Military Chaplains are being censored.

Military Chaplains are being told not to pray in the name of Jesus. This story from The Washington Times highlights a recent controversy in the U.S.Navy. The military chaplains are being told that they cannot pray in the name of Jesus even if that is their faith. No such restrictions are apparently being given to the Muslim Chaplains concerning Allah. Apparently, John 3:37 was the controversial verse that sparked the censorship. Asking the Chaplain to be ecumenical verses Evangelical was the center point of the disciplinary actions.Some critics who support the chaplain says that asking a Chaplain to not use the name of Jesus is tantamount to asking soldiers not to speak English in a foreign country.The Air Force is working on ways to encourage pluralism at the Academy.My take on it all...as a Chaplains helper at a State Detention Center..is that the Chaplains should be sensitive to the beliefs of others and should use sound ecumenical and pluralistic judgment as to what they say...but that they should in no way be banned from using the name of Jesus if that is central to their individual faith.A couple of other links that address this controversy from both "sides" are to be found here and here.
The Military has their own site here that gives appropriate guidelines.So what does everyone think? Are the evangelical Chaplains pushing it too far? Should a Chaplain be so watered down and pluralistic that they quench their own faith in the process? Moreover, should the government be the final arbitrator?

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

The story is more than a year old. It seems to be contrary to the military guidelines. I don't find it plausible as presented. I do find it plausible that an evangelical would misrepresent the situation to claim persecution. If it were true then we should have heard more than it.So my provisional conclusion is that the complainant is omitting some significant fact.

I think it is important to note that the Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church which is led by Sun Myung Moon, a convicted felon who claims to be Jesus Christ. The 'so called' story may be that chaplains are not allowed to proselytize that Moon is Jesus.When reading the news please consider the source, as one is taught under the guidelines of critical thinking. Edited by anglagard, : left a space twixt th and e

To add, John 3 has only 36 verses, so I suspect that John 3:3-7 is meant. These verses are about the need to be born again, so if they are the verses in question it could well be that the chaplain was upsetting other Christians by saying that only Evangelicals are really Christian.This is in accord with the suggestion that "Asking the Chaplain to be ecumenical verses Evangelical was the center point of the disciplinary actions" - which in itself goes against the idea that the name of Jesus was the issue at all.

What is a government organisation doing with chaplains anyway?! Isn't there a separation of church and state?The Constitution of the U. S. forbids the establishment of a national religion - so promoting chaplains is encouraging theism. So, I say no chaplains in government organisations, unless there are also atheist philosophers.That goes for chaplains at public hospitals, government-funded emergency services, public universities and state prisons.Although, this is a sticky situation, because having chaplains breaks the constitution (by encouraging theism) and not having them breaks it (by inhibiting free exercise).ABE: this is probably why the chaplains must be watered down. The government cannot afford enough chaplains to provide free exercise of the hundreds of religions (pastafarian chaplains?), so has to keep chaplains who are somewhat 'watered-down' in order to keep to the constitution. Otherwise, each aircraft carrier would require a chaplain for each religion present on board.Edited by Doddy, : fixed spellingEdited by Doddy, : and grammarEdited by Doddy, : added extra stuff

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Hi, Phat. Excuse me for pasting in some quotes from the article. I think everyone needs to see clearly what restrictions are being applied and why. However, in the TWAT article you link:

quote:

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Official military policy allows any sort of prayer, but Lt. Klingenschmitt says that in reality, evangelical Protestant prayers are censored. He cites his training at the Navy Chaplains School in Newport, R.I., where "they have clipboards and evaluators who evaluate your prayers, and they praise you if you pray just to God," he said. "But if you pray in Jesus' name, they counsel you."

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Muslim, Jewish and Roman Catholic chaplains are likewise told not to pray in the name of Allah, in Hebrew or in the name of the Trinity, he added.

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We also hear from this fellow, although it isn't clear what "yet to be tested" means: does it mean the other chaplains are accommodating the military's ecumenical policy while the evangelicals are not?

quote:

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But the Rev. Billy Baugham, executive director of the Greenville, S.C.-based International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, says restrictions on other religious expressions have "yet to be tested."

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It seems that limiting chaplains to ecumenical prayer only applies to public gatherings where folks of many different faiths come together:

quote:

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The Navy allows chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Allah or any other deity during chapel services, spokeswoman Lt. Erin Bailey said.
At other public events, "Navy chaplains are encouraged to be sensitive to the needs of all those present," she said, "and may decline an invitation to pray if not able to do so for conscience reasons."

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It seems that once again evangelical Christians are complaining because they are not allowed to operate as an elite that is privileged above all other religions.

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Chaplain's in the US military are provided for the military member and their family. The military is not taking a stand on any religion, just providing for the religious wants and needs of its members. While military chaplains may be ordained in a particular religion or denomination they are trained to at least provide assistance to varying faiths.Chaplains have guidelines, not just for the mainstream religions, but also for the less understood beliefs such as Wicca.A large portion of this issue started with evangelizing in the USAF Academy, where people were harassed for not following a particular beliefset.

Ever heard the phrase 'there is but one mediator between ourselves and God'? It doesn't take much of a leap to imagine that some evangelicals use this as a stumbling block...they may believe that in their religion prayer is not efficacious if one prays directly to God. I am not sure if any clan particularly teaches this, but I can check. Going by the fudementalist and evangelicals that I have experienced, I am quite sure that they don't like concessions, and refuse to water-down the 'truth' at any cost.ABE; Here is one example I found on-line, I have to go back and get the link if it is required. Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

the whole praying in jesus' name is a method of legal contract really. jesus made a promise to us that if we have need, it will be filled. so you pray in jesus' name in order to be sure that we mention that we know we are promised whatever we ask for.it's really kind of nasty.but this isn't a censure on their personal beliefs, it's a command that when they are leading a mixed group or if they are praying with an individual of another faith (sometimes there's only one chaplain) that they must be respectful of the differences between them.

I wouldn't call it 'nasty' as I know these people understand that they can't expect answers to prayers that are not in conformity with the will of God or against the commandments etc. My point was that they consider praying in Jesus' name essential rather than arbitrary. Compared to the RCC for one, where we can pray to God as Father, Son, or Spirit, in the name of Jesus, of saints, of Mary, of the Trinity, and still feel confident, it is probably much harder to convince an evangelical that his/her prayer is efficacious if it is not in 'proper' form.

right...

Well, if Jesus couldn't persuade them that it was okay to pray without dropping his name, I don't imagine I can, either.

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Thats ridiculous! In a prison, for example, oftentimes the inmates will want to have a faith based counselor. I have yet to hear of anyone requesting Socrates! Sometimes you guys take it way too far!

Oh, so you do admit to want special treatment for your religion? What happenned to all this open mindedness and critical thinking you were telling us about? Because socrates did not claim to be able to take you to paradise. Please read some greek literature on this before you equate philosophy with religion again.