First read:
But again which God should he thank, Christian, Hindu, Atheist, Jajja Muwanga, Native American, Allah? since "He is not a Christian" as US Conservatives claim, why then should he thank your God? And again is that not Christianity by FORCE rather than Grace?Kato Mivule
Obama's God-less Thanksgiving Speech Draws Ire
By Anugrah Kumar | Christian Post Contributor
The Christian Post > U.S.|Sat, Nov. 26 2011 09:21 AM EDT
http://www.christianpost.com/news/obamas-god-less-thanksgiving-speech-draws-ire-63080/
Angry reactions are pouring in from across America and beyond after President Barack Obama chose not to thank God but referred to “luck” during his Thanksgiving address in defiance of the holiday tradition’s purpose as established by President George Washington in 1789.
Obama omitted religious references in his three-minute speech although Thanksgiving is “a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God,” said Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes.
“The president said his family was ‘reflecting on how truly lucky we are,’” he added. “For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are.”
In his speech, Obama said his family would spend the day “eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we are.”
“Somebody ought to remind Obama that when Americans sit down around a meal today and give thanks, they give thanks to God,” said The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s columnist Sherman Frederick.
Proclaiming the first national day of public thanksgiving, George Washington, America’s first president who also presided over the writing of the Constitution, said, “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor … a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God …”
Conservative columnist Ben Shapiro was harsher in criticizing the president. “Unreal that Obama doesn’t mention God in Thanksgiving message,” reads his tweet. “Militant atheist. To whom does he think we are giving thanks?”
Britain’s Daily Mail also reported on Obama’s omission. “Any acknowledgement of a spiritual element to the holiday was conspicuousness by its absence, as the president called the festival ‘a celebration of community,’” it said.
Notably, Obama thanked God in his written proclamation before Thanksgiving. “As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives,” he wrote. “Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.”
The president also thanked God explicitly in his address in 2010 and 2009. “Today, like millions of other families across America, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will sit down to share a Thanksgiving filled with family and friends – and a few helpings of food and football, too,” Obama said in his Thanksgiving address last year. “And just as folks have done in every Thanksgiving since the first, we’ll spend some time taking stock of what we’re thankful for: the God-given bounty of America, and the blessings of one another.”
Some find criticism of Obama misleading. “Wouldn’t it be nice if the GOP cared as much about jobs as they do about stuff like whether Prez said God in a speech?” tweeted Arianna Huffington.
ABC News pointed out that three of the GOP presidential candidates – former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum – also omitted God in the Thanksgiving statements they issued.
Removal of Cross From Army Chapel in Afghanistan Stirs Controversy
By Michael Gryboski | Christian Post Reporter
The Christian Post > U.S.|Fri, Nov. 25 2011 05:12 PM EDT
http://www.christianpost.com/news/removal-of-cross-from-army-chapel-in-afghanistan-stirs-controversy-63053/
The U.S. Army has removed a cross that was prominently placed on the front of a chapel located at the remote base of Camp Marmal in Northern Afghanistan.
Although soldiers at the Central Asian base considered the cross to be an inspiring symbol, officials said that having a permanent sectarian image on the chapel violated army regulations.
As Army Regulation 165-1, 12-3k reads in part, “The chapel environment will be religiously neutral when the facility is not being used for scheduled worship. Portable religious symbols, icons, or statues may be used within a chapel during times of religious worship.”
Fox News interviewed American soldiers stationed at the base and found that some held issue with the decision to remove the cross.
One soldier referred to the decision and the regulation behind it as “a direct attack against Christianity and Judaism.”
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council also talked with Fox News and said the decision secularized a religious building.
“There’s a sole purpose of a chapel and it’s to worship,” said Perkins.
“The timing of this – what a way to celebrate Thanksgiving.”
Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told The Christian Post in an interview that the Army made the right decision.
“The American military includes personnel from many different faith traditions and some who follow no spiritual path at all. That diversity should be respected,” said Conn.
“It's perfectly appropriate to display sectarian symbols in military buildings when worship services are underway there, but those symbols should not be left there permanently. That would suggest that the faith represented is getting preferential treatment.”
In response to those who say that the military is targeting Christians, Conn said that if anything Christians in the armed forces receive preferential treatment.
“I know of no evidence that Christianity is being discriminated against in the military,” said Conn.
“As a matter of fact, there have been ongoing problems with military bias in favor of evangelical Christianity.”
The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers also welcomed the removal of the cross, considering it an example of protecting “civil rights and neutrality towards religion.”
“Christians are calling this an attack on their religion. This implies that putting up a 6-foot cross on a prominent military facility is not an attack on all competing religions,” reads a MAAF blog entry.
