ICC Note:
“The U.S. Army has removed a cross that was prominently placed on the front of a chapel located at the remote base of Camp Marmal in Northern Afghanistan,” The Christian Post reports.
By Michael Gryboski
11/25/2011 Afghanistan (Christian Post) – The U.S. Army has removed a cross that was prominently placed on the front of a chapel located at the remote base of Camp Marmal in Northern Afghanistan.
Although soldiers at the Central Asian base considered the cross to be an inspiring symbol, officials said that having a permanent sectarian image on the chapel violated army regulations.
As Army Regulation 165-1, 12-3k reads in part, “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.”
Fox News interviewed American soldiers stationed at the base and found that some held issue with the decision to remove the cross.
One soldier referred to the decision and the regulation behind it as “a direct attack against Christianity and Judaism.”
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council also talked with Fox News and said the decision secularized a religious building.
“There’s a sole purpose of a chapel and it’s to worship,” said Perkins.
“The timing of this – what a way to celebrate Thanksgiving.”
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[Full Story]