Christian Soldiers

Art Schulcz, a lawyer representing CFGC in a lawsuit against the Navy, says that evangelicals are the real victims, at least in that branch of the service. (As of 2008, all three chiefs of chaplains were evangelicals.) Numerous evangelical Navy chaplains, Schulcz says, have been discriminated against, denied promotions and subjected to denominational preferences by a Catholic- and mainline Protestant-dominated chaplaincy that is intolerant of how evangelicals worship. Many, he says, have fled to the more evangelical-friendly Army.

"Mikey Weinstein says they're shipping Bibles there," Schulcz says. "I want to say, 'So what?' The Constitution protects that kind of activity." He contends that General Order Number One's prohibition on religion, which has been in effect since 2000, is overly vague and a violation of religious freedom, and that, in any case, chaplains should be exempt since, he argues, they are not military representatives but representatives of their faith groups: "The Constitution prohibits absolutely the government from proselytizing, but it protects the proselytizer to do so, unless they're harming the public good."

Department of Defense policy says that chaplain-endorsing agencies should "express willingness" for their chaplains to cooperate with other religious traditions. But Schulcz claims that Ammerman, who is not a paid government official, and his chaplains, who are, are entitled to say whatever they want unless they're advocating insurrection.

On this point, MRFF charges they come close. Ammerman and chaplain Linzey have espoused conspiracy theories about "Satanic forces" at work in the U.S. government facilitating a military takeover by foreign troops; Ammerman even appears in a video favored by militia groups titled The Imminent Military Takeover of the USA. In 2008, Ammerman implied that four presidential candidates should be "arrested, quickly tried and hanged" for not voting to designate English America's official language, and speculated that Barack Obama would be assassinated as a secret Muslim.

Among the Pentagon directives MRFF charges CFGC or its chaplains have violated are the command that chaplaincies express willingness for interfaith cooperation; that they be bona fide religious organizations with a primary mission beyond the military; that they not join organizations with religious or nationalist supremacist causes or that espouse violence; and that active military personnel not utter disloyal or contemptuous statements about officials or the country.

The last two underlay a 1997 call by Lt. Gen. Normand Lezy for the Pentagon to investigate the CFGC, due largely to Ammerman's video and radio statements concerning military overthrow of the U.S. The Department of Defense confirms that a review was conducted, but that Ammerman's statements were determined to be within the bounds of free speech. "That review found Mr. Ammerman's opinions and statements did not transgress beyond that normally considered protected by Constitutional free-speech standards," explains Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez, "nor was a specific connection established between Mr. Ammerman's organization and prohibited activities—a necessary requirement in justifying the revocation of one's status as an ecclesiastical endorser."

Ammerman has not changed his rhetoric or agenda since the '90s, and he will not comment further, saying his record stands on its own. "I know the three chiefs of chaplains," he says, "and they know me, and know that I give them the best chaplains."

MRFF is calling, in a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, to strip the CFGC of its endorsing authority and to investigate its chaplains for various code violations. But they fear the Obama administration will not press this issue given the announced replacement of Army Secretary Pete Geren with Rep. John McHugh, a New York Republican with a conservative record on church-state separation issues.

*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, NEWSWEEK should have identified Pastor James Linzey as retired from active duty when he spoke to the Prophesy Club. We also should not have characterized him as having said that mainstream Protestant churches are "demonic, dastardly creatures from the pit of hell," that should be "[stomped] out."  The pastor was referring to demonic forces he says are within the mainstream Protestant Church, and not the Church itself.  NEWSWEEK regrets the errors.

Joyce is the author of “Quiverfull: Inside The Christian Patriarchy Movement.”

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