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 <[email protected] > 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 <[email protected]> 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 instead > is printing the same Bibles with “generic insignias, which continue to sell > well and provide spiritual guidance and comfort to those who serve.” > > The AAFES told Fox News Radio it has 961 copies of the Bible left on > shelves at 83 facilities. Weinstein doesn’t know how many are out there but > contends that until each and every one is gone, “they’re still aiding and > abetting the cause of al- Qaeda.” > > Why? Because it is a national security issue if America is perceived as > waging a religious war against the Muslim world. One can’t help but get > that impression reading the added material in these Holman Bibles, > suggesting that that God has blessed the American warrior for his > existential struggle of good versus evil. > > A crusade and one playing right into the religious extremism on the > other side, putting Americans overseas, and at home, at risk, said > Weinstein. > > His approach which is as fiery and combative as the preachers he rebukes > (he’s taken to calling the Pentagon, “Pentacostal-gon,”) has drawn fire > from a number of conservative Christian organizations and websites, which > have labeled MRFF a bunch of zealous atheist agitators. > > “Why should these Bibles be removed because of the demands of a small > activist group?” Ron Crews, head ofThe Chaplain Alliance for Religious > Liberty, asked last week, adding in an interview with Fox News Radio that > the Department of Defense was acting “cowardly” by backing down to MRFF. > > “MRFF must cease and desist their reckless assault on religious liberty. > The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty calls on Congress to > investigate this frivolous threat and apparent discrimination against > religious views by the DoD.” > > But this “reckless assault” has offered the public a window into how > much evangelicalism threads through the military ethos today from the > Pentagon buying gunswith sights outfitted with biblical references, to > born-again chaplainsdirecting soldiers to hand out Bibles and > proselytizeamong the Muslim locals in Afghanistan. > > MRFF has accused Army chaplains ofusing religion in lieu of mental > health counseling to aid battlefield stress, and drew attention > toprovocative displaysof religious murals and crosses sprawled on walls at > U.S. bases and on vehicles driven through the urban battlefront. MRFF has > protested the taxpayer-funded “Spiritual Fitness Concert Series” performed > on bases here in the states, and followed up on complaints by service > members at Fort Eustis in Virginia who said they werepunished by a superior > officer for not attending. MRFF also helped put the brakes on an Air Force > training program in 2011 that used the New Testament and the insights of an > ex-Nazito teach missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching > nuclear weapons. > > More recently, MRFFcriticized a fighter squadron’s decisionto switch > back to its old “Crusader” moniker, complete with a Knights Templar red > cross emblazoned on its planes. Under pressure, the Marines have since > reversed that decision, returning to its old World War II-era “werewolves” > nickname,earlier this month. > > Weinstein said “predatory” evangelicals in the military “believe the > Separation of Church and State is a myth, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness > Monster,” and he doesn’t mind putting his own reputation and safety on the > line to smash that myth to pieces. > > “If we’re catching them on things like this Bible, what the hell else is > going on? Well, we know,” he said. “The Bible situation is not innocent, it > is not innocuous, it is another raging example of this cancer.” > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. 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