Do ISIS and those forcing the Navy to remove Bibles from guest rooms have the same end goal?

By Allen B. West

Other than ISIS itself, I cannot believe there is anyone not appalled by their genocidal actions against Christians in Iraq — indeed we are witnessing a global persecution of Christians from the Coptics in Egypt to Pakistan. Things are so dire that even the Vatican has approved military action against the Islamic terrorist army. However, you don’t have to leave America’s shores to find or experience Christian persecution – it’s just being done more covertly.

As reported by Fox News, “There is growing outrage among sailors and religious liberty advocates over a directive that calls for the removal of Bibles from lodges and hotels run on U.S. Navy bases. The directive comes after an atheist group filed a formal complaint earlier this year over the placement of Bibles in the rooms. “The current direction is to remove all religious material from Navy Lodge guest rooms,” read an email to a Navy chaplain from The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). “For those Navy Lodges with religious materials currently in guest rooms, the Navy Lodge General Manager will contact the Installation Chaplain’s office who will provide guidance on the removal procedure disposition of these materials.”

So now we’ve evolved to the point in America where we refer to God’s Holy Bible as simply “materials.” This is how it happens, the silent war that results in the death of the Judeo-Christian faith heritage of our Republic. This is how secular humanists erase all semblance of our faith tradition so that future generations will reject the premise.

So I ask, what is the difference between the violent actions of ISIS and the covert actions of these atheist groups? Let’s be honest, the desired end state and result is the same — the death of Christianity. 

And how did this all get started? The same usual suspects, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), which we’ve reported on previously. Most recently the FFRF won a legal settlement with the IRS allowing them to question sermons being delivered by Christian pastors and ministers — their goal is to eliminate and punish Christian churches for “issue advocacy.” And you might remember the handiwork of Mikey Weinstein and his MRFF group regardig his complaint against a nativity scene in the GITMO chow hall last December.

Fox says “the FFRF had filed a complaint with the military — claiming the presence of the Bible “amounts to a government endorsement of that religious text.” “FFRF is pleased to learn that NEXCOM has taken seriously its constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion as a representative of our federal government. By removing Bibles from Navy-run lodges, the Navy has taken a step to ensure that it is not sending the impermissible message that Christians are favored over guests with other religious beliefs or over those guests with no religion.”

Mikey Weinstein, the president of the oxymoronic titled Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told Fox he was delighted to hear of the Navy’s directive. His organization has been trying for more than seven years to cleanse military hotel rooms of the Good Book. “We are happy to see the military doing that,” Weinstein said. “For years we’ve been telling them those Bibles are a violation of the Establishment Clause.”

I think Mikey is seriously out to lunch because neither he nor anyone else is being forced into being Christian — which is a faith, not a religion. Furthermore, neither the Navy nor any U.S. military service promotes or advances any particular religion and certainly does not demand its service members follow any particular religion. After all, the United States has no established religion — but our faith tradition as a nation is rooted in the Judeo-Christian heritage.

The good news — how appropriate — is that Navy leadership is considering reversing removal edict and I am quite sure FFRF and MRFF are fuming. I just have to say, Bravo Zulu! I will be paying attention as to whether these groups now run to the Obama administration to apply pressure against the uniformed Navy senior leadership. And based on Obama’s current actions of turning his back on Christians in Iraq, you can almost be certain on whose side he will align.

At a time when we are watching the decimation of our military force, the last things we need are these nuisances taking away the attention of military leaders. If we had a Secretary of Defense who didn’t have his head up his fourth point of contact, he would tell these groups to “shove off.”

But just realize that FFRF, MRFF and ISIS have more in common strategically than perhaps we want to admit. And that’s why we must make a stand against them all. Not all atheists or Muslims support these types of groups — so why don’t y’all speak out?


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