Posted by Emily Sears on Sep 25, 2013 in Military Prayer, News | Comments Off on Have You Prayed Today?
Here is your fun fact for the day!
We don’t plan to come find you and bonk you on the head, but make sure you spend time today in prayer. Lift up not only our men and women serving but the chaplains who are serving beside them, encouraging them and praying for them.
“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
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Posted by Emily Sears on Sep 24, 2013 in Military Prayer, News | Comments Off on Air Force Republishes Chaplain’s ‘No Atheists in Foxholes’ Article to Base Website
BY ALEX MURASHKO, CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
August 14, 2013|8:24 am
The U.S. Air Force republished a chaplain’s devotional article to a base website after an official initially removed it in response to a complaint about its reflections on the famous quotation “There are no atheists in foxholes,” often attributed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In early July, a devotional article by Lt. Col. Kenneth Reyes (USAF) wasposted on the website of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the Chaplain’s Corner titled “No atheists in foxholes: Chaplains gave all in World War II.”
Shortly after the publication of the devotional, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation requested that the Air Force remove it off the base website and formally discipline Reyes, claiming it insulted those with no faith, according to WND.
The letter from the MRFF to the Air Force stated that in his article Reyes chose to “publicly denigrate those without religion.”
The activist group also stated that Reyes “defiles the dignity of service members by telling them that regardless of their personally held philosophical beliefs they must have faith.”
The Air Force removed the article within hours of receiving the complaint, according to WND.
“Chaplains have the freedom and obligation to speak about faith and religious values, and this freedom should not be censored or prohibited,” said Alliance Defending Freedom litigation counsel Kellie Fiedorek in a statement released Tuesday. “The Air Force should be commended for recognizing this and returning Chaplain Reyes’s essay to the ‘Chaplains Corner’ portion of his base’s website.”
ADF filed a Freedom of Information Act request earlier this month in an attempt to determine what led to the chaplain’s essay being censored in the first place. “We will continue to monitor that as we stand ready to defend our men and women in uniform just as they stand ready to defend us,” said Fiedorek.
In his devotional article, Reyes writes that he interviewed a former World War II prisoner of war and friend who indicated that the phrase has been credited to Father William Cummings.
Father Cummings was a civilian missionary Catholic priest in the Philippines and the phrase was coined during the Japanese attack at Corregidor, Reyes writes.
He explains, “During the siege, Cummings had noticed non-Catholics were attending his services. Some he knew were not Catholic, some were not religious and some were even known atheists.
“Life-and-death experiences prompt a reality check. Even the strongest of beliefs can change, and, I may add, can go both ways – people can be drawn to or away from ‘faith.’ With the pending surrender of allied forces to the Japanese, Cummings uttered the famous phrase ‘There is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole.'”
In an American Legion Program broadcast from the White House on Feb. 7, 1954, Eisenhower used the expression during in his remarks.
Reyes’ devotional article: ‘No atheists in foxholes’: Chaplains gave all in World War II.
Original Article: http://www.christianpost.com/news/air-force-republishes-chaplains-no-atheists-in-foxholes-article-to-base-website-102226/
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Posted by Emily Sears on Sep 20, 2013 in Military Prayer | Comments Off on Pentagon Classifies Evangelical Christians, Catholics as “Extremists”
By Todd Starnes
Fox News
The Department of Defense classified Catholics and Evangelical Christians as religious extremists similar to Al-Qaeda, according to training materials obtained by the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
The Pentagon also considered the Southern Poverty law Center’s “hate group” list a “reliable source” for determining extremism and labeled “Islamophobia” as a form of religious extremism.
The revelations come just days after Judicial Watch discovered a separate Pentagon training document that depicted the Founding Fathers as extremists and conservative organizations as hate groups.
The Chaplain Alliance uncovered in more than 1,500 pages of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request after a U.S. Army training instructor told a Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania that Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Sunni Muslims, and the Ku Klux Klan were examples of extremism.
PENTAGON CALLS FOUNDING FATHERS EXTREMISTS
CHECK OUT THE ARMY’S LIST OF DOMESTIC HATE GROUPS
“The materials we obtained establish that the U.S. military violated its appropriate apolitical stance and engaged in a dishonorable mischaracterization of multiple faith groups,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance, an organization that represents thousands of military chaplains.
The documents show an unknown number of equal opportunity officers were trained at Fort Jackson, SC, using information obtained from the SPLC.
The training material was made public after a soldier who attended the briefing alerted Chaplain Alliance.
“He considers himself an Evangelical Christian and did not appreciate being classified with terrorists,” Crews said. “There was a pervasive attitude in the presentation that anything associated with religion is an extremist.”
The soldier “produced the slides based on EO Leader’s Course Program of Instruction obtained from the Soldier Support Institute at Fort Jackson, South Carolina,” the document reads.
In addition to the slide presentation, the Reserve unit was also shown a video provided by the SPLC and Teaching Tolerance. The trainer told her superior officers she showed the video because it was part of the “EO Advisor course curriculum.”
Crews is calling on the Pentagon to stop relying on the Southern Poverty Law Center or any other group that considers mainline religious organizations to be extremist or terrorist groups.
“Men and women of faith who have served the military faithfully for centuries shouldn’t be likened to those who have regularly threatened the peace and security of the United States,” Crews said. “The materials we have received verify that the military views the Southern Poverty Law Center as a reliable source for Equal Opportunity briefings.”
