My response to one of those stupid chain emails..

[Minimus]

My bosses wife sent me the ACLU email and as usual I hit the REPLY ALL button and sent this response to 20+ religious right wingers:


Since my father was in the military for 25 years and I have a niece currently serving in the Navy, as well as a nephew who is right now on his second deployment in Iraq, I am an avid supporter of our troops.

I am also an avid supporter of the truth and have discovered that the majority of these chain e-mails are usually falsehoods. This one is no exception. So for those that believe the truth shall set you free, here it is:

The supposed reaction of the ACLU and the response from a Marine spokesman are total fabrications.

The current U.S. Marines Commandant of the Corps (CMC) is General Michael M. Hagee. There is no mention of this incident or this statement on his web site, nor is there any reference to a spokesperson for the CMC by the name "Colonel Jack Fessender."
Further, the ACLU has issued a statement in response to this chain letter in which they state "we have no knowledge of this event nor have we ever had a spokesperson by the name of Lucius Traveler."

Also as Christians determined to make sure your religion is protected, you should know that the ACLU represents individuals and they would only get involved if a soldier objected to being ordered to pray in a manner that was contrary to his or her personal beliefs.

PERSONAL BELIEFS Now I find that interesting. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would not want to be made to pray in a way that is against my personal beliefs.

Surely you realize that even within Christianity, there are many ways to pray. For example: Catholics kneel and genuflect, Pentecostals may speak in tongues, practice faith healing, and even handle snakes, Quakers may sit in silent contemplation. All are Christians yet they have very different approaches of expressing their personal beliefs. They all pray and rejoice Jesus Christ in the manner they choose. This choice is given to us through the freedom allowed by our great country as well as organizations like the ACLU that protect individual rights.

In my opinion chain e-mails, such as this one, serve no good purpose other than to continue to divide our country. No matter our personal beliefs, I think we all have the same basic desire for peace and for truth.

I know that I will continue to seek the truth when a chain e-mail comes my way before I hit the forward button.

p.s. At the end of the prayer it says "Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine & others deployed in harm's way, Prayer is the very best one.

Praying is good but I believe the best gift you can give our troops is proper protection. My sister bought my nephew's $1,500 body armor for his first deployment last year. Unfortunately many servicemen and women do not have the resources to buy their own armor and there are many, even now, that are in Iraq without proper protection.

After you finish praying, contact your state's Senate and Congress and ask what needs to be done to get proper protection to our troops. Supporting the troops does require more effort than just putting a yellow ribbon magnet on your car.

END

For Duer's not familiar with this particular e-mail it has a picture of soldiers bowing their heads and asks "What is wrong with this picture?"

The email says:

If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That's because they're
praying. This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the birthday of the corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. "These are federal employees," says Lucius Traveler, a spokesman for the ACLU, "on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately."

When asked about the ACLU's charges, Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps said (cleaned up a bit), "Screw the ACLU." GOD Bless Our Warriors, Send the ACLU to France.

Please send this to people you know so everyone will know how
stupid the ACLU is Getting in trying to remove GOD from everything and every place in America. May God Bless America, One Nation Under GOD!
What's wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOD BLESS YOU FOR PASSING IT ON!
I am sorry but I am not breaking this one.....Let us pray Prayer chain for our Military...please don't break it.