Endorsing or enforcing faith within the military?

Is this endorsing or enforcing faith within the military? Big difference and both are wrong. I keep addressing the fact that there is much to be debated even within branches of the Christian faith, yet one is being pushed over all others. This is not just about pushing Christianity on the troops, which also insults the other faiths in the military, it insults the core of the individual.

There are many atheists, agnostics, you name it and they are still good people. There is a long list of reasons why a person does not believe in God or a Higher power or any other choice of faith and it is not up to us to tell them they have to belong to any of them in order to be a "good soldier" or even a good citizen.

I am a chaplain, not a member of the military and I have never served. I just married into it and was raised with it. I have also invested a lot of time in my faith. The point is, it's "my" faith. There are people who are truly blessed and comforted by their faith and that's a wonderful thing.

When the mind, body and spirit are all addressed when trying to heal PTSD, miracles happen. It does not matter what faith it is as long as there is a reconnection to it. Even those who have no particular faith at all are finding that their spiritual connection to something they always held helps. But this book is not about healing the individual according to their own faith. It's saying point blank that if someone is not a "believer" they are damaging the troops. For the General in charge to endorse this book, it slaps the troops in the face. Not only was it a mistake for him to endorse this book, it was wrong to top that off with pushing it. Faith is up to the person and their connection to God under the faith they believe in or not believing at all. It's up to them.

General Petraeus' Endorsement of Religious Book Draws Fire

Bryant Jourdan


Military.com

Aug 21, 2008
August 20, 2008 - Gen. David Petraeus is used to controversy surrounding the war in Iraq, but his publicized thoughts on an Army chaplain's book for Soldiers put him squarely in the middle of the ongoing conflict over religious proselytizing in the U.S. military.

The book is "Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel," by Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William McCoy, and according to Petraeus' published endorsement of the work, "it should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy."

But the endorsement - which has spurred a demand by a watchdog group for Petraeus' dismissal and court martial on the grounds of establishing a religious requirement on troops - was a personal view never intended for publication, the book's author now says.

"In the process of securing … comments for recommending the book I believe there was a basic misunderstanding on my part that the comments were publishable," McCoy said in an Aug. 19 email to Military.com. "This was my mistake."

In addition to Petraeus, Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling also is quoted plugging the book in press releases and advertisements and on the jacket.

"General Petraeus has, by his own hand, become a quintessential poster child of this fundamentalist Christian religious predation, via his unadulterated and shocking public endorsement of a book touting both Christian supremacy and exceptionalism," Weinstein told Military.com Aug. 16.

And by endorsing a book that argues only those who believe in God can fully contribute to the military mission or unit, Weinstein contends that Petraeus insults ""the integrity, character and veracity of approximately 21 percent of our armed forces members who choose not to follow any particular religious faith."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10970