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California strikes again

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Jailminister, Sep 19, 2003.

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  1. Jailminister

    Jailminister New Member

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    ...A federal court in Los Angeles has disbanded a chaplains program and the California Department of Forestry (CDF). The court deemed it was a violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. According to Family News In Focus, a group of firefighters calling themselves the "Satanic Six" won the lawsuit but cost the CDF a popular and valued partner among the rank and file. A spokesman for the International Fellowship of Chaplains fears the CDF chaplains could be only the first to fall. The spokesman says the chaplains' organization knows that like Christianity at large, chaplains are "under attack" -- and that "most people see the chaplain as just another Christian entity." He quotes an FBI report as saying the average chaplain saves his department $86,000 a year through reduced outside professional counseling and employee time off.

    WHO'S NEXT!!!!

    [post edited to change title]

    [ September 19, 2003, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]
     
    #1 Jailminister, Sep 19, 2003
  2. Wisdom Seeker

    Wisdom Seeker New Member

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    Please post a link to the newsite where you got your information.
     
    #2 Wisdom Seeker, Sep 19, 2003
  3. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    The case you're talking about is unique. The details you provided were not quite accurate. The suit stems from the fact that the chaplain's corps, run by an evangelical minister who is also a senior official of the department, was exclusively Christian and had improperly injected organizationally specific religioun into the program. Interestingly, among the plaintiffs are a Baptist, Episcopalian, Christian Scientist, Jew, and a Buddhist.

    The Corps was created two years ago, replacing a peer-chaplain and counseling program that had existed for many years. The plaintiffs are seeking and end to the Chaplain's Corps program and reinstate the peer-chaplain program that existed prior. The plaintiffs allege that the individual running the Corps is purposefully excluding non-Christian personnel as chaplains (of the 52 chaplains in the Chaplain's Corps, only 2 are non-Christian).

    The suit could have been avoided had the Dept of Forestry reworked the Corps into a true non-secterian Chaplain Corps.
     
    #3 Johnv, Sep 19, 2003
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