Military Chaplains and Religious Discrimination

The religious right and their minions in the Republican Party seem hell-bent on denying rights and respect to the growing numbers of non-believers in the United States and in the U.S. military.  In so doing, they are not only showing contempt for the First Amendment, but also for our democratic society and the military, And, to top things off, they are undermining the chaplaincy which they claim to revere.

Stars and Stripes reports

Jason Heap wants to be a Navy chaplain. But he doesn’t believe in God.

Belief in a higher power, the 38-year-old humanist argues, has nothing to do with that work.

“I am aware there are many who would be reticent or militant against that,” he said. “But at the end of the day, my job is not to inculcate my viewpoints onto other people. My job as a chaplain is to be a facilitator, someone who cares for people, someone who is a sounding board.”

Heap submitted his application to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board earlier this month, in an effort to become the first humanist chaplain in military history.

He holds master’s degrees from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University and Oxford University, and has almost finished a doctorate too. He has been teaching religious studies to teenagers in Britain for the last five years and has been conducting scholarly research on 17th century Baptist literature for longer than that.  ...

Supporters argue he would be a shoo-in to serve as a chaplain if he were a practicing Christian.

Until the Reagan years,  military chaplains, as a matter of policy were appointed from a cross section of Protestant and Catholic to roughly reflect the religious views of the nation. Since then they have been recruited disproportionately from conservative denominations which have active programs to train and place chaplains.

As a result

While just 3 percent of the military’s enlisted personnel and officers call themselves Southern Baptist, Pentecostal or a member of a denomination that’s part of the National Association of Evangelicals, 33 percent of chaplains in the military are members of one of those groups, according to Pentagon statistics.

Source: stltoday.com

 Jason Torby,  President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers notes that

“There are more atheists than any other single non-Christian group in the military. We deserve to be represented too.”

About 11,000 active duty military personnel identify themselves as atheist (military officials don’t include the term “humanist” on their forms) About 277,000 have no religious preference.

The MAAF has an instructive graphic and an insightful page on military religious demographics.

After an amendment to require the Secretary of Defense to appoint non-theistic chaplains was defeated in the House Defense Committee, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) tried to get the amendment through without the support of the Committee.  It failed on June 14 by a vote of 274-150. Every Republican and 44 Democrats voted against it.

Not only did Tim Huelskamp of Kansas's First District, author of a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage, vote against the amendment, he gave one of his typical bigoted speeches.

Huelskamp shows his contempt for  non-believers by referring to those "who claim to have no faith." He says that(so-called?) non-believers don't need chaplains; if they are having problems, they can go to a military counselor,  Only problem is that seeing a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist, rather than a chaplain, will get recorded on the service person's records and could be a negative factor is seeking promotions and even being retained at the end of a tour.  It is a way of institutionalizing discrimination against "nones," "atheists," "agnostics," and the like.

Even worse, Huelskamp invokes the memory of Emil Kapaun, who has killed by the North Korean regime which imposed a state-mandated atheism, in order to impose a state-imposed anti-atheist policy.

The fact is that non-believers, atheists, and agnostics make up  a significant and growing percentage of the American population and, even more so, among young people who are the dominant age cohort among military personal.  On  purely pragmatic grounds, the military should accommodate these soldiers. Enlightened miltaries and societies recognize this.  The Belgian, Dutch and Norwegian militaries already have humanist chaplains.* The Israeli "government employs civilian non-Jewish clergy as chaplains at military burials when a non-Jewish soldier dies in service. The MOI provides imams to conduct funerals according to Muslim customs. "** If military personnel are not treated with respect and sensitivity, their efficiency will suffer.

But military efficiency is not the sole criteria. Even more weight should be placed on democratic values.   If there are to be military chaplains, they should reflect and serve the diversity of society. An entirely Catholic chaplaincy would not be acceptable.  Nor a purely Protestant chaplaincy.  Nor a chaplaincy which excluded Rabbis.   Nor one that excluded Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, or Buddhists.  And, by the same measure, a US chaplaincy which excludes atheists or humanists is undemocratic and unAmerican--and anti-military.

Huelskamp and his allies seem to assume that there are no Constitutional  problems with military chaplains and oblivious to that fact that their barring of non-theists from serving as chaplains could undermine the  constitutionality of this service.

No less a Constitustional icon than James Madison (:"the father of the Constitution") thought that chaplains (legislative and military) were unconstitutional.

