Is military fight a supernatural battle?

Tags

“So help me God”, COEXIST, freedom of religion, Jihadists, mainstream faiths, military, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, Military for Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), Tolerance, U.S. military

By Diane Markins

Does including the phrase, “So help me God” to an oath add value or impact? The United States Air Force Academy believed so in 1984 when it changed the candidate oath to include these words. But now they are removing the same words because of a complaint by the Military for Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

Only a year ago, the Latin word for “God” was removed from the logo of an Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. The word was removed after objections by the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

Is religion in the U.S. military under attack from “friendly fire?” Undermining and demeaning Christian faith in the armed forces is expected to come from Jihadists, but it seems that there is a domestic battle being waged as well.

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“Two military chaplains are suing Eric Shinseki, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, or VA, for allegedly being harassed and drummed out of a training and placement program because of their Christian faith.

Chaplains Major Steven Firtko, U.S. Army (Retired) and Lieutenant Commander Dan Klender, U.S. Navy, claim they were mocked, scolded and threatened for their faith while enrolled in the San Diego VA-DOD Clinical Pastoral Education Center program, which trains and distributes chaplains to military and VA medical centers in the San Diego area.



According to their lawsuit, Firtko and Klender allege the Center’s supervisor, Ms. Nancy Dietsch, a VA employee, derided them in classrooms and even had one of them dismissed for failing to renounce his Christian beliefs.

In July, Firtko, Klender and their sponsoring organization, the Conservative Baptist Association of America, filed formal complaint against Dietsch and the VA.

Now the lawsuit, filed with the help of Military-Veterans Advocacy, explains that Firtko and Klender have exhausted all administrative options and that the harassment the chaplains endured violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Administrative Procedures Act and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“No American choosing to serve in the armed forces should be openly ridiculed for his Christian faith, and that is most obviously true for chaplains participating in a chaplain training program,” said Commander J.B. Wells, U. S. Navy (Ret.), executive director of Military-Veterans Advocacy. “Not only was the treatment these men received inappropriate, it was also a violation of federal law and the religious freedom guarantees of the First Amendment.”

The lawsuit, Conservative Baptist Association of America v. Shinseki, has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”

DREW ZAHN

How can atheism “COEXIST” with mainstream faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism, Buddism) when it precludes any existence of God while the others assume a sovereign power of some nature? We managed for 235 years to peacefully live side by side, yet now, in the name of “tolerance” ALL reference to any deity is being erased. Are we so childish that anyone who disagrees must be WRONG? and therefore, denied freedom?

Overdone with the “War on Christmas!”

Tags

all-inclusive, christian, Christmas, COEXIST, Hanukkah, Jesus, non-inclusive, saturnalia, Secular humanism, Winter Solstice

Already overdone with the War on Christmas!

I just happened to read this article detailing the views of Penn Jillette (from Penn & Tiller comedy team.) Ya, know … it really gets my goat, as they say! He rambles on for several minutes about how Martin Luther King, Jr, talked to everyone beyond the “Christian” community to the world. According to Penn, MLK was all inclusive, and Penn sees “Merry Christmas” as a non-inclusive greeting, permitted but, he asks why? Well, let me explain why …

If not for Jesus, the birth of this baby foretold centuries before in detail, this season would be no different than any other. For some it is the Winter Solstice. For others, Hanukkah. I choose not to recognize the other newer excuse for a holiday because it’s a fraud, in my opinion. This is not the format to debate the validity of other belief systems. I am simply answering the question posed by Penn.

Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.

What makes this season special is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Was Jesus born December 25? NO! Probably in September sometime, but that’s not the point. The ancients politicians and power mongers played the same game Penn is pushing, trying to be all-inclusive, they chose the date of the popular pagan celebration of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25 and adopted it for Jesus’ birthday, in the absence of Biblical evidence to the contrary.

Christmas is just another target of the Secular humanists, or Progressives, whose goal is to remove all semblance of “religion” from American culture, but in the process, they have themselves created a religion which is taught in our schools, colleges, and many TV programs & movies. In their attempt to sell the “all-inclusive” society, Secular Humanists remove all evidence of culture, in effect, sterilizing the American life experience. No longer is America the land of apple pie, baseball, and Mickey Mouse, for fear someone may be … offended. Except for the Muslims, that is, who are permitted to do as they please, even disobey American law.

“Is this what’s happening? John Dewey, remembered for his efforts in establishing America’s current educational systems, was one of the chief signers of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto. It seems the Humanists have been interested in America’s education system for nearly a century. They have been absolutely successful in teaching children that God is imaginary and contrary to “science.”

This depiction of America’s first Christmas was painted in 1975 by local artist Claribel Jett. Based on what was known at that time, she envisioned the event occurring near Lake Jackson. Painting courtesy Claribel Jett

Why is it, after hundreds of years … HUNDREDS of YEARS … that it is suddenly “offensive” to issue a blanket greeting of “Merry Christmas?” Jews, Pagans, Christians and Buddhists, have “coexisted” for centuries without assuming offense at our differences. Americans have become so juvenile, encouraged to be so by the sensation-hungry media, that they choose to be offended at the mere suggestion of other viewpoints while being encouraged to be “all-inclusive” or “tolerant?” In other words, the meaning of the terms: tolerance and inclusion, are being absolutely reversed for political purposes! That leaves an impossible situation since one cannot celebrate both non-existence of God and the Presence of God simultaneously. However, if logic was used, it becomes very simple: if there is no God, why is it offensive for some to believe in God?

This secular humanist viewpoint also raises the question … If we remove God and Godly morality, is it acceptable that the foundation of our Republic is also removed? Without “traditional American values,” based on Biblical morality, what remains as a national moral compass?

What fascinates me about this whole debate is how easily the ground is surrendered. The Constitution of the United States forbids CONGRESS, on a federal level, from establishing a specific religion as the National religion. Period! It also mandates that you and I must be permitted to worship in accordance with our beliefs, inside the boundaries of Law. Human sacrifice, for example, is not acceptable because it is federally unlawful. In fact, in the early Republic, several individual states did, in fact, have a State religion, but it was not a Federally established, by the CONGRESS religion. We have strayed so far from the essence of our Founders’ Constitution.

Contrary to popular mis-understanding, there is nothing un-Constitutional about a Nativity on State property. There is nothing un-Constitutional about a Christmas pageant in a public school singing “Silent Night” or Away in a Manger,” as long as no one is imprisoned for disagreeing. Cities and towns across America are under assault from secular humanists and atheists who demand their right to be offended. How silly! How can they be offended by a God they believe does not exist?

I’ve never understood that bumper sticker, “COEXIST.” This is what we’ve done for generations. We have peacefully coexisted with others of various and sundry beliefs, cultures, religions, and ethnicities. The secular humanist (Progressives) notion of COEXIST means strip away everything that enriches our culture with variety, and water it all down to what we have in common …. which is what?

Related reading:

How December 25 Became Christmas

Santa Gets the Boot…for a little while.

Secular Humanism – Excluding God from Schools & Society

Controversial Ellwood City Nativity Scene Moved To New Location

North America’s first Christmas?