Archives for 2014

Defamation suit closer to trial

January 10, 2014 by Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt

A defamation lawsuit filed by a conservative Christian minister and former Navy chaplain against Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation he founded got a step closer to trial following a hearing Wednesday in Albuquerque.

District Judge Denise Barela Shepherd dismissed one claim against Weinstein, malicious abuse of process, in the lawsuit filed by Gordon Klingenschmitt of Colorado.

But she denied Weinstein’s motion to dismiss the defamation claim.

Both sides counted it as a victory.

“Half their case was dismissed today,” said attorney David Roman of Albuquerque, who was one of three lawyers representing Weinstein and the foundation at the hearing. Weinstein, his wife and the foundation have filed a counterclaim against Klingenschmitt.

He said once discovery is completed, Weinstein could again seek a court ruling to end the litigation.

But Klingenschmitt’s lawyers said they believe the case will go to trial. Stephen Casey said after Shepherd’s ruling that the claims had been thoroughly investigated before the case was filed and he expects it to go to trial.

The New Mexico litigation is a spinoff from a Texas case.

Weinstein, an attorney, Air Force Academy graduate and former White House counsel who is Jewish, earned the enmity of the religious right, and galvanized it, with his crusade to end alleged undue influence by Christian fundamentalists in the military.

In 2009, Weinstein sued Klingenschmitt, who runs the Pray in Jesus Name Project, after he posted “curse prayers” that Weinstein alleged were actually coded messages to Klingenschmitt’s followers intended to incite violence against the Weinsteins.

A Dallas judge ultimately dismissed Weinstein’s lawsuit because he could not prove a causal connection between the former chaplain’s “imprecatory prayer” and a threatened or actual action.

Klingenschmitt subsequently filed the defamation action against Weinstein and the foundation in state district court in New Mexico because the Weinsteins live in Albuquerque and the foundation is organized under New Mexico law.

The lawsuit alleges Weinstein made statements on behalf of himself and the foundation in a 2009 radio interview and article in the Dallas Morning News that associated Klingenschmitt with acts of vandalism that occurred at Weinstein’s home – among them, windows shot out, beer bottles and feces thrown at it and slaughtered animals left at the front door.

This article was written by Scott Sandlin for the Albuquerque Journal.

Supreme Court hears Pro-Life "Bubble Zone" Free Speech Case

January 8, 2014 by Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt

Urgent Petition! Sign petition for “Life Begins at Conception” Act S.583 w/ Sen. Rand Paul. Select, sign, and WE WILL FAX your petition to all 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen instantly (saving you time!) Or select free option to Amend S.583 here.

Supreme Court hears Pro-Life “Bubble Zone” Free Speech Case

On Wednesday, January 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of McCullen v. Coakley, reports LifeNews.com.

“Pro-life activists in Massachusetts are challenging that state’s recently enacted BubbleZone, the most restrictive in the country.

“Under the law, pro-lifers may not speak to abortion clinic clients within 35 feet of the entrance, effectively scuttling their life-saving outreach. Clinic staff and ‘agents’—effectively any pro-choice person—are exempt.

“Eleanor McCullen and the other plaintiffs argue that the law is unconstitutional, since in both its intent and its effect it restricts only the speech of pro-lifers.

“Among the briefs filed with the court is testimony from women who chose life for their babies after speaking with sidewalk counselors.

“The pro-life plaintiffs are also asking thecourt to overturn their ruling in Hill v. Colorado which upheld a less restrictiveBubble Zone in 2000. Since then, similar laws have been enacted in many jurisdictions across the country—including aBubble Zone enacted in 2009 by the City of Chicago, where the League is headquartered.

“Three of the dissenters in Hill v. Colorado ruling—Justices Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy—are still on the court. Only Justices Ginsberg and Breyer remain from the majority. If any two of the new justices on the court—Kagan, Sotomayor, Alito and Roberts—were to side with the Hill minority, all the Bubble Zone laws in the country could be struck down.”

[Dr. Chaps’ comment: It’s one thing to kill children. It’s another to silence the prophets whose voice cries out in the streets, “Don’t kill your children.” Is there anyplace in America where the First Amendment does not apply to protect the speaker? If we are silent, even the rocks will cry out.]

Let’s petition Congress to define “Person” as Life beginning at conception.

Abortionists ask Justice Scalia to block Texas Ban. Will SCOTUS intervene?

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has been asked to restore abortion in Texas.

“Groups opposed to new restrictions on abortion in Texas filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court on Monday to halt part of a law that prompted a dozen clinics in the state to stop performing the procedure,” reports Reuters.

“The move is the latest step in a legal battle between the Republican-dominated state government of Texas and supporters of the right to abortion over the law that imposes some of the toughest restrictions in the United States.