The issue  is likely to come before the Courts.

Wikipedia notes

Two Harvard law students brought a suit in 1979 arguing that military chaplains should be replaced with non-combat volunteers or contractors. In Katcoff v. Marsh (1985),^[14] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit and upheld the right of the military to employ chaplains. According to one analysis of the case, the court analysis described the First Amendment's free exercise clause and establishment clause as separate issues. It noted that only the wealthiest religious sects could provide chaplains for their adherents, effectively denying to other military personnel the "free exercise" of their religion.^[15] The court also established guidelines for the military's chaplaincy programs, emphasizing the constitutional boundaries governing the program's administration and operations, including accommodating the rights and beliefs of each service member, and the avoidance of evangelizing and involuntary participation in religious observances. (emphasis added)

Looks to me like the GOP-Huelskamp chaplaincy might be in some danger.  It chaplains are ruled unconstitutional blame them, not the ACLU.



*Wikipedia, Military Chaplain
**US State Department, 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel and The Occupied Territories

Rob Boston on Church and State issues at Wichita UA annual meeting

Rob Boston of the national AU (Americans United for Separation of Church and State) was the featured speaker at the Sept 16 annual meeting of the Great Plains AU, the Wichita chapter.

Rachel Maddow on Rick Perry's Prayer Partners

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Brownback wants to save your marriage--unless you're gay

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has already used his administration to make Kansas one of the most social conservative in the nation. Kansas has become the first state to end public funding of the arts and has narrowly missed being the first state to do end abortions. Now, Brownback is developing a plan to promote marriage. To head up this effort, Brownback has hired Robert Siedlecki. Ironically, Siedlicki is divorced, but he is an advocate of “faith-based” solutions and an opponent of gay marriage. And, he's from Florida, as if Kansas has a shortage of religious right activists.

Tim Carpenter reported recently some juicy details about a secret April meeting to design Brownback's marriage agenda. The Topeka Capital-Journal uncovered some through a Kansas Open Records request. The Kansas government spent $13,000 to bring together 20 mostly far-right marriage “experts” for the closed door meeting. Thanks to the reporting of Tim Carpenter and other public information we know something of what Brownback has in mind, even though the details of the meeting remain confidential.

Organizations represented included the Heritage Foundation, Institute for American Values, Georgia Family Council, National Center for Fathering, Stronger Families, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Marriage Savers, Kansas Healthy Marriage Institute, and National Center for African American Marriages and Parenting.

Governor Sam, according to Carpenter, “urged invitees to think in terms of 'Hail Mary' approaches to boosting marriage rates and slashing divorce rates in Kansas.” According to SRS secretary Robert Siedlecki, a Brownback import from Florida "The governor wants us to create a national model." Perhaps because he is not the best model as a divorced father and to begin the work on this national model, Seidlecki has hired a minister—from Florida! Carpenter also reported that Joyce Webb of Catholic Charities' Kansas Healthy Marriage Institute, recommended that SRS fund a new marriage with $1 million from federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Ethics of Brownback's Experts

Carpenter points out that one invitee Wade Horn “departed the Bush administration amid reports of cronyism in awarding federal grants to the National Fatherhood Initiative he founded. According to OMB Watch, NFI received a five-year, no-bid contract for $12 million.”

But, Horn is not the only invitee with shaky ethics.

Michael McMannus, according to wikipedia

On January 28, 2005, it was discovered that McManus was one of three media figures to accept money from the George W. Bush administration for targeted public endorsements of government policy.

McManus was the third person to be implicated in an article by Tom Hamburger of The Los Angeles Times. It was revealed that McManus, who is a self-described "marriage advocate", was paid through a subcontractor of the Department of Health and Human Services to endorse a Bush-approved initiative defining marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. The payments were said to be $4,000 plus travel expenses, with an additional $49,000 paid to his organization, "Marriage Savers". McManus did not disclose this payment to his readers

Maggie Gallagher, again according to wikipedia

received tens of thousands of dollars from the Department of Health and Human Services during 2002 and 2003 for helping the George W. Bush administration promote the President's Healthy Marriage Initiative. During this time, Gallagher testified before Congress in favor of "healthy marriage" programs, but never disclosed the payments. When asked about that situation, she replied "Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it? I don't know. You tell me. ...frankly, it never occurred to me".

