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Thursday, December 12, 2024 - 12:05 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Sued by Attorneys for Baptist Group

Two Baptist chaplains have said they were forced out of a Veterans Affairs chaplain-training program after they refused orders to “stop quoting the Bible” and “stop praying in the name of Jesus.”

This is a pattern of anti-Christian behavior that has surfaced throughout the Obama administration aimed at military personal both active and retired.

Navy Chaplain Lt. Commander Dan Klender and retired Army chaplain Major Steven Firtko had enrolled in the VA’s Clinical Pastoral Education Center program in San Diego last year.

When the chaplains objected to demands that they refrain from praying in the name of Jesus and quoting or reading from the Bible, they said they were “subjected to ridicule and harassment that led to one chaplain resigning from the program and the other being forced out.

Attorney John Wells, representing the Colorado based Conservative Baptist Association of America told Reuters that the treatment these chaplains received was  “a violation of federal law and the religious freedom guaranteed of the First Amendment.”

Wells said this was one of the most blatant cases of religious discrimination he has ever seen. “No American choosing to serve in the armed forces should be openly ridiculed for his Christian faith,” he concluded.

Reuters reported that there were 7 chaplains enrolled in the San Diego program that was led by a VA civilian employee named Nancy Dietsch. She reportedly has a history of “antagonistic behavior against evangelical Christians. Dietsch is allegedly teaching chaplains that each human is a little god and the God of the Bible is no longer acceptable to the government because He may be offensive to non-Christians. Attorney Wells said that unless changes are made, Christian chaplains will be discouraged from serving in the military.

The anti-Christian attitude in schools training Army and Navy chaplains began in the Bush administration, but has accelerated and been enthusiastically enforced by the Obama regime.

The VA accused the chaplains of “bullying” their 5 classmates and refusing to honor other faith groups.