“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gave attorneys for the state of Texas untilNovember 12 to respond to the emergency request to halt a key provision in the law, according to court documents.

“The provision requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility in case women have complications.

Watch! Dr. Chaps’ 7-minute TV commentary on the Texas abortion ban–>

“At least a dozen clinics and surgery centers across the state stopped offering abortionsafter the law went into effect on Friday, saying that their doctors had been unable to secure admitting privileges, clinic employees said.

“One of the women whose abortion appointment was canceled was Marni Evans, an independent consultant in Austin, Texas. She told a conference call with reporters organized by Planned Parenthood that she isconsidering flying to Seattle, where she used to live, to terminate her pregnancy.

“Evans, 37, and her fiance made the decision to end the pregnancy for financial reasons, she said.

“My fiance and I are both self employed. We can barely afford our own healthcare, let alone a child,” Evans said. “We want to start a family some day, but we just can’t do it now.”

[Dr. Chaps’ comment: This is yet another way Obamacare encourages abortion: It takes away peoples ability to afford health care so they kill their children rather than pay bills.]

Let’s petition Congress to define “person” as any human life beginning at conception.

Sen. Rand Paul’s “Life Begins at Conception Act.” Can it stop abortion?

The U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul (R) has introduced the “Life Begins At Conception Act” Senate Bill S. 583, which is modeled after “Personhood” legislation we supported in ballot initiatives in Mississippi, Colorado, and Florida.

The pro-life legislation simply applies the protections of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to unborn children, by defining them as “persons.” Personhood is a legal strategy that can potentially overturn Roe v. Wade and stop the abortion holocaust in America, as predicted by Justice Blackmun who wrote the 1973 ruling: “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right tolife would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”

Watch! Dr. Chaps’ 6 minute commentary on the new S. 583 “Life Begins at Conception Act” by Sen. Rand Paul. While I applaud the 15 Senators who co-sponsor S. 583, there is some concern this legislation does not go far enough.

For example, my friend Tom Hoefling, former political director for Alan Keyes presidential campaign and current Chairman of America’s Party, has drafted a free petition on http://faxcongress.com to amend S. 583 to make it even stronger in the protection of innocentlife. Tom writes:

“While we appreciate the declaration of principles that the Life at Conception Act represents, far more is needed than mere words to stop the daily killing of thousands of the weakest and most helpless among us…[The United States] Code must be stripped of provisions like the Laci Peterson law of 2004, Title 18, Chapter 1, §1841 and Title 10, Chapter 22 §919a, which, while rightly defining the child as an individual person, then allows the killing of certain classes of those innocent persons via the practice of human abortion. Without these amendments the legislation accomplishes little beyond mere political posturing.”

[Dr. Chaps’ comment: S.583 is a good first step, but we can do even better. So in addititon to signing my petition below, please also sign Tom Hoefling’s petition here.]

God Bless you, in Jesus’ name,

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhDWho is Dr. Chaps? Bio here.

P.S. Prefer to donate by postal mail? Please write: Pray In Jesus Name, PO Box 77077, Colorado Springs, CO 80970

Court: Christian Chaplains should NOT get Promoted

January 4, 2014 by Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt

A three judge panel in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that military chaplains who pray “in Jesus’ name” should suffer discrimination and denial of promotion by the U.S.military.

The “court panel has rejected an appeal brought by a group of former non-liturgical Navy chaplains who claim the Navy’s chaplain promotion process unfairly favors Catholic and liturgical Protestant chaplains,” reports One News Now.

65 evangelical chaplains have been suing the Navy since 1999, alleging that liberal chaplainswho sit on their promotion boards routinely “black-ball” their promotion boards for religious reasons.

Art Schulcz, an attorney representing the evangelical chaplains, said the court determined that any discrimination didn’t rise to a sufficient level to infer constitutional discriminatory intent.

“This court has officially approved discrimination as long as it’s not ‘stark’ – stark to be determined later,” he explains.

According to the attorney, the court also rejected his argument that the Navy’s promotion system allows one officer to effectively black-ball the promotion of any chaplain they don’t like.

“No record is kept of that,” he admits. “[But] if you are a Catholic and don’t like a Baptist or don’t like a charismatic, or if you’re liturgical and don’t like that particular brand of liturgicals,you can press the button and he will never get promoted. The Court of Appeals said that’s neutral on its face. That’s an absurd decision.”

Schulcz is asking the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to hear the case, but he says if it doesn’t the only option is taking it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Dr. Chaps’ comment: How long, O Lord, shall we suffer? Now the courts approve the systematic elimination of chaplains who pray “in Jesus’ name.” Liberal senior Pharisees control the promotion boards, duty assignments, and evaluations of junior evangelicalchaplains, and drum them out, the same way they did to me in 2007.]

Let’s petition Congress to protect chaplains who pray “in Jesus’ name.”