After the Washington Post revealed this information on January 26, 2005, Gallagher claimed significant differences between her situation and that of conservative columnist Armstrong Williams, going on to add that "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers."]

Gallagher received an additional $20,000 from the Bush administration for writing a report, titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?", for the National Fatherhood Initiative...

Gays No, Polygamists Maybe

It should surprise no one that Sedlieki made it clear to the TCJ that there would be “ no room in the state's program for gays and lesbians interested in marriage or parenting.” What is surprising is that some of Brownback experts think polygamy isn't so bad.

Gallagher has said that gay marriage is worse than polygamy, which, "for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children".

Another invitee founder of the Institute for American Values Daniel Blankenhorn

was presented to the court as an expert witness in Perry v. Schwarzenegger by the proponents of California Proposition 8 (2008), a constitutional amendment stripping same-sex couples of the right to marry. On cross-examination by David Boies, Blankenhorn stated that marriage's "rule of two people" is not violated by polygamy, because "Even in instances of a man engaging in polygamous marriage, each marriage is separate. He — one man marries one woman." (source)

The Agenda?

We can't know what the Brownback marriage  agenda will  look like, but there here are some possibilities.

Mike McManus of Marriage Savers wants to get rid of no-fault divorce, limiting it to only cases of physical abuse or adultery. Gallagher not only want to end no-fault divorce, she want to prosecute spouses for adultery.

 And, a definite--no room in the state's programs m for gays or lesbians interested in marriage or parenting.

Rapture Day

The free-thought community in Wichita has organized an interesting event for Rapture Day on Saturday May 21.

Rapture Day is going to be a day of great speakers giving presentations with a focus on religion and how it relates to various doomsday claims. The event will be held at the Wichita State University CAC theater on 21 May 2011. This is the date that Harold Camping, a Christian broadcaster, has claimed will be the day of the Rapture. We are putting this event on for two primary reasons. The first and most important is to have some fun and let other secular thinkers in the area know that they are definitely not alone. The second is to help educate people on the nature and history of these types of claims and help expose how this fatalistic thinking is a danger to our modern society.

Quote of the Day

Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

"There's really nothing conservative -- and certainly nothing evangelical -- about a laissez-faire view of a lack of government regulation, because we, as Christians, believe in sin. That means if people are sinful, if all of us are sinful, then all of us have to have accountability -- and that includes corporations. Simply trusting corporations to go about their business without polluting the water streams and without destroying ecosystems is really a naive and utopian view of human nature. It's not a Christian view of human nature." 

Hat tip: Right Wing Watch

Counter-demo honors Dr. Tiller

I took some pictures at Saturday's counter-demo to honor Dr. Tiller.



Here's the quick background from KWCH

About 30 people attended a prayer vigil outside of Operation Rescue Saturday. They laid hundreds of flowers along the sidewalk as a symbol of their cause.

During the vigil, they prayed for Doctor George Tiller and his family. They said the purpose of the vigil was to pray for both Tiller and unborn babies....

The vigil was supposed to be outside of Tiller's clinic. But Saturday morning, they moved the vigil because the National Organization of Women planned a counter vigil at the clinic. More than 40 abortion rights supporters kept watch at the clinic on E. Kellogg.

Link round-up

Mick Hartley on Pete Seeger

Terry Glavin on May Day

Kansas Jackass on Kansas GOP votes against Matthew Shepard Act

Americans United commends Obama for ditching right-wing day of prayer

Venezuelan police break up May Day march

10 worst countries to be a blogger

Leonard Zeskind on the Society of St. Pius and St. Mary's Kansas

Maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen the local media note the Kansas connection to the controversy over the Pope's recent move to bring Catholic traditionalists back into the fold.

Leonard Zeskind discusses the connection in his latest blog post.

I am looking at a copy of the title page from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious Czarist forgery that has been part of the anti-Semitic stock in trade for more than a century. This particular edition was translated into English by “Victor E. Marsden,” and was published in 1934. And it was “Item: 6012,” its price was listed as $5.00, and it was sold by the “Immaculata Bookstore” in St. Mary’s, Kansas in 1993. The Immaculata Bookstore being part of St. Mary’s Academy & College, which described itself as one of the “Traditional Catholic Schools of the Society of St. Pius X.

Zeskind concludes

In an interview with Salomon Korn, the vice-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Korn concludes that, “As long as Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t send a clear signal that all Catholics must support the Second Vatican Council, things simply cannot return to normal.”

