Lawmakers Want Army to Apologize for Attacks on Christians

At least a dozen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the Secretary of the Army rescind and apologize for a briefing that labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremist groups, Fox News has learned.

“This is astonishing and offensive,” read a draft of the letter written by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO). “We call on you to rescind this briefing and apologize for its content and set the record straight on the Army’s view on these faith groups by providing a balanced briefing on religious extremism.”

Lamborn is referring to an Army training session conducted last year that featured a presentation listing Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of extremism – alongside Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Army spokesman George Wright later said it was an isolated incident not condoned by the Dept. of the Army. And the slide, he said, was not produced by the Army nor did it reflect their policy or doctrine.

“To say that Evangelicals or Catholics are somehow in the same league with Al Qaeda or the KKK is outrageous,” Lamborn told Fox News.

He said it appeared the Army was using material gleaned from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“I’m amazed that the army would listen to voices of intolerance that would play fast and loose with these kinds of labels,” he told Fox News. “I’m concerned this group has any sway with the Army.”

The training briefing is just the latest in a number of incidents involving attacks on the Christian faith within the ranks of the military.

Fox News obtained a copy of an email written by a lieutenant colonel at Fort Campbell identifying the Family Research Council and American Family Association, two prominent Christian ministries, as “domestic hate groups.”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told Fox News he believes there is an anti-Christian movement within the military.

“There’s been an effort for a long time to marginalize Christianity,” King told Fox News. “I wonder why that is?”

King said the latest incidents remind him of when the Army banned Bibles from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The rule was later rescinded.

“They said it was done out of ignorance,” King said. “I don’t believe it was. I believe some anti-Christian wrote that in.”

King is among the lawmakers who signed the letter to the Secretary of the Army and he’s prepared to call military officials to Capitol Hill to explain the recent incidents.

“If we’ve got to have the FBI going through federal documents scrubbing out anything that might be critical of Muslims, we surely can’t allow an anti-Christian movement taking place within our own United States military,” King said.

Lamborn’s letter to the Army acknowledges that religious extremism is a serious topic.

“But equating these major world religions with violent extremist groups is simply not acceptable,” Lamborn wrote. “This briefing reveals an anti-religion bias rather than a rational approach to religious extremism.”

Some of the nation’s top religious leaders have condemned the military’s attacks on Christianity – and all of them place the blame on the Obama Administration.

“This is reprehensible,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “The people who are responsible should be severely reprimanded.”

Land called for an investigation to determine if there is an anti-Christian movement afoot in the military.

“It’s not only warranted, I think it’s essential,” Land told Fox News. “It’s absolutely required. This needs to be stopped and we have to have guarantees that it doesn’t happen again.”

Todd Starnes

Todd Starnes is the host of Fox News & Commentary – heard daily on 250+ radio stations. He’s also the author of “Dispatches From Bitter America.” To check out all of his work you can visit his website or follow him on Twitter @toddstarnes. In his spare time, Todd is active in his church, plays golf, follows SEC football, and eats barbecue. He lives in New York City.

http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/04/10/lawmakers-want-army-to-apologize-for-attacks-on-christians-n1564125/page/full/

 

Critics: Obama’s proposals wouldn’t have prevented Sandy Hook by Chris Woodward,Chad Groening,Jody Brown

Lawmakers and gun advocates are sounding off on President Obama’s 23 executive actions involving gun violence, as well as the dozen or so actions that he has called on Congress to approve.

Obama is taking 23 separate actions on his own, using his presidential powers, but says it is up to Congress to “make a real and lasting difference” by imposing new gun restrictions. His proposals, introduced Wednesday in the nation’s capital, include universal background checks and bans on military-style assault rifles. But he acknowledged he faces a tough fight to get those measures approved on Capitol Hill.

Indeed he might. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) appeared Wednesday afternoon on Tony Perkins’ Washington Watch onAmerican Family Radio. The senator has issues with the approach being taken by the president.

“My concern still is whether or not he is going to usurp this authority and do it on his own,” said Paul. “We set up a country with checks and balances [because] we didn’t like the king to have all the balance of power — so we separated the power. In fact, one of the people we based this on was the writings of Montesquieu. He said it was very important to do this, or else you will have tyranny.”

Obama, said the Kentucky Republican, “has shown a tendency to go around Congress when he can’t get his way — and that worries me.”

