On Proselytizing and Religious Liberty

As I've seen the new developments in the Department of Defense over proselytizing (or evangelism), I have felt compelled to speak my mind on this. As the son of two former former service members in the United States Air Force I can say this is an overreach by the government. And even the fact that they something as integral to our faith as sharing the gospel can be compared to "spiritual rape" is just demeaning.

When people think of evangelism they think of someone who is forcing you into a decision and making you decide. Almost like it is the initiation into a cult. Well it isn't quite like that. In fact, most service members I have known that do share their faith do it in a way that doesn't interfere with their work and they are very kind. This isn't a crusade style turn or burn thing here. And yet there will be people who still find a problem. I even remember about a Air Force Chaplain being reprimanded for praying "in Jesus name" at the end of a prayer at a chapel service. That was around 13 years ago. Proof this has been a long time in the making

 The people we find as protagonist is lead by Mikey Weinstein, a prominent atheist and the head of a group called Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Unlike what you may think it means this group doesn't stand so much for religious freedom, but more about freedom from religion. I understand that we don't want things pushed on people, but I think to completely prohibit it is to deny servicemen and women their constitutional rights of freedom of religion, especially since evangelism is a mandate of the Christian religion (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).

The one thing that came off as most abrasive was when Weinstein said " If a member of the military is proselytizing in a manner that violates the law, well then of course they can be prosecuted, We would love to see hundreds of prosecutions to stop this outrage of fundamentalist religious persecution. [Proselytizing] is a version of being spiritually raped and you are being spiritually raped by fundamentalist Christian religious predators,". I get wanting to keep those of unbelief from persecution, but we shouldn't keep Christians from doing something so fundamental to them, and also something protected by the First Amendment, because the inflammatory mis-characterizations made by a member of a non governmental organization.

One prominent atheist I can think of completely disagrees with this stance. Penn Jillette, a prominent magician and atheism advocate has frequently said that he supports proselytizing,  because it should be a part of our faith in this.

This is just a short part of a much longer video (which can be seen here), but shows the most crucial part of what he is saying. The words "how much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize?   How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?". That has been a convicting thought for me for a long time. I feel that for me to not tell someone about something that can save them from pain is hate. Unfortunately, many people including the decision makers in the Department of Defense do not agree with this. Sadly, this may be because of people who are truly extremist Christians (think the Westboro Baptists of this world) have caused them to feel a disdain for Christians. I however feel that taking away the religious liberty of service members (this includes not just Christians but Muslims  Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, and whoever serves in the military, not just Christians) is a disservice to the Constitution they defend.

So how should we respond? With love and caring. Since most people are not in the military we need to see what we can do to help our brothers and sisters who are being restricted by this. With this our military members have become a massive mission field that civilians like you and I need to share the gospel with, since our Christian brothers and sisters are restricted to now. We should be showing the love of Christ in our evangelism like Jesus did, not in hate, like that hate that is being talked up in the media. We need to show people we do care about them enough to give them the answer to life's biggest question; the redemption and grace of Jesus Christ.

For the servicemen that I may have reading this, I want you to know we are praying for you.  I pray that you will have boldness to follow the Holy Spirit in its conviction, not the conviction of the United States Government. We've prayed for you in war and in peace, now we will pray for God's protection over you all in this time of strife.

With all this being said we have to trust God's sovereignty and that he is in control of this situation. God is greater than any government ,department, senator or President. He will still work in the lives of these men and women spite of this situation.