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Navy vet: Chaplains tried converting me

Posted by Jan Frel at 7:29 AM on May 15, 2007.

So much for separation of church and military-industrial complex.

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Radio Free Chimp catches an interesting Des Moines Register article:

Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.

Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.

He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn’t serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.

Miller, an Iowa City resident and former petty officer third class who spent four years in the Navy, outlined his complaints at a news conference in Des Moines on Thursday. The event was sponsored by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an activist group based in Albuquerque, N.M.

He described the Iowa City facility as an institution permeated by government sponsorship of fundamentalist Christianity and unconstitutional discrimination against Jews.

Read the full piece here

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ah, fundamentalism... [Report this comment] Posted by: jennpozner on May 15, 2007 11:21 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] I love these moments of clarity: during a war supposedly against Islamic fundamentalism (or supposedly for "Iraqi freedom," depending on whose definitions we're going on), the US military imposes its own Christian fundamentalism on its own personelle. No kosher food, refusal to contact the vet's rabbi - can we imagine the uproar if a Catholic was denied access to a priest, or a Protestant refused a copy of the New Testament? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Thank Jehosaphat for David Miller [Report this comment] Posted by: eddie torres on May 15, 2007 11:24 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] As long as one single Jew does not return to Israel and does not convert to Christianity, Armageddon is impossible and the prophecies of Left Behind cannot be fulfilled. Sorry, Tim LaHaye. The world is saved! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Christians seem to think that they are special and others are not. [Report this comment] Posted by: deanwj on May 15, 2007 12:08 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Back in the days of the draft, you did get atheists in foxholes. I was one in combat for 16 months. It was however made very clear from Basic Training on that atheists were less than welcome in the military. We had more hard duty, we took more crap from superiors and more taunting from peers. It came to a head while I was a Pleiku in the Central Highlands where a young christian man maintained a threatening stance toward me for weeks until his base priest asked to see me. Thankfully that priest was friendly and understanding and protected me from clowns like that from then on and the priest and I got along well. So not all christians are evil. It was nice to meet one who wasn't evil. They are rare. SSgt Dean W. Johnson ret [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Poor guy [Report this comment] Posted by: Alkaru on May 15, 2007 12:17 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] I hope he gets better soon and that hunger didn't slow his recovery too much. People who are wicked enough to let a man recovering in hospital go hungry should not lie and call themselves Christians - and should not be working in a hospital either. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: Poor guy Posted by: JNagarya Chaplain [Report this comment] Posted by: mcright on May 15, 2007 4:45 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] As a chaplain for over 30 years, this behavior is totally unacceptable. Those responsible should be severely disciplined. The hospital's treatment is no better. Neither is in the patient's interest. Complaint should also be filed with the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Dan A. McRight [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» RE: Poor guy Posted by: JNagarya