OneNewsNow

After the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Chicago Tribune that his support for barring gays and lesbians from openly serving in the armed forces was based on his belief, from his “upbringing,” that homosexuality is “immoral” and analogous to adultery, supporters of equality for gays were quick to criticize the nation’s top military officer for his prejudice-based promotion of public policy and for sending an inappropriate message to gays currently serving under his command. Not surprisingly, the Religious Right has come to the defense of Gen. Peter Pace, who has refused to apologize, and ambitious politicians are not far behind.

Concerned Women for America’s Matt Barber wrote that Pace “is to be commended for publicly expressing the common sense values shared by the majority of Americans, for having the courage to face down America’s self-appointed thought police and for his bold attempt to reign in our nation’s political correctness run amok.” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins declared that “Gen. Pace's job is not to be politically correct but to protect the nation and the well-being of our soldiers.” Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council said his group will “ask President Bush to support General Pace's right to stand by his convictions as he enforces the military code of conduct.” And Phil Magnan, director of a group called Biblical Family Advocates, issues a press release attacking gays as “licentious”:

"If there is any apologizing that needs to be done, it's by homosexual advocates who have drawn millions of young people, including soldiers into a destructive, immoral and unhealthy lifestyle."

"The homosexual community has sold the public their licentious lifestyle in the name of tolerance and freedom when they should be seeking to be freed from it. Ask the person dying from HIV if it was worth having hundreds of partners or if some of the millions who are enslaved to it would like to be free of it."

Others claimed that criticism of Pace was “clearly an effort to purge from authority anyone who dares represent the most basic tenets of a Judeo-Christian moral code,” as WorldNetDaily.com editor Joseph Farah put it. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth said of Pace critics, “Their idea of civil rights is that we can’t voice our moral beliefs about homosexuality. … If you say that homosexuality is wrong, they come after you; and, ultimately, we have to believe that they are going to want to ban [speaking out against] it, just like is happening in Canada, and England, and other countries.” The American Family Association is asking its supporters to send a letter to President Bush in support of Pace and in opposition to gays serving in the military: “I strongly oppose homosexual activists who want to force the military to approve their immoral lifestyle,” reads the letter template.

Already, one Republican presidential candidate struggling to gain momentum and distinguish himself among the Right has taken on the Pace cause. Sen. Sam Brownback circulated a letter in which he characterizes Pace’s justification of the military’s anti-gay policy as merely the expression of “his personal moral views.”

The moral behavior of members of the Armed Forces is of the highest importance, particularly during this time of war. The question is whether personal moral beliefs should disqualify an individual from positions of leadership in the U.S. military? We think not.

It seems as if the Gordon Klingenschmitt saga has finally come to a fitting end, now that he has been dismissed from the Navy. 

As would be expected, Klingenschmitt sought to milk it right up until the last minute - literally - before his time in the military officially ran out.

Klingenschmitt had initially been scheduled to deliver the invocation at the CPAC Presidential Banquet before Vice President Cheney spoke, but was dropped, he claims, because of pressure from the Navy.

But Klingenschmitt wasn’t about to let that inconvenient fact prevent him from assuming his rightful place at CPAC – even if he had to wait until the convention hall was completely empty to do it:

In front of witnesses and God, a man who fought the whole of the U.S. Navy over his constitutional right to pray "in Jesus' name" while in uniform has done just that, delivering a benediction at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington a short time after Vice President Dick Cheney had left the room.

…

"When the vice president was speaking I stood outside the room, and I waited until the event was over. … Then after everybody left, I decided that my last act as a Navy chaplain should be to pray in my uniform in Jesus' name," he said.

"So I went and put on my uniform, since I was technically in the Navy until midnight, and at 11:30 p.m. I took the stage at the CPAC conference and I said the benediction to the banquet."

"I prayed in Jesus' name in front of an empty room," he told WND, with his wife and manager as witnesses.  

Since Klingenschmitt is now “out on the street without a job,” he has begun “attending [Pat Robertson’s] Regent University and accepting speaking invitations.”  Presumably, he shouldn’t have too much trouble finding speaking engagements – after all, Klingenschmitt's manager surely must be able to find millions of empty rooms all over the country for him to commandeer as he continues his lonely crusade.  

According to OneNewsNow, the news service produced by the American Family Association, some on the Right are suddenly concerned about Establishment Clause violations regarding the nefarious religious indoctrination that has begun infiltrating public schools via yoga:  

An ex-yoga teacher turned Christian evangelist says he is disturbed by the growing popularity of yoga programs in schools. He feels adding Hindu-influenced yoga regimens to public school curriculums is not only dangerous but also violates the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.

More than 100 public and private schools across the U.S. are reportedly teaching yoga to young people using a secular curriculum developed by a California woman named Tara Guber. The program she developed for school kids uses terms like "bunny breathing" for yogic panting and "time-in" for meditation. But innocuous as the program may sound, one former yoga instructor says Guber’s curriculum and others like it are a bad idea.

Mike Shreve was a teacher of yoga and meditation at four universities before he was "saved" out of Eastern religions and went on to found a Christian ministry called The True Light Project. He sees some definite dangers in introducing such programs to young people in U.S. schools.

"First of all I believe it is a violation of the commitment this nation has made to the separation of church and state,” Shreve says. “And secondly,” he notes, “I'm surprised that so many schools have started using this in their curriculum -- apparently without it being challenged by those who understand the religious roots of yoga."