Like most of us, Army Senior Chaplain (Colonel) Moon Kim wanted perspective on what God is doing through the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. As a retired Army Chaplain (Colonel), I applaud Chaplain Kim’s desire to reflect on this critical issue.
Chaplain Kim, who is command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Camp Humphreys in South Korea, found help in John Piper’s recent free book, Coronavirus and Christ, and he thought others under his influence at the nation’s largest foreign base might find in its pages the same value he discovered.
So he chose to share it via email with about 35 other chaplains – and in doing so inflamed the ire of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). If you’re not familiar with the group, the MRFF functions in much the same way as the better-known and much larger (but no less concerning) Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Mikey Weinstein, MRFF’s atheist founder, works to jeopardize the religious freedom of our military personnel – and then threatens to take legal action if their demands are not met. In this case, Weinstein is calling on Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to punish Colonel Kim severely, including making him subject to court-martial.
In case you haven’t read it, Piper’s book asks readers to consider that God has a purpose and a direction in all that has happened across the globe in the Coronavirus pandemic, affecting both believers and non-believers. Rather than giving a specific answer to why, Piper lays out a number of avenues of biblical thought on God’s purposes with the pandemic, including His response to sin in our world. Piper specifically identifies homosexuality as one of those sins.
It was for this reason that the MRFF has singled out Chaplain Kim for punitive action. In so doing, the MRFF is leading us down a dangerous path where we limit the ability of chaplains to speak freely or share information about specific sins, even in the context of the good news of the Gospel.
Chaplain Kim needs our support, and you can help today!
Please send a message to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, asking him to support Chaplain (Colonel) Kim and to let chaplains be chaplains as they serve those who protect our nation. It only takes a moment in our Action Center. Add your voice of support for religious freedom in the military!
For freedom,
Pastor David Beauchamp
Director for Church Engagement – Kansas
New ordinance only allows the chaplains of the city police and fire departments to open the meetings with prayer.
The Council had approved a moment of silence to replace the regular prayers after a Satanist from Tucson was scheduled to give an opening prayer in February. The new ordinance only allows the chaplains of the city police and fire departments to open the meetings with prayer.
“What we passed was reinstituting invocation or prayer at the city of Phoenix,” Councilman Sal DiCiccio told the Catholic News Agency, “we made it stronger than it ever has been in its 65-year history.”
CitizenLink’s allied policy group, the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), is thrilled with the vote.
“Prayer has been a part of the legislative process throughout our nation’s and our state’s history,” CAP President Cathi Herrod said. “Allowing this cherished tradition to continue with a commonsense, respectful policy is the right decision for the City of Phoenix and its citizens.”