And that is why Senator Paul plans to take some legislative action. “We’ll be introducing some legislation to try to rein in his authority to do things by executive order. That’ll be coming by the next week or so,” he stated. “We’ll also be looking very carefully at these executive orders to see if any of them go afoul of the Second Amendment.”

Appearing on the Fox News Channel this morning, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) called the president’s actions “misguided.”

“Here’s my point: the impetus for all of this is the shooting in Connecticut, right? That’s what led to this — and yet nothing he’s proposing would have prevented Connecticut,” said Rubio.

“… It appears to me[that] this is stuff they’ve always wanted to do, and now this [tragedy] has created the political climate to pursue it — and it’s not going to solve the problem,” . Washington, DC, had some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and when they passed them violence skyrocketed.”

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) agrees with Rubio, saying “very few of his recommendations have anything to do with happened” in Connecticut.

“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger,” Perry says in a press release. “The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.”

He adds: “… The piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The Second Amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.”

A gun rights organization also is skeptical about President Obama’s 23 executive actions aimed at curbing gun rights. Sam Paredes is on the board of directors of Gun Owners of America.

“[The executive actions] would do nothing to impact crime, nothing to stop murders, nothing to stop the criminally insane from committing their atrocities,” he tells OneNewsNow. “So we are very skeptical and are prepared to challenge them any way we can, whether it’s in Congress or through the courts.”

Paredes and GOA feel several of the president’s proposals that were particularly egregious. “The so-called assault weapons ban and the high-capacity magazine ban; the mandatory background checks for all purchases — we think that those issues are the most egregious; a clear violation of the Second Amendment.”

Paredes says it is fortunate that Obama will not be able to put those severe restrictions in place without congressional approval.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/politics-govt/2013/01/17/critics-obama%E2%80%99s-proposals-wouldn%E2%80%99t-have-prevented-sandy-hook#

School Orders Child to Remove God From Poem By Todd Starnes

A North Carolina community is embroiled in controversy after a school ordered a six-year-old girl to remove the word “God” from a poem that she was supposed to read during a Veteran’s Day ceremony.

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The girl is a first-grader at West Marion Elementary School. She was supposed to read the poem during a school assembly marking Veteran’s Day. The poem honored her two grandfathers who had served during the Vietnam War.

“He prayed to God for peace, he prayed to God for strength,” the poem read.

A parent reportedly found out about the poem and expressed concern about mentioning the word God during a school event. The parent did not want the Almighty’s name mentioned anywhere in the program, according to one account.

“We wanted to make sure we were upholding the school district’s responsibility of separation of church and state from the Establishment Clause,” Supt. Gerri Martin told the McDowell News.

Martin told the newspaper she made the decision in consultation with the school’s principal and vice principal.

“We jointly decided that we must err on the side of caution to prevent crossing the line on the Establishment Clause of the Constitution,” Kirkpatrick told the newspaper. “As a principal of a public school, I must put aside my personal religious beliefs and follow the law — which upholds that we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but that we, as public schools, cannot endorse one single religion over another.”

Fox News contacted the parents of the child but they declined to comment on the controversy.

The incident has sparked widespread concern across this western North Carolina community — called by many the buckle of the Bible Belt.

“I’m reserving my opinion at this point – but I’m very concerned that the young lady’s First Amendment rights have been broken,” said Scott Hagaman, senior pastor of Marion’s First Baptist Church.

He told Fox News that ministers across the community are alarmed what happened and many are asking questions.

“It’s saturated the community,” he said. “I’m quite sure it will be handled appropriately and fairly but right now there is a lot of concern that this child was not treated appropriately.”

The issue is expected to be addressed by local residents at next week’s school board meeting.

“I am outraged that a school would deny a six year old child her First Amendment rights — especially during an assembly to honor our nation’s veterans,” Trudy Pascoe told Fox News. “It is unacceptable for schools to continue to deny students rights because of their Christian viewpoint.”

Chris Greene, who happens to be employed by the school district, spoke to board members earlier this week.

“My question is this, when do the rights of one outweigh the rights of another,” he asked in remarks covered by the local newspaper. “I believe that this little girl’s rights were violated and that those who worked so hard to prepare this program should receive an apology.”

Pastor Hagaman said it’s no surprise that the First Amendment debate has reached their small town.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere in the country where you can hide from these issues — with the culture changing so quickly,” he said.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-orders-child-to-remove-god-from-poem.html