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The U.S. military ordered soldiers to remove a cross and a 
steeple from atop a chapel and to board up cross-shaped windows 
at a remote American forward operating base in Afghanistan.

The removal of Christian symbols from the chapel at Forward 
Operating Base Orgun-E came after a solider complained � leading 
American Atheists president David Silverman to send a letter to 
the Pentagon.

�Soldiers with minority religious beliefs and atheists often 
feel like second-class citizens when Christianity is seemingly 
officially endorsed by their own base,� Silverman told Fox News. 
�We are very happy the Pentagon and the Army decided to do the 
right thing.�

Silverman said a Christian chapel on an Army base in Afghanistan 
could have put American troops in danger.

�It inflames this Muslim versus Christian mentality,� he said. 
�This is not a Muslim versus Christian war � but if the Army 
base has a large chapel on it that has been converted to 
Christian-only, it sends a message that could be interpreted as 
hostile to Islam.

An Army spokesman at the Pentagon told Fox News that �local 
command in Afghanistan is aware of this chapel and has taken 
appropriate action to ensure that it is changed into a neutral 
facility.�

The Army spokesman confirmed doors to the chapel were boarded up 
because of the cross-shaped windows.

�They have already removed the cross from the top of the 
building,� the Army spokesman told Fox News. �The primary 
purpose of making a chapel a neutral, multi-use facility, is to 
accommodate the free exercise of religion for all faith groups 
using it.�

Army Regulation 165-1 states:

�The chapel environment will be religiously neutral when the 
facility is not being used for scheduled worship. Portable 
religious symbols, icons, or statues may be used within a chapel 
during times of religious worship.�

�Symbols are to be moved or covered when not in use during 
services. Distinctive religious symbols, such as crosses, 
crucifixes, the Star of David, Menorah, and other religious 
symbols will not be affixed or displayed permanently on the 
chapel interior, exterior, or grounds. Permanent or fixed chapel 
furnishings, such as the altar, pulpit, lectern, or communion 
rail will be devoid of distinctive religious symbols.�

The Christian cleansing brought condemnation from religious 
liberty advocates like Tony Perkins, president of the Family 
Research Council.

�Under this Administration, the military has become a 
Christianity-free zone,� Perkins told Fox News. �As a veteran, 
there�s an irony here. You put on the uniform to defend freedom 
� chief among them is freedom of religion. And yet, you are 
stripped of your own freedom to practice your faith.�

�This is not about imposing religion on a people we�ve freed 
from oppression,� Perkins said. �This is about American soldiers 
having the ability to practice their own faith.�

Silverman stressed that their complaint was not an attack on 
Christianity.

The chapels are for every member of the service � even the 
atheists,� Silverman said. �This is not an attack on 
Christianity. This is an equalization of the chapel�s use in 
compliance with Army regulations.�

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom 
Foundation, hailed the military�s decision.

�It is the sort of thing that provides a boundless bonanza of 
terrorist propaganda for the mujahedeen, the insurrectionists, 
the Taliban and al-Qaida that we are supposedly fighting to 
protect our national security,� he said. �The message of the 
cross on the chapel is basically putting out the message in 
Pashto, Dari and Arabic to please blow me up because I�m a 
latter day Christian crusader.�

Justin Griffith, the military director for American Atheists, 
said the Christian symbols were sending the wrong message to non-
Christians.

�The US military is not in the business of building churches in 
Afghanistan,� he told Fox News. �A church steeple could easily 
be seen as �crusader� imagery to the local population. They got 
ahead of this one, and by responding to American Atheists 
demands, they put the pin back in the grenade.�

He also said the Christian imagery was disrespectful to non-
Christians.

�A military chapel is a shared space, and it must remain 
religiously neutral,� he said. �A Jewish person wouldn�t go to a 
local church to worship in the civilian world. It would be 
unethical to force a Jewish soldier to worship in a church 
building, as there is no other designated place.�

It�s not the first time the military has ordered a chapel 
cleansed of Christian symbols.

In 2011, the Army ordered the removal of a cross from a chapel 
at Camp Marmal � a decision that led some soldiers to accuse the 
military of a �direct attack against Christianity and Judaism.�

�Military chapels have to be open to all denominations and as 
such can�t have permanent symbols of one particular religion or 
another,� Commander William Speaks told Fox News in 2011.

�My personal feeling is that it is a direct attack against 
Christianity and Judaism,� one soldier told Fox News. �When you 
look at the regulation and you notice the four items directly 
quoted are crosses, crucifixes, the Star of David and the 
Menorah.�

The Army regulation makes no specific mention of the wheel of 
Dharma, Pentagram, Pentacle, Star and Crescent or the Yin and 
Yang symbol, he noted.

And while Christian symbols are being removed from chapels, 
there has been at least one instance of a gay pride flag being 
raised at a base in Afghanistan.

 Click here to read our original story.

Photographs purporting to show the rainbow flag flying over the 
base stirred widespread debate after it was posted on Facebook.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/army-removes-
crosses-steeple-from-chapel.html

--
Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed 
liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the 
outlaw Obama administration?

No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in 
the back while you are defending yourself, then return a 
controlled rate of aimed fire.

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