It is just about doing your job

Chaplain Kligenschmitt, ever the evangelical activist, found that even chaplains must obey orders. Kligneschmitt's issue, which is essentially about the difference between ecumenical prayer and proselytizing ones own faith, came down to the simple issue of a solder follow orders. Kligneschmitt did not follow his orders, now he's been fined and told to go back to work. I must ask: Klegenschmitt, have you no honor? don't you realize that your duty is to service people who do not share your faith?

Such neutrality has long been a mark of the military's ministerial corps, mostly because they serve a captive audience, but also because to do otherwise would be rude. Similar rules govern prayer in all kinds of government-sponsored settings.

Of course, this would not be a headline grabbing event unless the Evangelical community made it a cause celebre. The neutrality of military pastors is under attack.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., helped insert language into a huge defense bill - where it doesn't belong - to allow military pastors to pray any way they want whenever they want. That will, of course, force some military folks to listen to prayer that offends their conscience, but that seems to not matter to folks like Jones.

Now is the time to express your concerns. U.S. Sen. John Warner, head of the Armed Services Committee, is the right person to to communicate your contact.

Technorati Tags: Religion, Military, Evangelicals, Kligneschmitt