting for my candidate to selling items (a one time car sale is okay), and ect.

You can read more in Army Regulation (AR) 600-50 - especially chapter 2

I guess Rev missed this.:wavey:

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Persecution complex is more like it. This is not persecution.

 

[annsni]

According to a friend of mine who is an Army chaplain, this has always been the rule in the military. He said that sharing your faith is allowed - just not coercion.

 

[Revmitchell]

According to a friend of mine who is an Army chaplain, this has always been the rule in the military. He said that sharing your faith is allowed - just not coercion.

Why do you think this is the same thing?

 

[annsni]

Just spoke to an Army chaplain friend of mine and he said that it's always been this way. It's nothing new. You can share your faith - but you can't coerce anyone to follow your beliefs.

 

[annsni]

Why do you think this is the same thing?

Why do I think what is the same thing? I don't understand your question.

 

[Revmitchell]

Why do I think what is the same thing? I don't understand your question.

You seemed to indicate that you thought, after talking with a Chaplain, this was nothing new. I am not understanding why that is.

 

[Jedi Knight]

Just spoke to an Army chaplain friend of mine and he said that it's always been this way. It's nothing new. You can share your faith - but you can't coerce anyone to follow your beliefs.

But what I hear is the Chaplin's cannot share the gospel at all even if they were asked.

 

[righteousdude2]

This just came across the newswire. How sad.

Not only is America Broke, it is also Broken!

SEE: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...rt-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith

We need to do more than pray. It is time to take names and write letters. :type:

 

[annsni]

But what I hear is the Chaplin's cannot share the gospel at all even if they were asked.

Nope - This is officially not true. I asked my chaplain friend for a statement that I can use and here's what he said:

Recently, there was put out a news story that the military is going to make proselytizing illegal and prosecute (up to court marshal) those guilty of this.
This is a non-story. This has nothing to do with not being able to share your faith, including chaplains. The military has always banned proselytizing - the attempt to get people to change religion/denomination without voluntarily requesting/inquiring about it. It is the same as coercion. There is no spiritual conversion, just sheep stealing.
For example, Chaplains are forbidden from proselytizing but they can share their faith, including the Gospel, especially if the SMs asks spiritual questions. Also Chaplains are there to protect the SMs First Amendment rights, including the ability to share their faith in ordinary and daily conversations. It would be illegal to ban SMs, including Chaplains, from doing this.
This is a story being blown out of proportion by those with an anti-America and anti-military agenda. It is sad that people are not using discernment when it comes to news stories but come across as gullible and naïve by believing things automatically.
Also, if one is a believer, he or she should be sharing the Gospel. It does not matter if this is called soul winning, witnessing, missions, evangelism, etc. This is not the same as proselytizing, since the Gospel is freely shared and the other person is not being forced to make a decision. Hence witnessing and proselytizing are not the same. That is why Christians and churches have spoken against proselytizing for centuries.

 

[Revmitchell]

This is a story being blown out of proportion by those with an anti-America and anti-military agenda.

I might have believed him if it were not for this above statement.

 

[annsni]

I might have believed him if it were not for this above statement.

So does that disregard the fact that he's seen 300 men and women in the service be saved over the last number of years that he's been in the Army - through his and others giving the Gospel - and it was done legally?

 

[Revmitchell]

So does that disregard the fact that he's seen 300 men and women in the service be saved over the last number of years that he's been in the Army - through his and others giving the Gospel - and it was done legally?

What is disregards is denial that at the moment there are actual considerations being made on this issue. The characterization of those who have written these articles and are two credible and reasonable sources. And that there are reasonable people who have read this story and are waiting to see how it turns out.

Tearing people down who have given this story consideration only shows a bias and unreasonableness.