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"...We Are the Aroma of Jesus Christ"

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group, has asked the Defense Department to investigate whether some Army and Air Force officers violated department regulations by appearing in uniform in a video to promote the Christian Embassy, an evangelical group.

Christian Embassy was founded by Washington officials, businesspeople and Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright. Its stated mission:

Our purpose is to care for, serve, encourage and equip leaders at the White House, at the Pentagon, in foreign embassies and on Capitol Hill. We help people in these communities reflect on and integrate their values with their work life to develop personally, professionally and spiritually.

The group's Pentagon-specific mission is to host weekly prayer breakfasts, conduct Bible studies, offer online audio excerpts of Christian Embassy programs, and conduct small groups for Pentagon staff members. These activities, obviously, represent a legal exercise of religious evangelism. The boundary appears to have been crossed when seven Pentagon officials wore their military uniforms in a promotional video, which is on Christian Embassy's website, but is password-protected.

These officers are identified as Pentagon staff members, but there is no disclaimer in the video that would lead viewers to understand that the video is not Pentagon-endorsed. The organization has since added a disclaimer to its website. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is also asking whether the officers in the video received permission to appear in it.

In the video, Army Brig. Gen. Bob Casen talks about the Christian Embassy's efforts to reach admirals and generals through Flag Fellowship groups. Whenever he sees another fellowship member, he says, "I immediately feel like I am being held accountable, because we are the aroma of Jesus Christ."

The main Bush administration precedent does not bode well for setting a tighter boundary between the officers' personal beliefs and their official capacities. In 2003, you will recall, Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin was criticized for appearing in uniform before church groups and saying that George W. Bush was "appointed by God," that the United States is "a Christian nation" and that Muslims worship "an idol." The Office of the Inspector General found that Boykin had not violated any rules.

Comments

And here I thought that was the smell of napalm in the morning.

Posted by: The Right Reverend Rabbi Judah on 12/11/06 at 3:04 PM

Napalm, fundamentalists...Same thing.

Posted by: dzho on 12/11/06 at 7:00 PM

And the Catholic church, my church, actually sides with these people and the horrible things done by the Repub party in it's USE of religion for political gain. My guess is that the Catholic Church has made another grave and exceedingly dangerous error in their support of the Repub party which began when Pope John Paul II aligned the Catholic Church with the Repub party just before Reagan became president or just after and will someday come to regret this horrible act, or maybe it never will admit this egregious error. This error by the present and previous Popes are on the same level of horror as the church did when it aligned itself with Hitler and the Nazi Party via the Reichskonkordat of 1933, which directly resulted in the German people electing Hitler to be Reichschancellor and who claimed that the Reich will exist for a thousand years. Karl Rove wants to destroy the Democratic Party(his own words) so the Repubs can run America forever. The result of the Catholic Church endorsement of Hitler was the many horrors of WWII culminating in the Holocaust. Which now has led directly led to Neocons and paranoid warhawks in Israel and in America, like Cheny and Rumsfeld and the entire Repub party who are nothing more than Nazis'. This modern day alignment between the Catholic Church, my church, is another egregious error which may well spell more trouble for Israel and all the innocent Peoples of the Middle East because all it does is encourage the warhawks in America and in Israel, who though small in number are persistent in their own personal fears and paranoia as well as their endless greed. Confucius, Hilel, Christ and Mohammed all said the same when they admonished to 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. And those are words by the greatest among us and they are words we MUST learn to live by. As the judgement of God will one day come upon us all.
PRAY FOR PEACE
Bob DAmico
Cleve, Oh.

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"...We Are the Aroma of Jesus Christ"

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