Please select here to sign urgent petition, and we will fax all 100 Senators (saving you time!) to PROTECT MILITARY CHAPLAINS RIGHT TO PRAY “IN JESUS’ NAME” or according to their conscience, and stop the anti-Christian persecution of our troops.

Or you may choose our Free Petition Option Here.

No Jesus Prayers by Military Chaplains, say “Grinch” Senate Democrats. Take action!

Kyle Ebersole
Anti-Jesus Democrats in the Senate played the “Grinch” for military chaplains this Christmas,blocking legislation that would have clearly protected chaplains’ right to pray “in Jesus’name.”

The Democrat-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) just stripped out two good religious freedom amendments from the House version of the Pentagon Budget, (2014 National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, H.R. 1960 and S.1197), and replaced them with empty promises to study whether or not religious freedom is under attack in the military since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

In Conference Committee negotiations to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA, sections 529 and 530 appear to have been dropped, no longer writtenin the new combined House+Senate version, which can be read here.

Watch! Dr. Chaps’ 7-minute TV commentary on the Senate debate on the right to pray “in Jesus’ name” for military chaplains–>

Section 529 was stripped, but would have clearly protected military chaplains’ right to close a public prayer outside of religious services according to his or her own faith.

Section 530 was stripped, but would have clearly protected troops rights to express their moral beliefs “except in cases of military necessity.”

Now instead, the new bill introduces watered-down language in Sections 532 and 534, to protect religious expressions of belief “unless it could have an adverse impact onmilitary readiness, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline,” or in other words, whenever a complainer feels like a Christian’s religiious expression “COULD” offend a homose xual, that religious expression can be punished, depriving Christian troops of their guaranteed First Amendment rights.

Sadly too, the new combined House+Senate version in fails to protect chaplains right to prayfreely, instead it commissions a future (biased) survey of chaplains (that will be written to confirm “no problems”) to determine “whether restrictions placed on prayers offered in a public or non-religious setting have prevented military chaplains from exercising the tenets of their faith as prescribed by their endorsing faith group.”

I predict chaplains will try to report widespread persecution in the survey, yet the Obama Pentagon will discover “no persecution” of Chaplains who pray “in Jesus’ name.” Mark my words. The survey will be biased, and designed to sweep “Jesus prayers” under the rug.

Let’s petition Congress to defeat this weakened NDAA, and restore the stronger religious liberty sections 529 and 530 from the House version of the bill.

Or you may choose our Free Petition Option Here.

Two Chaplains punished for praying “in Jesus’ name.” Take action!

Two military chaplains, one Army and one Navy, have been booted by the Veterans Administration from a liberal hospital training program because they prayed “in Jesus’ name” and quotes scripture in the classroom during academic discussion.

Christian Press reports that “A lawsuit alleges that the leader of a San Diego-based Department of Veterans Affairs chaplain training program severely mocked two Christian participants because of their faith. One of the chaplains eventually left the program voluntarily because of the treatment; the program leader eventually ejected the other participant.”

Watch! Dr. Chaps’ 7-minute TV commentary on the two chaplains punished for their faith in Christ, here.

“Chaplains Maj. Steven Firtko, U.S. Army (Ret.) and Lt. Cmdr. Dan Klender, U.S. Navy, entered the San Diego VA-DOD Clinical Pastoral Education Center program in August 2012.

“Shortly thereafter, the program’s supervisor, Nancy Dietsch, began to harass the two men for their beliefs. On various occasions and without provocation, she admonished them not topray in Jesus’ name or cite Scripture, sometimes pounding her fists on her desk, accusing them of ‘not giving a rat’s ass’ about VA patients and other members of the military, and threatening to fail them. She continued to openly ridicule them and their beliefs openly inclass.

“In February, Klender voluntarily withdrew from the program solely because of Dietsch’s harassment. Firtko, whom Dietsch placed on probation, received a letter dated Feb. 15 from the VA and Dietsch notifying him that he would be dismissed from the program March 1. Both Klender and Firtko filed formal complaints with the VA in July.

“The lawsuit, Conservative Baptist Association of America v. Shinseki, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, explains that all administrative options have been exhausted and that the harassment that the chaplains endured violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

[Dr. Chaps’ comment: I attended Chaplain school with Klender, and he courageously prayed “in Jesus’ name” as I did. Later we were both punished. My story in 2006 taking a stand for Christ, and now his in 2013. Well done Dan and Steve! I pray with you for justice, in Jesus’name.]

Now let’s petition Congress to STOP the persecution of military chaplains…

Or you may choose our Free Petition Option Here.

God Bless you, in Jesus’ name,

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD
Who is Dr. Chaps? Read bio here.

Prefer to donate by mail? Please write: The Pray In Jesus Name Project, PO Box 77077, Colorado Springs, CO 80970.