The Pentagon did not return calls seeking comment. Last April, spokesman George Wright told Fox News the training briefing in Pennsylvania was an “isolated incident not condoned by the Department of the Army.”
“This slide was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine,” he said. “It was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command’s knowledge or permission.”
The Army said the slide was removed, the presenter apologized and they considered the matter closed.
“Mr. Wright’s response is accurate but incomplete,” Crews told Fox News. “Yes, the one offensive slide was deleted, but how many other EO officers continue to use the SPLC as a source for training materials?”
Article from FoxNews.com: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/pentagon-classifies-evangelical-christians-catholics-as-extremists.html
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Posted by Emily Sears on Sep 17, 2013 in Military Prayer | Comments Off on Leaders Call for Prayer After D.C. Shooting Leaves 13 Dead
‘I join people of all faiths across our community in praying for the people killed and wounded in the attack,’ said Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl.
by ADELAIDE MENA/CNA/EWTN NEWS
09/16/2013
Emergency vehicles and law enforcement personnel respond Sept. 16 to shots at the Washington Navy Yard.
– Getty Images.
WASHINGTON — U.S. leaders are offering prayers for the nation following a shooting at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington that left 13 dead and about a dozen more injured.
“I join people of all faiths across our community in praying for the people killed and wounded in the attack at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.,” said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, adding that he is also praying for first responders and for family and friends of the victims.
“While many facts are still unknown, our most powerful tool right now is prayer,” the Washington cardinal said in a Sept. 16 statement. “The Church always calls us to prayer, particularly in moments of crisis. It is what we do best, because it is what the Lord asks us to do.”
Cardinal Wuerl will celebrate a Mass for consolation and healing at 12:10pm Sept. 17 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.
At about 8:20am on Sept. 16, numerous shots were fired at the D.C. facility, which contains the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command. Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier confirmed that at least 13 people were killed in the shooting, including one shooting suspect, identified by the FBI as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, a military contractor from Texas.
Authorities are asking the public for help in finding more information on Alexis and the shooting.
Police initially said that they were looking for two more potential suspects, but later said they had found and cleared one of the individuals, leaving the other possible suspect at large.
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters that the motive for the shooting is unclear.
The base and surrounding public schools were placed on lockdown for several hours, according to the Department of the Navy and D.C. city officials.
As the nation confronts “yet another mass shooting,” President Barack Obama said in a Sept. 16 press conference, “we send our thoughts and prayers to all at the Navy Yard who’ve been touched by this tragedy.”
“We thank them for their service. We stand with the families of those who’ve been harmed,” he stated. “They’re going to need our love and support.”
The president said authorities are investigating the shooting in order to “make sure whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible” and to prevent similar acts of violence.
Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the news.
Noting that he has “often visited and celebrated the Eucharist” at the base’s chapel, he added that he “prayed for the victims, the wounded and their families at the noon Mass at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.”
Archbishop Broglio urged society to “restore the notion of respect for life into the fabric of the nation,” in order to prevent such acts in the future.”
He added, “When the uniqueness of the human person created in the image and likeness of God is universally recognized, the possibility of a mass shooting is more remote.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/leaders-call-for-prayer-after-d.c.-shooting-leaves-13-dead/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterPrintEdition+National+Catholic+Register+Print+Edition#ixzz2fATP5a8l
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Posted by Emily Sears on Sep 12, 2013 in Military Prayer | Comments Off on Study: World War II Soldiers Relied on Prayer, Not Returning Home to Loved Ones, for Motivation
By JASON KOEBLER
US News
May 28, 2013
Study finds that reliance on ‘national ideals’ fell during times of heavy combat
When soldiers reported that battles became “more frightening,” as many as 72 percent of them turned to prayer as their primary source of motivation.
—–
American soldiers in World War II increasingly found motivation through prayer and less often found motivation by the thought of returning home to their loved ones as the war went on, a new analysis of government data has found.
Originally administered in the immediate aftermath of World War II, The American Soldier studies were conducted by the Army’s Information and Education Division. An upcoming analysis of that data, to be published in the Journal of Religion and Health, finds when soldiers reported that battles became “more frightening,” as many as 72 percent of them turned to prayer as their primary source of motivation. When battles were less frightening, just 42 percent of soldiers regularly prayed for motivation.
Those who had “high levels of fear symptoms” were less likely to find motivation by looking forward to the end of the war, feeling hatred toward the enemy, or “thinking of what [they] were fighting for.”
“The thing motivating a lot of these guys, as combat became heavier, was prayer,” says Craig Wansink, a religion professor at Virginia Western College and one of the authors of the study. “That might be what you’d expect, but as the battle became heavier, all of these other factors decreased heavily. There became less trust in national ideals. What surprised us was not that prayer increased but that reliance on other ideals decreased.”
The study may lend some credence to the oft-repeated saying “There are no atheists in foxholes,” but a second part of the study found that once soldiers returned, those who had bad experiences during the war seemed to remain religious.
When surveyed 50 years later, those who faced heavy combat and said they had a bad experience in the war were 21 percent more likely to attend church than those who had a bad experience but faced little or no combat. Those who faced heavy combat but had a positive overall experience were least likely to attend church.
“It’s tough to know why those who had a negative experience attended church more often,” Wansink says. “It may be because they have had a history of relying on a larger community – a band of brothers situation – but it also might have something to do with recognizing that they had a reliance on a greater power during the war.”
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/05/28/study-world-war-ii-soldiers-relied-on-prayer-not-returning-home-to-loved-ones-for-motivation
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