Sounds very much like someone tooting his own horn? Is excessive pride
also a sin?
One can only wonder how G-d will respond to someone who brags about his
work to make outcasts of gay members of the human family. Perhaps the
Chaplain should try marching a mile or two in the boot of a gay sailor
or soldier.
I am no expert on the chaplain's faith, but have spent a great deal of
my life studying religion and this is the first time I have ever heard a
Christian assert that praying fomr the Book of Psalms compromised a
Christian's faith.
Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
and Public Policy
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3494
518-445-3386
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Gordon James Klingenschmitt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/02/06 12:11
AM >>>
Of course, selfishness is an abhorrent sin....much to be
despised....please forgive me if anyone supposes my "zeal" is based in
selfishness....I shall certainly self-examine and repent if so....but I
only ask, was it selfish or unselfish, when I :
1) Gave up an award-winning Air Force career and volunteered for a
demotion in rank and a pay-cut, just to become a Navy chaplain and help
Sailors?
2) Led Sailors to feed the homeless every Friday, winning six awards
for community service (including best in Navy)?
3) Risked my own career by advocating (too strongly) for my Jewish
Sailor to have Kosher meals? (Earning rebuke from headquarters, but
praise from the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Welfare Board, read
here: http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/ADLforKlingenschmitt.pdf )
4) Fought for equal opportunity for Sailors of all diverse faiths to
"take turns" and "share the prayer" with my Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic
Sailors, allowing them to pray according to their tradition, while I'd
only pray "in Jesus name" every fourth turn? (Which proposal my
commander denied, telling me to pray "Jewish" prayers....read here:
http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/AppendixRTwoDeniedProposals.pdf )
5) Compromised my own faith by obediently praying only Jewish prayers
(Old Testament Psalms) in public, for eight months before he still fired
me from my ship?
6) Risked my own career by opposing the Navy's "government-mandated
church quotas" when senior chaplains forced scores of Sailors to attend
a pro-homosexual church? (Read here:
http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/AParticleMattKelley30Apr05.pdf )
7) Fought only to lose my own $1.8 million pension, my own reputation,
my entire career, at criminal conviction, so that other chaplains AND
SAILORS would receive the religious liberty I was denied? (Don't assume
I'm going to personally benefit from this...my family will soon be
evicted from military housing...I did this for others, not me.)
8) Quoted the Bible in the chapel (optional-attendance) in a sermon
designed to honor the Christian faith of my deceased Sailor
(guaranteeing his right to a Christian burial), and pleading to save the
souls of those who voluntarily attended, putting their own eternal
salvation ahead of my own reputation, again risking my career?
If I were truly selfish, I'd never have risked my career for the
benefit of others, I'd simply have watered-down my prayers and sermons,
stopped fighting for religious liberty FOR ALL DIVERSE FAITHS, and
gotten quickly promoted to senior chaplain...
Chaplain Klingenschmitt
----------------------------
"David E. Guinn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am appalled by the selfishness of this line of argument --
that the only point of concern is to "protect the chaplain" -- as
opposed to serve the religious needs and interest of our armed forces.
Not only are these interpretations of history and law enormously
biased and inaccurate, they are offensive. If the chaplaincy's purpose
is solely to promote Chaplain Klingenschmitt's sectarian faith than
perhaps Madison was correct in arguing that Congress' decision to hire
chaplains was wrong and should now be recended.
David
---------------------------------
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