And it is on that small patch of ink that the truth of the matter resides.

Putting the Warren invocation in perspective

Gay rights groups, liberal organizations like People for the American Way, and the progressive blogosphere are upset that President-elect Barack Obama has picked mega-church pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren to offer the invocation at next month's inaugural.

I can't say I was thrilled when I first heard the news. What was Obama thinking, I asked like many others. One gay rights leader described it as a "slap in the face." It is certainly being portrayed that way in the email blasts and list serves I'm seing.

One Kansas blogger, Moti Rieber who blogs at Fed Reb, has writen several intelleigent and angry posts on the subject. In one he wrote

Someone asked me whom I would have chosen instead. There are many progressive religious figures who have been largely excluded from the public discourse for years now, and who would broadcast a truly inclusive message at the start of the new administration, but just off the top of my head I came up with four

Moti names four fine progressive religious individuals, who I think would make fine invocators in in January. (But many doctrinaire religious progressive think Jim Wallis of Sojourners doesn't pass the grade on abortion or gay rights.)

But he left out the one that Obama has actually picked to be part of the Inaugural ceremonies. Yes, that right. There's a progressive religious figure already invited.

Obama has asked Joseph Lowery to give the benediction Lowery is an icon of the civil rights movement, long-time of the SCLC, tireless advocate of peace and social justice, and a supporter of gay rights.

The first step in putting the Warren invocation in perspective is to realize that it is not Warren but Warren + Lowery.

Understanding that is key to understanding what Obama may be thinking. And key to how the gay rights movements and friends of that movement should respond.

That's a subject for another day.

The unnoticed exremism in Palin's blessing

Video of a pastor blessing Sarah Palin with protection against witchcraft has been the rounds. Moti Rieber at FedReb catches something that most observers haven't noticed.

Here's what the Pastor says

The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today.

Moti's comments are spot on.

In case you need a scorecard, that is a pastor at Palin's church saying that the Christians need to act like the Jews and run "the economy of nations" and "that's how they [the "Israelites"] are, even today." That, my friends, is classic, no-holds-barred anti-Semitism. And she was sitting there for it, and she was blessed by this pastor later in the event.

Brownback confirms Palin was McSame's first pick

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback was interviewed on National Public Radio
Tuesday and let a couple of interesting things slip through in his rapturous adoration of Gov. Sarah Palin. Brownback is going to make one of the nominating speeches for Palin on Wednesday.

Revelation # 1. Brownback said he had originally been asked to make a nominating speech for another candidate. This candidate was pro-choice and Brownback assumed it was Joe Lieberman. Brownback agreed to make the nominating speech for candidate X. When McCain changed his mind, Brownback agreed to make a speech for Palin, who he probably knows even less well than McCain.

It has been said that a district attorney can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Apparently, so hungry is Brownback for attention, that he would agree to make a nominating speech for a ham sandwich.

Revelation # 2. I'm getting ahead of myself with that ham sandwich crack. Brownback, in this instance, has shown himself to be lacking in political principles. Willing to nominate a pro-choice or a pro-life candidate. Willing to nominate a moderate liberal on domestic issues (Lieberman) or a far-right kook (Palin.)

The invisible candidate

My friend, Eric Lee, has an interesting column on the invisible candidate (John Edwards). You might also want to take a look at his post on which candidate should the unions back.

New blogs

Some interesting new blogs

George Packer's Interesting Times

Open Left

a news, analysis and action website dedicated toward building a progressive governing majority in America. The three founding partners are Chris Bowers, Mike Lux, and Matt Stoller.

For more information on the term "Open Left," please see the article "What Is OpenLeft.com?" by Matt Stoller.

Progressive Strategy Blog

"This blog reports and comments on the most significant insights and debates contributing to the formulation of a strategy for building progressive power in the United States.

Wolfgang Brauner, the editor, is principal researcher and project manager of the Progressive Strategy Studies Project"

Something new about the anti-Tiller, anti-Morrison vendetta

By now you are probably familiar with the latest chapter in the Kansas Christian right's vendetta against abortion doctor George Tiller and Attorney General Paul Morrison and seemingly anyone who gets in their way. I think I've found an illuminating connection that shows just how extreme Kline and his allies are.

