Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Re: A Biblical Threat to National Security

I've yet to see any of these "recent" Christians forcing their religious beliefs upon the rest of Americans.....Please, by all means, give us somem examples!
 
(And actually, I can think of a couple;  but not anything in the last seventy-five or one hundred years)
 
Michael, I don't even understand what your last missive means.......
 
 
 


 
On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 3:41 PM, plainolamerican <plainolamerican@gmail.com> wrote:
secularists once again forcing their
political correctness upon the rest of Americans.
---
as opposed to christians forcing their religious beliefs upon the rest
of Americans

On Jun 20, 5:33 am, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wonder if the United States Armed Services "authorized"  a Q'uoran, or
> any other religious works?
>
> I note that since this bru-ha-ha started, the military has since
> discontinued the "authorization"  of the use of the military symbols on the
> Holman Bible.
>
> Much ado about nothing, and a bunch of secularists once again forcing their
> political correctness upon the rest of Americans.
>
> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 10:22 PM, plainolamerican <plainolameri...@gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > wrote:
> > some 33 percent of chaplains are now evangelical Christians
> > ---
> > and 100 percent of USSC justices are jews and catholics.
>
> > tit for tat among the myth believers who have forgotten that the USA
> > is a secular nation
>
> > On Jun 19, 3:11 pm, MJ <micha...@america.net> wrote:
> > > A Biblical Threat to National SecuritybyKelley B. Vlahos, June 19, 2012
> > > Can a Bible be a "threat to national security"?
> > > For years, the government has employed the risk of "national security"
> > excuse to infringe on a wide range of freedoms like the right to pass
> > through an airport security checkpoint unmolested, or read library books
> > without Big Brother peeking over your shoulder.Michael L. "Mikey"
> > Weinsteinis trying to prove that there is more than one way to put the
> > country at risk, and he's found it in a heretofore unlikely place: the
> > Bible.
> > > Well, the Holman Bible. To be more exact, a version of the Bible that,
> > for reasons still undetermined, was authorized with the trademarked
> > official insignia of the U.S. Armed Forces emblazoned on the front cover.
> > There isThe Soldier's Biblewith the Army's seal,The Marine's Biblewith the
> > Marine Corps seal,The Sailor's BibleandThe Airman's Bible, both with their
> > respective insignia. The books have been sold for nearly six years
> > throughout Christian bookstores, commissaries and PXs on U.S. military
> > installations and are still available on Christianbook.com,Amazon.comand
> > Barnes & Noble.
> > > It's not theKing James Versionthatthe Gideonsleave behind in hotel rooms
> > drawers. The Holman Bible was commissioned and published by LifeWay
> > Christian Resources, a subsidiary of theSouthern Baptist Convention, the
> > largest Baptist denomination in the world, in 2003.
> > > In a 1999press releaseannouncing the edition's progress, Broadman &
> > Holman Publishers called the new version "a fresh, precise translation of
> > the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek of the Old and New Testaments." LifeWay
> > President James T. Draper Jr. weighed in, saying there was a "serious need
> > for a 21st-century Bible translation in American English that combines
> > accuracy and readability," adding, "the Holman Christian Standard Bible is
> > an accurate, literal rendering with a smoothness and readability that
> > invites memorization, reading aloud and dedicated study."
> > > The Holman Bible, or HCSB, has been popular with evangelicals for its
> > references and study tools. Someone convinced each branch of the service
> > they'd be perfect for the military, too. So the HCSB became the "official"
> > Bible of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines in 2004, complete with
> > reader-friendly text and custom "designed to meet the specific needs of
> > those who serve in the most difficult of situations," according to the
> > publishers.
> > > In other words, aside from the text, the books are filled with
> > "devotionals" and "inspirational essays" tailored to each branch of
> > service. I was unable to get my hands on a copy by press time, but Amazon's
> > "peek" inside the book and several positive reader reviews confirm some of
> > the contents, revealing what could only be described as a guileless
> > conflation of both Christian and American military iconography. War and
> > service as religious devotion.
> > > In addition to the Pledge of Allegiance and the first and fourth verses
> > of the Star Spangled Banner, there are excerpts from one of George W. Bush
> > inaugural addresses and the Republican president's remarks at a National
> > Prayer Breakfast.Gen. George S. Patton's famous Christmas prayer cardfrom
> > the field of battle 1944 is also included, as is"George Washington's
> > Prayer,"which has been widely circulated (and debunked) as proof of
> > America's Christian paternity.
> > > These Bibles also feature "testimonials and encouragement from
> > theOfficers' Christian Fellowship," which has approximately 15,000 members
> > across the military and whose primary purpose is "to glorify God by uniting
> > Christian officers for biblical fellowship and outreach, equipping and
