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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19792
[Civil]
Date Posted:
6/25/2008
5:07:55 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 5,318
RSS: 14,294
Comments: 6
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ACLU Threatens To Sue U.S. Naval Academy Over Daily Prayer
Author: Jacqueline L. Salmon Source: Washington Post
Title: ACLU THREATENS TO SUE U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY OVER DAILY PRAYER
The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue the U.S. Naval Academy unless it abolishes its daily lunchtime prayer, saying that some midshipmen have complained that they felt coerced to participate.
In a letter to the academy on behalf of a group of midshipmen who object to the prayers, Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, said it was "long past time" for the academy to discontinue the tradition. She said the practice violates midshipmen's' freedom to practice religion as their conscience leads them.
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Community Thoughts: There are 6 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| As Long As... | Jun 27th. at 5:03:34 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
no one is forced to recite it aloud or to offer one up if the belief isn't there. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. After all, religion should not be the Navy's main interest anyway.
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| ... | Jun 27th. at 11:15:19 am EDT
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web
Wow...I just love how many people have "arsehat" syndrome when it comes to evangelicals in command. I was threatened _by my command's executive officer_ one time because I wasn't a christianist.
And I hate to break it to the ACLU, but there will always be mealtime prayers as long as the Navy serves any food.
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| Disagreeing | Jun 26th. at 10:25:57 am EDT
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Storm Raven (Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) - Email Me
As a member of the military, I can attest to the fact that prayers DO happen. However, I side with the Navy on this one.
The prayer offered is nondenominational, and while it is rather monotheistic, they in no way demand that someone participate if they do not want to.
All they ask is that you remain quiet during the prayer time. That is a matter of respect, not participation. Many pagans ask for tolerance from other faiths, but we will never get it if we throw a fit about the military asking for a time of quiet respect while a chaplain leads people through a nondenominational prayer.
I take the opportunity to silently offer my own prayers, personally.
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| This Truth Should Raise The Hairs On Our Necks... | Jun 26th. at 8:55:22 am EDT
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Lorca (Longview, Washington) - Email Me
"...the Navy is ignoring the law."
Clearly, our military needs to have it made abundantly and dramatically clear who is in charge.
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| This Is BS | Jun 25th. at 8:22:19 pm EDT
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baelmain (Gulfport, South Carolina) - Email Me
As background, I'm an '04 grad of Canoe U. The prayer they're referring to is a non-denominational, generally Christian-oriented, 1 minute (ish) deal immediately prior to noon meal. This is done in King Hall with almost all the mids present.
I have never witnessed any type of reprisal for non-participation. I did not participate in the prayer. I saw many who did not participate in it. No one even asked me why. The female referenced in the article speaks about a situation in which she fears non-participation will impact her career. This is illogical, ridiculous, and impossible given that midshipman records do not follow you into the real Navy upon commissioning.
I can understand bringing it to the Chaplain's attention that you want to have a different type of prayer. If memory serves me, we had different mids leading prayer occasionally. Going straight to a suit seems extreme. This smells of an attempt to get publicity on the issue (which has its uses, I'll grant) .
Draken, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Please do not extrapolate that out to the rest of the Navy without providing more substantiating information. Considering that current Navy leadership is not simply comprised of Christians makes your "inbred evangelicals" comment more than uncalled for, and demonstrates ignorance, arrogance, and the same irrational hatred you are trying to describe.
Of course, the Navy is made up of (generally) a cross-section of the American populace, so we have our fair share of crazies. However, the fact that we are taught from the start to put our ship and shipmates before ourselves, we avoid a lot of the irrational hatred referenced in many other Witchvox articles.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me.
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| ... | Jun 25th. at 5:28:46 pm EDT
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web
Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Slavey...err, "Navy" is stuck in an era when ships were made of wood and the British were our most fierce enemies. I kid you not. Most of my "education" in RTC "Great Mistakes" involved trumped-up details of naval battles during the War of 1812 and the Spanish-American War (I don't give a f*ck if the coffee "tasted good" or not) . The Navy's idiotic attitude towards a long-dead history doesn't help much in bringing Constitutional law into their Annapolis bunker. Besides, inbred evangelicals are the ones in command these days, and they're not about to let some so-called "godless heathens" take away their prayers to their mythological, one-inch-endowed war "god."
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