What follows is MRFF's initial overview of the religious activity at Fort Leavenworth, including examples from the content of both the Chaplaincy section of the base website and the OCF Neighborhood Bible Study guides. All pages referred to in this summary were found on the Combined Arms Center (CAC) and Fort Leavenworth website, in the "Special Staff > Command Chaplain" section. Although written in the present tense, these pages were removed by Fort Leavenworth last week after the appearance of Jason Leopold's article on truthout.org. For more on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, also watch the video of Jason Leopold's interview with Mikey Weinstein. MRFF Summary of the Chaplaincy Website and OCF Neighborhood Bible Studies at Fort Leavenworth The "Command Chaplain" section of the website consists of 30+ individual pages, plus numerous downloads for Bible studies. With the exception a few pages devoted to the St. Ignatius Catholic Community, no other religion besides Evangelical Protestantism is given more than a single page containing the most basic information, (consisting of no more than a listing of facilities and/or a schedule, address, and phone number), accessed from a link on a "Worship Opportunities" page. All actual theological content on the web pages themselves, as well as in the form of downloads, is Evangelical Protestant, with the exception of a single Catholic "Adoration" page. A "Links" page is provided for additional Catholic materials, but the links are to outside websites. The vast amount of Evangelical Protestant theological material, on the other hand, is part of the Fort Leavenworth website itself. The entire content of the Jewish "Worship Opportunities" page consists of the following: Jewish Program The entire content of the Muslim "Worship Opportunities" page consists of the following: Muslim Prayer Room There is a complete lack of any information about support services or activities that are not Evangelical Protestant. For example, the only family assistance and crisis services listed are from the "Family Life Center," described as follows: "Family Life Ministry is an outreach of the Installation religious program providing marriage and family enrichment activities. These include a marriage enrichment retreat and a marriage and family Sunday School Class through the Protestant Adult Sunday School. Also included are parenting classes for the community, support groups, and individual, marital, and family counseling." This page then goes on to suggest which Bible verses to read for specific personal and family problems. Other pages and downloads all but instruct OCF Neighborhood Bible Study members to break rules. The following, from the instruction page for "Becoming a Bible Study Leader at Fort Leavenworth," encourages Bible Study Leaders to violate Fort Leavenworth's guidelines, asking only that these guidelines be followed "as close as practical." What do we ask of our Bible Study leaders? The Bible Study guides themselves clearly show that the goals of these study groups, often posed in the form of questions, as in the following example, would require an unconstitutional level of evangelizing of fellow military personnel by the group members. From the Bible Study Guide on Nehemiah: Do you know how long it would take to win the world to Christ if every Christian won one person to Christ per year? 33 years. In addition to anti-Semitic content found in the study guide on "Galatians," another study guide, on "Gradual Revelation," actually seems to imply that it is not as bad for a superior to abuse their authority over non-Christian subordinates as it is to abuse their authority over fellow Christians of other denominations, by asking if there is "likely to be special judgment on Christian leaders who do such things to Christians under their authority?" The following is found in the Nehemiah study guide. Obviously, referring to any situation, even in the context of a Bible story about a king who had a problem with the Jews, as the "Jewish problem," especially in quotation marks as they do in this study guide, is completely inappropriate and offensive. Do you see any similarity in the problems and attitudes that confronted early Zionism, 24 centuries ago, and the conflict that exists today between the Jews who have returned to their ancient homeland to re-establish Israel and the long-time Arab inhabitants of that same land? These Bible Study guides were written by Maj. George Kuykendall, a former chaplain at Fort Leavenworth, who died in 1998. The other chaplain who worked closely with Kuykendall to establish the current Fort Leavenworth programs, however, Col. Jim Ammerman, although long retired from active duty, still wields a significant influence over the placing of military chaplains, as Director of Chaplaincy, Full Gospel Churches, Inc., a Dallas, TX based endorsing agency recognized by the Pentagon for the Armed Forces Chaplaincy.
MRFF Investigates OCF Neighborhood Bible Study Program at Fort Leavenworth | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
MRFF Investigates OCF Neighborhood Bible Study Program at Fort Leavenworth | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
Franklin Graham to Obama: Are You A Muslim? (And How Obama Courted Hagee Publisher Strang)
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Short Takes
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Short Takes
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Charismatic Dominionists Endorse Bentley
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Proselytization in Iraq: A minor history
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Source of "Bible coins" distributed by USMC in Iraq discovered
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UK Abortion Limit Stays at 24 Weeks Despite Washington Think Tank's Tactics
IN GOD'S NAME is a revealing documentary about how the Alliance Defense Fund is using its tactics to try to restrict abortion in Europe as well as in America. Watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTfW8-dCNE ...... By TMurray (2 comments)
'Christians United For Israel' Joyfully Sing of Israel's Invasion and Destruction
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The Petrification of John McCain
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More Biblical Precedent for Allowing Abortion
This is a follow up to my most recent diary entry. ...... By TMurray (1 comment)
John Hagee Says God Made AIDS and Bird Flu But Lord will Protect Him Personally
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2001 John Hagee Film Shows Gangsterish Rabbi, Foppish Catholic Priest In League With anti-Christ
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Bush 41 salutes Sun Myung Moon's effort to subdue the planet.
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Advancing The Kingdom
Over the past four years, I've researched the darkest regions of the Christian right for the non-fiction film Silhouette City. The film tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism from the margins of American...... By MichaelWWilson (2 comments)
Newspaper Profiles Army of God Spokeman
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Judicial Council Chief James Holsinger and $20 million of UMC Money
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No Constitution Party home for Keyes
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Florida Christian License Plate
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The Alleged 'Atheist Delusion'
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A Real GI Bill of Rights
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Mikey's War
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For McCain, Silence on Religion is Golden
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Christian Right Flees Randall Balmer's Challenge On Torture
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Just *what* is "The Family" so desperate to hide?
Over the past few days, I've done some writing expressing concern regarding some revelations that Jeff Sharlet will be discussing extensively in his new book "The Family"--including information regarding apparently widespread and systemic use...... By dogemperor (7 comments)
The *other* members of Hillary's "Family" cell
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Hagee donating 6 Million dollars to Irael
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