First, the quick background. Shortly before leaving office and after having been resoundingly defeated by ex-AG Phill Kline brought 31 misdemeanor charges against Tiller which were thrown out by the court. This last week, some of the right-wing pastors brought a crowd to Topeka to push for the passage of a bill directing the Attorney General to bring charges against Tiller. This was based on the questionable interpretation of an obscure 1879 law. Although the House Federal and State Affairs committee rushed through the resolution, by midweek, Republican House leaders had backed away from the resolution. House Democrats had caught the committee violating House rules, meaning that the bill would have needed a 2/3 vote to proceed.

Web discoveries. Mainstream media pays attention to news releases, rallies, and legislative action. Progressive bloggers like Diane Silver at In This Moment have done an excellent job of monitoring the press and covering the controversy. (see here , here, and here.) There's an extra step that is often over-looked. Today's right-wing has an internet presence and there's a lot that can be learned there.

The anti-Tiller campaign has a website Charge Tiller.com. Here's something surprising. The website, which has gathered about 3400 petition signatures, isn't owned by Operation Rescue, Kansas Right to Life, or any similar Kansas-based group. It is copyrighted by an Ohio organization called Women Influencing the Nation and designed by a Kentucky web design firm, Bonaventure Design.

Women Influencing the Nation describe themselves in this manner

An entire generation has now been misled and deceived in the areas of abortion, contraception, relationships, morality, homosexuality, education, medical ethics and politics. WIN will strive to give voice to the families who so desperately work to reclaim the forgotten truths for our children and grandchildren. WIN defends the full teachings of the Catholic faith and the dignity of all women.

They go on to say that their goal is

to give this country back to God.

ChargeTiller.com isn't the first WIN project. In 2004, they set up website See the Passion , ran commercials on 175 radio stations, and circulated a petition.

The petition shows just how extreme WIN is

We know that the enemies of Christian civilization -- who are identifying themselves for all to see by announcing themselves as the enemies of this movie project -

Elsewhere, WIN proclaims

This extraordinary movie and its producer, Mel Gibson, were under intense, public attack from all the worst elements of the major news media and the entertainment industry. Powerful forces in Hollywood, New York City, and Washington D.C. were trying to prevent this movie from getting in our local theaters!

The Passion of The Christ movie was threatened with obstruction and even censorship by some of the most powerful behind-the-scenes forces in New York City, Washington D.C., and Hollywood. These are the same forces which supported the absolutely blasphemous 1987 movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, -- a movie which viciously falsified the Gospels, defamed Christ, the Apostles -- and made Judas the good guy and hero!

Bonaventure Design has some interesting connections to the radical traditionalist Catholic extremists recently portrayed in a Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report. According to the SPLC, this movement "is characterized by open anti-Semitism and blames Jews for conspiring to destroy the Catholic Church."


Bonaventure lists eight projects in their portfolio.

Except for a site for a fiddle festival and one promoting saying Merry Christmas all the sites appear to traditionalist Catholic of the extreme sort.

Two are included in SPLC's dirty dozen of radical traditionalist Catholic organizations.

• Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

SPLC says"the Slaves are followers of the anti-Semitic priest Leonard Feeney...the Slaves today see the Vatican II reforms as the product of Jewish pressures and argue that the "Jewish nation is at enmity with Our Lord's Plan." They have denounced the Vatican's moves to reconcile with Jews as "capitulation to the tyrannical demands of the most insidious elements within Jewry (e.g., the Vatican audiences granted to the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-Christ Jewish Anti-Defamation League)." In fact, the Slaves say that Jews will be the first people to accept the Antichrist and will quickly join "in launching the most savage persecution of the Church in the history of the world." This kind of ugly rhetoric earned the Slaves a sharp rebuke in 2004 from Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., who called their teachings "blatantly anti-Semitic" and "offensive to all people of good will."

• St. Jospeh Forum SPLC says

A privately run organization dedicated to "addressing the root causes of the crisis in the Church," the St. Joseph Forum specializes in popularizing the writings of the anti-Semitic Irish priest, Father Denis Fahey, through its "Project Awaken" program. In several books, the late Fahey wrote that society and the church had been twisted by "the leadership of the Jews, who wield such enormous power in the modern world through the subjection of man to production and production to finance."

