SNAFU in Kosovo

Our heritage must be stamped out—let no vestiges remain:

U.S. soldiers stationed at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo may be stunned to find three wooden crosses stripped from the exterior grounds of their chapel in coming weeks – and many never saw it coming.

Several high-ranking officers have met behind closed doors to discuss plans for the crosses. They have decided to remove, and perhaps destroy, the Christian symbols located outside Peacekeeper's Chapel in the name of free exercise of religion.

It takes a singularly warped mentality to believe that repressing the prevailing religion’s symbols is acting in the name of free religious exercise.

Lt. Col. William Jenkins, 35th Infantry Division's Kosovo Force 9 command chaplain, told WND, "The removal of the crosses … is bringing the chapel into line with long-standing regulations and policies that apply to every U.S. Army chapel around the world and that are supported by all faith groups in the U.S. Army."

Jenkins cited the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as validation for the cross removal, saying it guarantees every American the right to the free exercise of religion.

I understand. After all, if a cross looms over a doorway, it catches and dissipates all Islamic prayers to Allah, New Age pleas to the crystalloids of Alpha Centauri, and Buddhist conversations with vaunted ancestors. It’s amazing what a couple of wooden crossbars can do. I’d like to ask Lt. Col. William “Witless” Jenkins how one’s freedom of religion is nullified by an inanimate object standing in a chapel-yard. Our military’s in trouble, if this is the kind of idiot it’s entrenching in the position of Lt. Col. He’s a perfect example of how political correctness not only destroys liberty, but also the intellect.

One person stationed in Kosovo became concerned about freedom of religious expression in the military after WND reported the Army deliberately shut down a chaplain's Baptist service at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Iraq. The soldier expressed agitation at a perceived double standard after an American sniper accused of shooting a Quran for target practice faced disciplinary action and removal from Iraq for desecrating the religious property.

"It is very discouraging as a Christian soldier to see our Army punish him for destroying a Quran, but then it pays a private company to destroy some crosses," the soldier said. "I feel it is a slap in the face to me, my Lord and my freedom."

Unfortunately, the new American model for religious freedom entails tolerating, appeasing, and debasing onself before every religious tradition, except the one upon which Western civilization was built.