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3. Report says chaplain prayer provision is holding up U.S. defense bill
"A fight over whether military chaplains can pray in the name of Jesus in nondenominational settings is one of the issues holding up negotiations on the 2007 defense authorization bill," Army Times reported yesterday. House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is the chief supporter of a provision in the House bill's version that bars limits on what chaplains can say in public prayers. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. promised to "remove this dangerous and unnecessary language" from the bill. The Defense Department also opposes the provision.

4. Expect to hear about the criminalization of Christianity
"Religious conservative leaders, sensing declining alarm over same-sex marriage, are warning that the debate over homosexuality has prompted attacks on religious freedom," the Associated Press reports. The story quotes Tony Perkins: "There are a number of pastors that said, 'Look, we don't get involved in politics, I'm not going to get involved in this issue, I just want to preach the gospel. When they realize their ability to preach the gospel may very well be at stake, they may reconsider their involvement."

Which means that the future fight over homosexuality is largely going to be between two influential, mostly white, mostly affluent groups trying to convince the American public that they're an oppressed, persecuted minority.

But evangelical persecution claims won't just be about the gay thing. In a WorldNetDaily piece titled, "Welcome to the criminalization of Christianity," Janet Folger claims that "At issue in the court-martial of Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, chaplain for the United States Navy, is a name and the freedom to speak it. That name is Jesus."

Actually, at issue in the court-martial of Klingenschmitt was whether he disobeyed an order not to wear his military uniform to press conferences or political protests. A jury found that Klingenschmitt did wear his uniform to a March 30 news conference in front of the White House, where he protested what he called restrictions on what he can pray and preach as a military chaplain. (The Navy has repeatedly denied Klingenschmitt's claim that he is banned from praying in Jesus' name.) Klingenschmitt had argued that because he prayed before and after talking to reporters, it was a religious service and thus exempt from the uniform ban.

"America is no longer the land of the free," says Folger. "Thankfully, there are still brave Americans like Chaplain Klingenschmitt." Folger's column is full of misrepresentations and untruths. But might it still mobilize her readers? Or will they object to her bearing false witness and taking the Lord's name in vain?

5. USCIRF "shocked" at U.S. State Department religious freedom report
The U.S. Department of State released its eighth annual report on international religious freedom today. The Associated Press highlights the report's criticism of Iran, but what the report says (or rather, doesn't say) about Saudi Arabia may be the real news. Saudi Arabia is still listed as a "country of particular concern"—along with Iran, Vietnam, Burma, China, Eritrea, North Korea, and Sudan—but U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom chair Felice Gaer says the commission "is simply shocked that the Department removed longstanding and widely quoted language from its report that freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia." The state department's own report, she notes, says "There generally was no change in the status of religious freedom during the reporting period." But John Hanford, the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, said at this morning's press conference, "We see things moving in the right direction" in Saudi Arabia.

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September (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50