There are still more connections to bad guys. Bonaventure also did the website for NEO-CONNED, a book which contains several articles by racists and antisemites and which is published by another dirty dozen group, the Legion of St. Louis/IHS Press. Other Bonaventure sites are for the Oretes Brownson Society (a 19th century Transcendalist turned right-wing Catholic and anti-Protestant polemicist) and Gerry Matatics (www.gerrymatatics.org), a schismatic Catholic who seems to believes, like Mel Gibson, that recent Popes are illegitimate.

Progressive evangelicals show strength

TAPPED has this very interesting item.

Some evidence this week that more progressive evangelicals are strengthening their position within the larger movement: The National Association of Evangelicals rejected a call from James Dodson, Gary Bauer, Paul Weyrich, and other prominent conservative Christians to maintain a singular focus on abortion and gay marriage and abandon environmentalism (which the movement calls “creation care”). Then, as part of the same meeting, the NAE board endorsed a strong anti-torture statement written by Evangelicals for Human Rights, a group with members who have vocally supported expanding the evangelical agenda beyond divisive cultural battles. “Our moral vision has blurred since 9-11,” the statement reads.

The NAE represents some 45,000 congregations nationwide, though it’s unaffiliated with powerful groups including Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention. But more and more, it seems that many Christians are as frustrated with the Bush administration’s record on the war and the environment as the rest of us. Are such evangelical voters more likely to sit out the 2008 elections than grit their teeth and vote for the pro-choice party? And how much compromise should Democrats make on social issues to win their votes?

Rest of the Story about Rev, Terry Fox resignation

When conservative Pastor Terry Fox resigned suddenly in early August from his pulpit at Immanuel Baptist Church, I wrote that there was probably more to the story than had come out. Wichita Eagle columnist Mark McCormick shared my skepticism. Now we know that there indeed was something more to the story.Joe Rodriguez reported in the Wichita Eagle .

The Rev. Terry Fox's use of church funds to support his radio program was a factor in his resignation as senior pastor, according to a statement issued this week by Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita.

The statement, issued by Don James, chairman of the deacons, also said testimony from many witnesses "reflected negatively on the Scriptural qualifications expected of a pastor." It also said Fox threatened to sue "individuals who might say anything negatively" about him.

The statement was presented to the congregation Sunday and is the first official comment from the church about what it says led to Fox's resignation Aug. 6.

Fox, who now leads the new Summit Church in Park City, said Wednesday that he did not threaten to sue anyone when he met with church officials.

"What I said to them is as people are talking and rumors and allegations are made, anyone in America has a right to be protected," he said, "including Baptist preachers."

He also denied that he did anything wrong with church mission funds.

The Immanuel statement says that a "careful examination of the church's financial records revealed reallocation of cooperate [sic] program funds. A portion of the reallocation was used for a radio program -- not affiliated with the church."

Cooperative program funds typically are donations used to support missions and ministries in the congregation and elsewhere.

Fox and the Rev. Joe Wright are hosts of a weekly radio show, "Answering the Call," which airs from 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays on KNSS, 1330-AM, and on Sirius satellite radio.

The statement did not say how much money was reallocated, nor whether the church would pursue legal action.

In response to a request Wednesday by The Wichita Eagle for additional comment, the church faxed a three-sentence statement saying it wanted to keep such matters private and would not comment further.

Fox acknowledged he did use mission funds for the "Answering the Call" radio show but said he had the authority to do so as senior pastor. He did not know how much he spent, but said it was not "a sizable amount."

He also said other church leaders knew of his use of the money and did not question him about it or indicate that it was a problem. Fox said he considered the radio program to be mission work for the church.

"I absolutely saw 'Answering the Call' as a tremendous way to give a biblical view and to share the Gospel," he said.

Rodriguez doesn't dig very deep. He's a self-proclaimed Christian conservative who sees nothing wrong with Attorney General Phill Kline's church-based politics. Rodriguez should have pointed out that the radio program is heavily political and openly endorsed candidates. He should ask what whether Fox's expenditure of church funds for his political radio show has endangered the Immanuel's tax-exempt status. He should also take a look at whether Fox lied to his radio station and his radio audience. He should ask Fox's co-host Rev. Joe Wright whether Wright was aware that Fox was spending church money for their radio show. I've listened to parts of the Fox-Wright show and I am pretty sure that I recall statements that no church funds were spent on the program.

Kansas Religious Group Loses Tax Exemption

Catholics for Free Choice reports that right-to-life religious group active in Wichita has lost its tax exemption.