“A Star of David, Crescent and Star, Buddhist Prayer Wheel, or other religious symbol would be a violation just as a Christian cross is.”
The unidentified soldier who spoke to Fox News said he will comply with Army rules. But he cautioned, ““If they are able to erase Christian symbols from the military, then it can be pushed to be erased in the private sector.”
Military burns Bibles sent to troops in Afghanistan
Karen McCracken
Louisville Christian Examiner
May 20, 2009 - Like this?
http://www.examiner.com/christian-in-louisville/military-burns-bibles-sent-to-troops-afghanistan#ixzz1f4yklBBN
A story hit the media today, stating that the U.S. Military made a choice to burn Bibles sent to soldiers on base in Afghanistan. The military has a policy that unsolicited religious materials are not allowed to be sent or distributed by military personnel. Central Command General Order No. 1 specifically forbids “proselytizing of any faith, religion or practice” and is to be strongly enforced in sectors which are predominantly Muslim, for fear such material distribution will be taken as an attempt on behalf of the U.S. to proselytize and convert the local people. If such actions were perceived in this manner, the military says it could jeopardize the safety of their mission and cause possible harm to come to the soldiers on base as well as the local Muslims who might show interest in another religion.
Afghanistan is a devout Muslim nation. Although there are various Christian organizations that support professional career missionaries in the field, most missionary efforts in the area are not publicized or promoted, for safety reasons. The Bibles that were sent to a Sgt. James Watt on base in Bargram, Afghanistan were a rare find due to the fact that they were written in Pashto and Dari, the predominant languages in that particular region. The church that sent the Bibles saved and held fundraisers in order to afford the cost of the Bibles and shipping. Instead of sending the Bibles back to the church the military officials chose to burn the Bibles, stating that if they sent the Bibles back to the church they feared the church would turn around and send them to another organization within Afghanistan.
A Defense Department Spokesman stated that the soldier who received the Bibles from his church back in the U.S. was unaware of the policies concerning distribution of religious materials and verified that the Bibles were confiscated and eventually burned. Despite regulations, many Christian Evangelical Soldiers gather together on base and continue to pray for ways they can reach out and share their faith, even in such a war-torn situation as this.
Military policy or not, church-goers across the globe are disturbed by the fact that Afghanistan’s intolerance for other religions and reputation for persecuting Christians is being tolerated by the U.S. In light of the situation, did the military do the right thing? Should they have sent the Bibles back to the U.S. church rather than burning them? Should the church have been notified and given the opportunity to use the Bibles to reach Afghanistan people in other parts of the world? Or did the military make a sound decision?
Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-20/world/us.military.bibles.burned_1_bibles-al-jazeera-english-military-personnel?_s=PM:WORLD
Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday.
The unsolicited Bibles sent by a church in the United States were confiscated about a year ago at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan because military rules forbid troops of any religion from proselytizing while deployed there, Lt. Col. Mark Wright said.
Such religious outreach can endanger American troops and civilians in the devoutly Muslim nation, Wright said.
"The decision was made that it was a 'force protection' measure to throw them away, because, if they did get out, it could be perceived by Afghans that the U.S. government or the U.S. military was trying to convert Muslims," Wright told CNN on Tuesday.
Troops at posts in war zones are required to burn their trash, Wright said.
The Bibles were written in the languages Pashto and Dari.
This decision came to light recently, after the Al Jazeera English network aired video of a group prayer service and chapel sermon that a reporter said suggested U.S. troops were being encouraged to spread Christianity.
The military denied that earlier this month, saying much in the video was taken out of context.
"This was irresponsible and dangerous journalism sensationalizing year-old footage of a religious service for U.S. soldiers on a U.S. base and inferring that troops are evangelizing to Afghans," Col. Gregory Julian said.
The military says a soldier at Bagram received the Bibles and didn't realize he wasn't allowed to hand them out. In the Al Jazeera video, which shows the Bibles at the prayer service, an unnamed soldier says members of his church raised money for them.
The chaplain later corrected the soldier and confiscated the Bibles, Wright said.
Military officers considered sending the Bibles back to the church, he said, but they worried the church would turn around and send them to another organization in Afghanistan -- giving the impression that they had been distributed by the U.S. government.
That could lead to violence against troops or U.S. civilians, Wright said.
Al Jazeera English, a Qatar-based international news service, said its reporters tried to get a response from military officials for its story but were unable to do so.
The U.S. military air base at Bagram is home to thousands of troops from all branches of the U.S. military. The vast majority of the troops do not leave the base and are in various support roles for U.S. troops across Afghanistan.
