Protestant and Non-Liturgical Clergy Discriminated Against?

As Chaplains in the US Navy:

A federal appeals court has reinstated a long-running lawsuit by a group of current and former military chaplains who claimed the U.S. Navy discriminated against them and so-called non-liturgical Protestant clergy members, including Baptists and Evangelicals.

The chaplains, who filed their original case in 1999, claimed clergy of their religious orders were recommended for promotion by naval selection boards at a significantly lower level than Catholic or liturgical Protestants, meaning their services follow a more standardized ritual.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday revived their lawsuit and ordered that additional hearings be conducted to determine if they were likely to succeed on the merits of their claims. A lower court denied the chaplain’s motion for an injunction against the existing naval process, citing a lack of standing and a likelihood that the case wouldn’t succeed.

“To be sure, plaintiffs here never allege that the challenged policies directly authorize discrimination against or require disparate treatment of non-liturgical Protestants. Instead, they assert that these policies facilitate or exacerbate discrimination by chaplains serving on selection boards,” Judge David S. Tatel wrote. “We take the Navy’s point that the asserted causal link between the policies and the alleged discrimination is more attenuated here than in a case where the challenged policies directly authorize the allegedly illegal conduct.”

He went on,

That said, we conclude that plaintiffs’ allegation that the challenged policies will likely result in discrimination is sufficiently non-speculative to support standing. For one thing, chaplains inclined to vote on the basis of their religious preferences may be more likely to do so under the cover of secret ballots. Moreover, it goes without saying that the small size of selection boards gives potentially biased chaplains more influence over the outcome of the proceedings.

Arthur Schulcz Sr., a lawyer representing 65 chaplains and two endorsing agencies, said the existing procedures allow one member of a selection board to vote in secret and veto a promotion. That’s particularly troublesome when the chief of chaplains or his deputy are allowed to serve on those board, Mr. Schulcz said.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure you have a level playing field,” Mr. Schulcz said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, which argued on behalf of the Navy, declined to comment.

I’ve often felt some similarities between the liturgy, and regimental aspects within the military, at least as it is in so-called ‘High-Churches’, those who place a strong emphasis on formality, ritual and the correct execution of movements. I could see why Clergy who are not ‘sloppy’ (for lack of a better word) would function better in the military.

That said and the above news noted, it’s interesting to factor in that the current Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy is Rear Admiral Mark L. Tidd, a Presbyterian. And then there is also this piece from the Navy Chaplain Corps Reform website (the people who brought the above lawsuit):

You will notice than since 1980 there have been three Roman Catholics and four Lutherans in this position.

You will also notice that there was not one Chief of Chaplains from an evangelical denomination until 2006. The early history of the Chaplain Corps was dominated by mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics.

In 1995, Chaplain Larry Ellis did a study of fifteen keys leadership billets in the Chaplain Corps. He looked at the denominations of those who filled those billets from 1980 to 1995. He found that 54% of those billets had been filled by liturgical Protestants, 34% by Roman Catholics and only 12% by nonliturgical Protestants.

That word. Reform.

 

Armada of British/US Naval Forces Mass in the Gulf as Israel Prepares for War with Iran

An armada of US and British naval power is massing in the Persian Gulf in the belief that Israel is considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s covert nuclear weapons programme.

Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf…

Read on in The Telegraph.

… just last week Mr Netanyahu signalled that time for a negotiated settlement was running out when he said: “The world tells Israel ‘Wait, there’s still time.’ And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

 

US Navy Declares Virginia Beach F-18 Crash ‘Easter Miracle’

US Navy Admiral John Harvey says the fact no one was seriously hurt when a fighter jet hit an apartment complex is a miracle.

The Telegraph:

Fire department officials said that all the residents of the complex have been accounted for. The crash injured seven people in all, including both crew members, and damaged six buildings. Everyone has now been discharged from hospital.

“We’re so blessed and truly believe a miracle has occurred here with us not having any victims,” Virginia Beach mayor Will Sessoms said at a brief news conference.

Standing next to him, US Navy Admiral John Harvey said he was impressed by the courage displayed by the residents.

“It was citizens that dragged our aircrew to safety, out of the fire zone. It was citizens who stepped up and helped move those hoses. It was citizens who evacuated the other inhabitants of the apartment complex and got that going and saved them from the fires that went through those buildings.

“It was a pretty amazing display in Virginia Beach of what citizenship really means and it came from an awful lot of people who didn’t have an awful lot,” he said.

The US Navy F/A-18 jet fighter crashed shortly after take-off on a training mission. Both crew members ejected and one was found still strapped into his ejection seat.

Officials said that many of the 60 or so residents are now seeking somewhere to live after spending last night in a Red Cross shelter.

Admiral Harvey said the US Navy will meet with the residents to help them find long term housing and discuss their options.

There is a video here.

 

South African Navy Festival Day

The South African Navy had a Festival Day earlier today and I was there. It was a wet and blustery day in the East Dockyard in Simon’s Town, but enjoyable nonetheless. Here are a few pics taken with the BlackBerry.

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Navy Chief: Britian too Weak to Keep Up Military Role in Libya

Nelson would have been mortified! British military intervention in Libya is unsustainable, the head of the Navy has said:

The British military intervention in Libya is unsustainable, the head of the Navy has said.

Adml Sir Mark Stanhope said the campaign would have been more effective without the Government’s defence cuts.

The aircraft carrier and the Harrier jump-jets scrapped under last year’s strategic defence review would have made the mission more effective, faster and cheaper, he said.

Sir Mark warned that the Navy would not be able to sustain its operations in Libya for another three months without making cuts elsewhere.