On September 11, 2006, the IRS announced that it had revoked the nonprofit 501(c)(3) status of Youth Ministries, Inc., which did business as Operation Rescue West (ORW). While the IRS does not provide information on the circumstances that lead to revocations of any group’s tax-exempt status, a CFFC complaint filed in 2004 provided information on ORW’s electoral activities during the Boston Democratic Party convention that we considered to be violations of IRS regulations.

Our complaint referred to a full-page ad placed by the antichoice group on July 15, 2004, in the Wanderer, an ultra-conservative national Catholic weekly. In the ad, ORW called on readers to make what it said was a “tax-deductible donation to help pay the bills and affect the outcome of the election” and called for readers to give a tax-deductible donation to help “defeat [John Kerry] in November and enable President Bush to appoint a pro-life Supreme Court Justice to finally overturn Roe v. Wade.” In making its case, Operation Rescue West cited the statements of several cardinals and bishops who had attacked Catholic politicians for their support of a woman’s right to choose and invited the support of readers as they are “going into the middle of a war in Boston.” [Emphasis in original.] ORW said that the money raised would be spent in Boston during the Democratic Party convention, where it planned to distribute antiabortion, anti-Kerry materials and display highly visible ads on trucks at key sites.

This egregious violation of US tax laws was perhaps the most visible and vicious by various tax-exempt organizations opposed to abortion rights and, by extension, candidates who support these rights during the 2004 election season.

The national Talk-To-Action weblog disccuses the case and has nice things to say about a Wichita group of young abortion rights activists that helped bring down ORW. They're known as the "Maggot Punks", but based on my interactions with them, they are pretty nice people.

With Phil Kline basing his campaign on evangelical churches, there could be many more churches and religious organizations losing their tax exemption in the future. The Wichita Eagle and other observers seems to be taking the line that Kline's actios are unseemly and inappropriate, but not illegal. I'm not so sure. More on that later.

Leading Kansas Conservative Pastor Resigns Suddenly

Christina Woods reported in Monday's Wichita Eagle on the surprising and sudden resignation of conservative pastor Terry Fox.

The Rev. Terry Fox, who helped lead the successful push last year for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, resigned Sunday as senior pastor of Wichita's Immanuel Baptist Church.
"I see a need for Christians to get involved in issues," Fox said during his resignation speech, which happened toward the end of the 10:30 a.m. service.
Fox, whose resignation took effect immediately, said he and church leaders agreed he should resign after 10 years as senior pastor. Neither Fox nor church officials would say what led Fox to resign.

This was a very sudden decision as reading between the lines of the Eagle story hints.

Deacons of the church met at length Sunday afternoon to discuss, among other issues, a possible interim replacement for Fox, who said he imagines a pastoral search committee will be created.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but it looks to me very much like a crisis decision. Is Fox's resignation the result of a scandal? The other possibility which occurs to me is that there was an unresolvable clash of wills between Fox and the church lay leadership.

Fox is more than just a Wichita figure. He is a real national power among Southern Baptists. He was part of the trustees of a major Southern Baptist institution, the North American Mission Board which imposed "executive controls" over NAMB President Bob Record earlier this year. He made the nominating speech for one of the candidates for first VP of the SBC.

Alas, Kansas won't be free of Fox.

Fox said he plans to stay in Wichita and continue co-hosting a nationally syndicated radio show with Wright. The show, which airs from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday evenings on KNSS, is expanding its format.

Earlier this year, when a Paul Mireki was forced to resign as chair of Kansas University's Religion Department after sending emails disparaging fundamentalists, Fox's congregation reportedly cheered on hearing the news. I imagine there are lots of folks in Kansas cheering Fox's departure--and not just atheists, agnostics, and free thinkers.

UPDATE August 9
A follow-up article in today's Eagle has Fox saying that some members were complaining about his travelling for out-of-state political causes. Up to 35 weeks a year according to the Rev. Fox.

Columnist Mark McCormick asks whether there is more to it.

That brings us back to the community's need for an explanation.

To have the details of this separation come out in dribs and drabs certainly won't help the church move beyond the pain of the split. And because Fox is a public figure and influential newsmaker, not talking about what happened will only lead to more speculation. And speculation can be far more damaging than the truth.

Fox appearing so talkative, and the church seeming so reticent, reflects how far apart the two sides have grown.

No matter who is saying what, the rest of us aren't getting the whole story.