Of course, selfishness is an abhorrent sin....much to be despised....please forgive me if anyone supposes my "zeal" is based in selfishness....I shall certainly self-examine and repent if so....but I only ask, was it selfish or unselfish, when I :
1) Gave up an award-winning Air Force career and volunteered for a demotion in rank and a pay-cut, just to become a Navy chaplain and help Sailors?
2) Led Sailors to feed the homeless every Friday, winning six awards for community service (including best in Navy)?
3) Risked my own career by advocating (too strongly) for my Jewish Sailor to have Kosher meals? (Earning rebuke from headquarters, but praise from the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Welfare Board, read here: http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/ADLforKlingenschmitt.pdf )
4) Fought for equal opportunity for Sailors of all diverse faiths to "take turns" and "share the prayer" with my Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic Sailors, allowing them to pray according to their tradition, while I'd only pray "in Jesus name" every fourth turn? (Which proposal my commander denied, telling me to pray "Jewish" prayers....read here: http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/AppendixRTwoDeniedProposals.pdf )
5) Compromised my own faith by obediently praying only Jewish prayers (Old Testament Psalms) in public, for eight months before he still fired me from my ship?
6) Risked my own career by opposing the Navy's
"government-mandated church quotas" when senior chaplains forced scores of Sailors to attend a pro-homosexual church? (Read here: http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/AParticleMattKelley30Apr05.pdf )
7) Fought only to lose my own $1.8 million pension, my own reputation, my entire career, at criminal conviction, so that other chaplains AND SAILORS would receive the religious liberty I was denied? (Don't assume I'm going to personally benefit from this...my family will soon be evicted from military housing...I did this for others, not me.)
8) Quoted the Bible in the chapel (optional-attendance) in a sermon designed to honor the Christian faith of my deceased Sailor (guaranteeing his right to a Christian burial), and pleading to save the souls of those who voluntarily attended, putting
their own eternal salvation ahead of my own reputation, again risking my career?
If I were truly selfish, I'd never have risked my career for the benefit of others, I'd simply have watered-down my prayers and sermons, stopped fighting for religious liberty FOR ALL DIVERSE FAITHS, and gotten quickly promoted to senior chaplain...
Chaplain Klingenschmitt
----------------------------
"David E. Guinn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"David E. Guinn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am appalled by the selfishness of this line of argument -- that the only point of concern is to "protect the chaplain" -- as opposed to serve the religious needs and interest of our armed forces.Not only are these interpretations of history and law enormously biased and inaccurate, they are offensive. If the chaplaincy's purpose is solely to promote Chaplain Klingenschmitt's sectarian faith than perhaps Madison was correct in arguing that Congress' decision to hire chaplains was wrong and should now be recended.David
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