A heavy cross to bear

update: Senator Barack Obama is ending his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a congregation he has belonged to for about two decades and one that had become a lightning rod in his Democratic presidential bid.

From Pat Tillman's eulogy:
In this struggle [the war in Iraq], some will speak of God as the guide and guardian of the struggle, while others will speak of a higher power, and still others will look within to summon up a deep and personal courage that knows no denomination or catechism.


Pentagon Sued Over Mandatory Christianity
Researched by Sarah Maddox and Bill Gibbons
Jason Leopold, Truthout

A lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Pentagon, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and a US Army Major, by a military watchdog organization, on behalf of an Army soldier stationed in Iraq. The nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed the complaint September 18th, 2007, charging the Pentagon with widespread constitutional violations by allegedly trying to force the soldier to embrace evangelical Christianity and then retaliating against him when he refused. Jeremy Hall, an active duty Army specialist in Iraq, claims his First Amendment rights were violated because of his atheist beliefs, for which he was threatened with the charge of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the blocking of his reenlistment in the Army.



Petro-crucifixed


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