Navy Chaplain Fired for Expressing Religious Views

Religious Freedom,

Recently, news broke about the Lt. Commander Wes Modder, a Navy chaplain who served the U.S. Navy SEALs, who was targeted by the U.S. Navy for being honest about his faith.

Family Research Council has some details on the case:

“[T]he 19-year veteran has been stripped of his duties for sharing the good news he was hired to share. In a stunning turn of events, the chaplain was sabotaged by one of his own men, who secretly gathered enough information on Modder’s beliefs and private counseling sessions to file a formal complaint. Believe it or not, he was targeted by his own assistant — who Modder didn’t realize was gay. Looking back, the chaplain says the young officer asked a lot of questions about homosexuality, which Modder answered as most would expect: in accordance with the Bible’s teachings.

“The mask finally slipped in December, when representatives with the Equal Opportunity office served Modder with papers accusing him of ‘discrimination.’ Captain Jon Fahs — who five months earlier praised Modder as the ‘best of the best’ — now insists that he ‘failed to show tolerance and respect.’ Worse, he didn’t have a chance to defend himself. Almost immediately, the dad of four was relieved of his duties and told to clean out his office.

“He was guilty before proven innocent. And of what? Fulfilling his job description?”

Chaplains have been a part of the U.S. military since the days of George Washington. A chaplain’s duty is religious in nature. If chaplains are not free to discuss their faith, then what are they free to discuss? What’s the point of having chaplains in the military if they are not free to be religious and share the tenets of the faith that motivates their service? It simply does not make sense.

We will continue to monitor this situation in the days to come.

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Lawmakers File Over 450 Bills in One Day

Legislature, ,

capitol3-1Yesterday Arkansas’ lawmakers filed over 450 pieces of legislation ahead of the filing deadline.

Many of these bills were what we call “shell bills.” These are bills with little more than a title, like, “A Bill to Improve Public Education.” These bills may be amended later to flesh them out; we will keep an eye on them to see how they are amended.

However, several complete bills were filed. Below are a few you may want to know about.

A Bill Making Sexual-Orientation and Gender-Identity Protected Classes

Twenty-two years ago, the Arkansas Legislature passed the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993. Over the years we have fought to make sure Arkansas’ civil rights and hate crimes laws are not used to promote a homosexual agenda.

House Bill 1950 by Rep. Leding makes sexual-orientation and gender-identity protected classes in the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993—right alongside race, religion, national origin, gender, and disability.

(more…)

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What Religious Liberty at Home Has to Do With Persecution Overseas

Current Events, ,

Many people in American–both Christians and non-Christians–have asserted Christians should not complain about infringements of religious liberty in America, because Christians in places like Syria or Iraq are being persecuted so mercilessly.

John Stonestreet at the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview has recorded a short, compelling commentary on why religious liberty here in America goes hand-in-hand with ending the persecution Christians face from groups like ISIS.

Stonestreet writes,

“What’s at work here is a kind of false dilemma that one of my colleagues refers to as the Starving-Children-In-Africa fallacy. ‘There are problems in the world worse than yours,” goes the fallacy, “so your problems are not worth caring about or solving.’

“What this false dilemma misses is that the actor most capable of addressing the persecution faced by our brothers and sisters overseas is the United States. And if the United States takes the lead in addressing the issue, it’s in large measure because of religious voices in the public square that are calling for action and seeking to influence public opinion. And without religious liberty, religious voices will be dismissed from the public square, and will be unheard.”

You can listen to Stonestreet’s entire commentary below or read it here.

[audio:http://bit.ly/1BYSHN7|Titles=The bogus argument]

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