They must be heathens

The association that represents more than 70 percent of chaplains in the military is saying they oppose a presidential order guaranteeing the right of chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus, because, well, they don't actually need it, and no-one is stopping them from praying.

But you wouldn't know that if you listened to some evangelical right-wingers, who started a crusade calling for this presidential order, claiming they were being discriminated against and weren't being allowed to pray. And, of course, their ridiculous cause was immediately picked up by some Republican congressmen, who called for that presidential order.

The whole bullshit started because of some common sense regulations issued a few months ago.

“In a Feb. 21 instruction to commanders, the secretary of the Navy distinguished between prayers given by chaplains at "divine worship services" -- on which there are no restrictions -- and those delivered at "command functions" that people of many faiths are encouraged or required to attend,” according to the Washington Post.

"Absent extraordinary circumstances," any religious elements in a command ceremony "should be nonsectarian," it said. Air Force guidelines issued a few weeks earlier made essentially the same distinction, calling for "non-denominational, inclusive prayer" or a moment of silence at military ceremonies.”

And that's when the holy shit hit the fan, with the right-wingers springing into pious action, claiming they were somehow being denied the right to pray to Big Baby Jesus.

To spoil their fun, though, along comes the group representing military chaplains, who don't actually want to play the wedge issue game that the right-wingers love so much. Rev. Herman Keizer Jr., chairman of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces, the association of more than 60 Christian, Jewish and Muslim denominations representing 5,430 of the 7,620 chaplains in the armed forces, quite sensibly told the Post:

"This has been portrayed as though chaplains are not allowed to pray in Jesus's name, without any distinction between what they do all the time in worship services and what they do occasionally, in ceremonial settings where attendance is mandatory."

The Post notes: “Calls for congressional hearings and an executive order have become a staple on religious radio and television broadcasts, generating protests of White House inaction by conservative Christians...”

In other words, it's the usual group of snake oil salesmen and Bill O'Reilly types, who were just a few months ago telling us that there was a “War on Christmas!!” Of course, O'Reilly and other wedge-issue right-wing broadcasters are looking for ratings and controversy. The evangelicals are looking for money from their sheep-like followers.

Listen, I'm probably the least qualified person on the Internet to talk about religion, considering how much I know about it, but even I know the “War on Christmas!!” was nothing but bullshit.

These fucktards who claim to be so holy sure have a funny way of showing their love of Jesus – by dividing people, causing dissension, and basically agitating for a state religion. And, looking at the wonderful condition the Middle East is in, we all know how well that works out.