Excessive Christian Proselytizing In Military Charged

Yesterday's Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel carries a lengthy opinion piece by Jason Leopold on the Military Ministry, a national organization that is a subsidiary of Campus Crusade for Christ. Relying in particular on information discovered by Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Leopold reports that "Military Ministry's staff has successfully targeted US soldiers entering basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston, with the approval of the Army base's top commanders." The piece quotes Military Ministry staff as saying they are working to send soldiers "out into the world as Government paid missionaries." The website of Fort Jackson's Military Ministry reportedly carried a photo of basic training battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Snodgrass, and battalion chaplain, Maj. Scott Bullock, in uniform with Military Ministry director Frank Bussey. Leopold also says that President Bush has recently nominated Brig. Gen. Cecil R. Richardson, deputy Air Force Chief of Chaplains, to replace the outgoing Air Force Chief of Chaplains. He points out that in 2005 the New York Times quoted Richardson as saying that the Air Force reserves the right "to evangelize the unchurched."