Battle of the Bilge

“Hope never abandons you; you abandon it” – George Weinberg

Weekly Summary

A military issues only edition this time around, due to all the focus we’ve put on Iran and North Korea the past three weeks. There are some hopeful stories and some frightening ones this week, and the drone attacks in Afghanistan is one of the most concerning. With Pakistan (finally) sweeping through the tribal areas, too much pressure may backfire. Time will tell.

On to the news of the week (for main source of each article, click on the title)…
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Please Note: The commentary in this article is not meant to imply an official MOAA position on the MRFF letter. From time to time, we will address topics that are outside of our official scope to help provide factual information as best we can.

Background on Chaplain Endorsing Agencies, CFCG, and MRFF

For those not familiar with the process of becoming a military chaplain, here is some background information. The Armed Forces Chaplain Board makes recommendations via certified ‘Endorsing Agencies’ to the Secretary of Defense on a variety of chaplain issues. There are currently nine administrating endorsing agencies and approximately another 187 endorsing agencies. The full list of agencies can be found here. The purpose of the AFCB is listed on their website here as:

• Protection of free exercise of religion according to Amendment I to the Constitution of the United States.
• Procurement, professional standards, requirements, training, and assignment of military chaplains
• All religious support providers.
• Procurement and utilization of supplies, equipment, and facilities for religious use.
• Promotion of dialog with civilian organizations regarding religious issues.
• Promotion of joint military endeavors for the delivery of ministry by the Military Services throughout the Department of Defense whenever practicable.

One of these administrating endorsing agencies, the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC) has come under fire for alleged violations of multiple regulations governing the endorsing agencies. CFGC gained their authorization for ecclesiastic endorsement in 1984 and has since made a big impact on the Chaplains Corps. According to their website, they are “presently endorsing 270+ Military Chaplains/Chaplain Candidates and 180+ Civilian Chaplains/Seminarians” and represents over 7.5 million “Full Gospel” believers. CFGC’s founder and President is E.H. (Jim) Ammerman, who served for 23 years as an Army chaplain and retired in 1977. In addition to their own endorsing agency, Mr. Ammerman serves as the endorsing executive for 12 other endorsing agencies, all of which are offshoots or associates of CFGC.

On June 24th, 2009, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) sent a comprehensive package of complaints regarding CFGC’s past and present actions to the Secretary of Defense, President Obama and a number of other high ranking government officials. The letter, which can be found in full here, laid out a series of accusations against CFGC and Colonel Ammerman and called for the revocation of their status as an endorsing agency, as well as an investigation into the CFGC endorsed chaplains currently in the military. MRFF was founded in 2006 by Michael L. ‘Mikey’ Weinstein, “to directly battle the evangelical, fundamentalist religious right”. Mr. Weinstein was driven to form the non-profit watchdog group based on his experience in the military, starting with harassment at the Air Force Academy (five other members of his family have attended AFA as well). Mr. Weinstein served for ten years in the Air Force as a Judge Advocate General and went on to serve as counsel to President Reagan and presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. MRFF claims to have fielded calls from over 13,000 active duty personnel (96% of whom are Christian) asking for advice or reporting harassment.

In this article, we will examine the four main accusations made by MRFF against CFGC and try to determine their validity. Although the complaint letter contained supporting documentation, the evaluations have been done independent of any MRFF documentation or sources to provide the most objective viewpoint possible.
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First they laugh at you.
Then they ignore you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
– Mahatma Gandhi

Note: While we are busy gathering notes for the next Bilge article (there’s a distinct lack of military related emails that we haven’t already covered out in cyberspace right now), we continue our coverage of the Iranian crisis. As with other editorials, the opinions of Battle of the Bilge may not represent the official position of MOAA. It appears now that after several days of police crackdowns on peaceful protesters, the real change is happening behind the scenes, and the days of Ayatollah Khamenei’s rule may be numbered.

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A great revolution in just one single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a society and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind. – Daisaku Ikeda

Update on Iranian Situation

With the only official, verifiable reports coming out of Iran being from the government and major media outlets in a near complete blackout, it is hard to know for certain exactly what is happening on the ground. Social Media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are the only real means of hearing from the side of the protesters. But here are the events that have been confirmed to have happened in Iran since Tuesday:
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Yet Another Incorrect Gun Control Email

BotB Verdict

Average Number of Times Received Daily at MOAA: 7

“A half-truth is a whole lie” – Yiddish Proverb

Summary

A recycled email myth that originally made the rounds in 2000 has been reformated for a new Congress and a new President. The email states that you must act urgently to stop a bill that would levy a $50 tax on your 2009 filing for any handgun that you own. Additionally, the bill would make you list all handguns and, just for good measure, make you provide a sample of your fingerprint identification.
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