The First Sea Lord’s comments will stir the debate over defence cuts that have left Britain without a working aircraft carrier and forced the Royal Navy’s Harrier jump jets to be mothballed.

Highlighting military anger over the shrinking Armed Forces, another admiral warned that “comical” defence cuts would leave the Navy without enough ships to be effective…

The rest is here.

So what happens if they have to fight (or forbid, defend themselves against (!)) anyone more powerful than the useless Libyan forces?!

Scary indeed.

Memorial Day: Remembering the Fallen and Remembering Christ

A letter from Navy Chaplain Barrett Craig, currently serving the Marines in Okinawa, Japan…

On behalf of all of us who have gone from you to serve our country in the military, I thank you. I thank you for praying for us, encouraging us, loving us, worrying about us, writing us, and rejoicing with us when we return. Your influence on our lives for the sake of the gospel has directly impacted how we engage our fellow military members with the love of Jesus, from the desert to Afghanistan, to the shores of Camp Pendleton, to the region of Bahrain, to the island of Okinawa, and to the ends of the earth. Praise God.

As those in uniform regularly surround me, holidays like Memorial Day become more meaningful. Today we consider and remember the men and women who have died in military service to secure the freedoms we so love and enjoy as United States citizens. Many of these deaths were of young men and women in their late teens and early twenties, never having tasted the fruit of their sacrifice. And what is even more sobering is considering the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, and friends who have been impacted by the loss of these unknown warriors. Their loved ones, gone.

Even this year, we have already lost 173 US military members in our War on Terror—6 just yesterday. So the ones we are memorializing today are not those in a distant past, but those who even now may be paying the ultimate sacrifice.

As we remember today, many, I’m sure, are asking themselves why these deaths have to happen? Why war? Why did my buddy die in that firefight rather than me? Their questions are understandable. I hear these questions by the very men and women I serve. Their pain elicits tears, anger, and shouts of outrage—again, understandably so. “It’s not suppose to be this way,” they cry.

Why then? Why war? Why these deaths? My answer to them is to weep with them. And to hug them and say I am so sorry. Then when the time is right, I gently explain to them how our world is broken. Our world is fractured at its foundation. And the brokenness is why there are wars. And wars exist because the world is full of rebels, not merely rebels against foreign governments and people they don’t like, but rebels primarily against a good and holy God. Like Satan, these rebels want to be number one. And so they hate and murder and vie for power—to be, well, if it were possible, in control of the universe. These rebels who wage war, then, fundamentally do it not to overpower the opponent, but to overpower God.

I ask, how can this brokenness be undone? How can the fractured foundation be repaired? The how is in a Person. The question is better posed as Who can undue and repair this bloody mess? But, before answering the Whom, I gently ask these troubled souls to be honest with themselves. Something is not right within them, either. They struggle themselves with depression, intoxication, outbursts of anger, anxiety, pride, fear, lust, and regret. The brokenness is not only in the thick of war, but in their own hearts as well. The world needs mending, but so do they.

So who can save us from this bloody mess? His name is Jesus and he is God’s Son. Jesus knows war. He left not the unstable boundaries of the U.S., but the impenetrable strongholds of heaven to face a million, a billion, enemies who hated him. All odds were against him, but he won—he conquered. He died. He rose again. His death ultimately undid the world’s brokenness and his death also provided a way to mend the brokenness of our own heart. We don’t ultimately see war and death done away with yet, but we will. Jesus resurrected after his death by crucifixion, and he ascended back to the impenetrable strongholds of heaven. We now await for his return to ultimately do away with this broken world and usher in a peaceful everlasting kingdom of unimaginable joy!

So why doesn’t he just come now? Because, I say, he wants you to be apart of his kingdom when he comes. The mending you need in your own heart is required to be a citizen of heaven. And the problem with your heart is that you too are a rebel, a foe, against God, like me, like the rest of the world. Maybe you aren’t as rebellious as others, but we are all still rebels from one degree to another against God. And like a just nation, God does not tolerate rebels—even in the very slightest. The smallest act of rebellion has made us enemies. The punishment? Death.

But the death Jesus died was a death to make us death-deserving rebels God’s friend. Jesus’ death fully paid the punishment, and God accepted his sacrifice. Jesus rose from the dead to prove his death works, that it can make us rebels friends with God. And we receive his friendship, his salvation, his heaven, not by negotiating peace and making promises of a changed life or being willing to go in the battle to die. We receive his friendship by laying down our weapons of hostility against Jesus and saying I, too, am a rebel against God and his kingdom and only Jesus can save me, forgive me, make me right before God, mend the world, and heal the utter hurt and brokenness of my soul.

As I memorialize and remember those who have made the greatest sacrifice, along with their families, to secure the freedoms I enjoy, I am comforted to know God is not far removed from all of this—in fact, he is more intimately near than we probably know. God does know something about war. God does know something about sacrifice. God does know something about pain. Yet God does know and God does have the remedy—Jesus Christ. We genuinely have a hope-filled answer for those who pain this day. Praise God that we do! So let us thank and weep and remember and pray and reach out to our military members today with love and the glorious news of the God who saves and who will make all things new.

Father, we come with heavy hearts for the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure the freedoms we enjoy here in America. In many ways, we live because of their deaths. We come with heavy hearts for the families of the fallen. What pain. What sadness. How we break for the great loss they feel. Be with them.

Father, as this day directly focuses us on the brokenness of this world, we thank you there is a remedy. We thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice who secures the heavenly freedoms, eternal life, for those who trust him alone for their salvation. We ultimately live because of his death. God, be active in our military community today. Save. Mend. Heal. And love.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

The above was on Justin Taylor’s Blog.