> > encouraging them to minister effectively in the military society." In other
> > words they proselytize within the officer corps as part of an evangelical
> > "parachurch" within the military.
> > > A largely unfettered one, apparently, as one watches Pentagon officers
> > commenting freely on camera and in uniform for this Bush-era
> > promotionalvideofor Christian Embassy, another federal government-wide
> > "fellowship" with similar missionary goals.
> > > One officer, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Catton, who said he worked on the
> > Joint Staff at the Pentagon, described himself as "an old fashioned
> > American and my first priority is my faith in God." Pointing to his meeting
> > with other officers under the auspices of Christian Embassy, he said, "I
> > think it's a huge impact because you have many men and women who are
> > seeking God's counsel and wisdom as we advise the Secretary of Defense."
> > > Then U.S. Brigadier Gen. Bob Caslan (currently promoted to lieutenant
> > general as the commanding general at the U.S. Army's prestigious Combined
> > Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.) went so far as to say he sees the
> > "flag officer fellowship groups … hold me accountable."
> > > "We are the aroma of Jesus Christ," he added.
> > > Something smells, all right, said Weinstein, who heads theMilitary
> > Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The roles of the officers in the video
> > werelater deemed improperafter MRFF demanded an investigation in 2007. As
> > for the Bibles, Weinstein said he received some 2,000 complaints about them
> > from service members over the last year. Weinstein, a former Air Force
> > Judge Advocate (JAG) whose 2005 charges against the Air Force Academy in
> > Colorado led to an investigation thatofficially found religious
> > "insensitivity"against non- fundamentalists there, has gone on to expose a
> > much wider climate of"top-down, invasive evangelicalism"at the institution
> > and throughout the military as a whole.
> > > "We're fighting a
> > Fundamentalist-Christian-Parachurch-Military-Corporate-Proselytizing-Complex,"
> > Weinstein said told Antiwar.com last week, "and we have been fighting this
> > for some time." MRFF just posted a video montage, which could easily be
> > called the military evangelicals' greatest hits,here.
> > > He said aside from "prostituting" the military insignia, the military's
> > endorsement of the Bibles violated federal separation of church and state,
> > and continue to sanction an insidious culture of radical evangelicalism and
> > discrimination throughout the services (as a Jew, Weinstein said he felt
> > the sting of prejudice when he attended the Air Force academy in the late
> > 1970s; his sons had it even worse, he claims, prompting his first formal
> > complaint seven years ago).
> > > Since then, "(MRFF) has had 28,000 clients and a hundred more each
> > month," said Weinstein, rejecting claims by his critics that they are all
> > atheist. He insists that 96 percent of his clients are Christians (Catholic
> > and Mainline Protestant) and that his is not a religious crusade. On the
> > other hand,some 33 percent of chaplains are now evangelical
> > Christians(Weinstein's MRFF places that number at 84 percent), while only 3
> > percent of service members describe themselves as such.
> > > "They are spiritually raping the U.S. Constitution, the American people
> > and the men and women who are fighting for us," said Weinstein, who never,
> > ever minces words.
> > > MRFF's lawyers senta formal letterto Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's
> > office in January. In it, MRFF charged that authorizing LifeWay to print
> > its Bibles with the service insignia "is in violation of the Establishment
> > Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution … and
> > several regulations," and that the authority should be withdrawn
> > immediately or face legal action from MRFF.
> > > Interestingly, according to thedocuments now available online, the Army,
> > Navy and Air Force responded to the letter in February, insisting that the
> > summer before Weinstein's lawyers at Jones Day contacted the Pentagon, they
> > had already pulled their trademark authorizations to LifeWay, for
> > "unrelated reasons." So, in effect, according to the military, the Southern
> > Baptist Convention subsidiary no longer had use of the trademarks and the
> > question was moot.
> > > Weinstein responded with one word: "lies." He told Antiwar.com that they
> > were just informed of the letters in June, not in February.
> > Furthermore,according to MRFF senior research director Chris Rodda, MRFF
> > has obtained documents through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests that
> > indicated the "AAFES (the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which runs
> > the BXs, PXs, and other stores on military bases) was clearly concerned
> > about the complaints about the Holman Bibles, with emails as early as June
> > 6, 2011 from AAFES to LifeWay saying that these Bibles had 'become a hot
> > issue,' and referencing and linking to a June 2, 2011 article on MRFF's
> > website as the reason they were becoming a hot issue."
> > > Nevertheless, according to aFox News Radio story, LifeWay insists it's
> > "sold" all existing copies of the military Bible in question, and
>
> ...
>
> read more »

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