Former Navy Chaplain Called Out
Gordon James Klingenschmitt (a former Navy chaplain) was attempting to depict himself as an active-duty military chaplain to raise money and recruit people for his right-wing group – a violation of federal law.
About two years ago Klingenschmitt got himself in hot water. He had been ordered to deliver nonsectarian prayers at military events; and then proceeded to repeatedly defy those orders. The final straw came when he violated military regulations by speaking at a Religious Right rally while wearing his uniform.
The Navy offered him the door; but he refused to resign, and said they would have to court martial him (apparently thinking they weren't serious). They complied with his request, and provided him with a court martial.
He started a website, including a picture of himself in naval uniform on his bio, and referred to himself as "Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt." This came to the attention of Americans United (AU) and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) when he started urging people to oppose President Barack Obama’s nomination of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton.
Both AU and MRFF sent letter to the Navy informing them. Klingenschmitt threw some kind of retaliation tantrum, but implied defeat when he updated his site to include a disclaimer.
Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State
About two years ago Klingenschmitt got himself in hot water. He had been ordered to deliver nonsectarian prayers at military events; and then proceeded to repeatedly defy those orders. The final straw came when he violated military regulations by speaking at a Religious Right rally while wearing his uniform.
The Navy offered him the door; but he refused to resign, and said they would have to court martial him (apparently thinking they weren't serious). They complied with his request, and provided him with a court martial.
He started a website, including a picture of himself in naval uniform on his bio, and referred to himself as "Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt." This came to the attention of Americans United (AU) and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) when he started urging people to oppose President Barack Obama’s nomination of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton.
Both AU and MRFF sent letter to the Navy informing them. Klingenschmitt threw some kind of retaliation tantrum, but implied defeat when he updated his site to include a disclaimer.
Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Tags: chaplain, military, navy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Johnny on -
UPDATE!
Klingenschmitt is so upset that he's started “imprecatory” prayers against AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn and MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein.
im·pre·cate - To invoke evil upon; curse.
For those of you not versed in the finer points of extreme right-wing theology, imprecatory prayers are prayers that bad things will happen to your enemies – things like death, loss of income, loss of property, etc.
...
You can read the prayer here or listen to it here. (For the printed version, scroll down to “Saturday 25 Apr 09 One-Minute Prayer.” Note that there are a few minor differences between the printed version and the audio version.) -
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Permalink Reply by Rick on
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Kind of reminds me of Spec. Newell. He was from a small town outside Houston, TX. He got a court martial for refusing to deploy with his unit to Bosnia in 1995. His daddy it seems was a former missionary and got a hold of the kid. Gave him the "one world order" speech.
The kid, doing an "honor thy father" got kicked out with a loss of all benefits.
Daddy then used his sons "trials" to run for Congress. Daddy came in last. That means in that race was 4th place.
Some of these clowns honestly think that "god" will save their ass and that they can do ANYTHING THEY WANT.
It just doesn't work that way. -
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