The article reports:<\/p>\n
Reyes recently wrote an essay entitled, \u201cNo Atheists in Foxholes<\/a>: Chaplains Gave All in World War II<\/a>.\u201d This common saying is attributed to a Catholic priest<\/a> in World War II, made famous when President Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/a> said during a 1954 speech: “I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth that there are no atheists in the foxholes.”<\/strong><\/p>\n As reported<\/a> by Fox News<\/a>\u2019s Todd Starnes, when Reyes referenced this famous line in his essay, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation<\/a> (MRFF) contacted the base commander, Col. Brian Duffy, demanding he take action on Reyes\u2019s \u201canti-secular diatribe.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n MRFF\u2019s letter says that by Reyes\u2019s \u201cuse of the bigoted, religious supremacist phrase, \u2018no atheists in foxholes,\u2019 he defiles the dignity of service members.\u201d They accuse him of violating military regulations.<\/strong><\/p>\n The essay was removed from the website and Col. Duffy apologized to the MRFF. However, the MRFF wanted more. They stated, \u201cFaith based hate, is hate all the same,\u201d and, \u201cLt. Col. Reyes must be appropriately punished<\/em>.\u201d (Emphasis added).<\/p>\n The article quotes the response of Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council<\/a>, \u201cA chaplain has been censored for expressing his beliefs about the role of faith in the lives of service members\u2026 Why do we have chaplains if they aren\u2019t allowed to fulfill that purpose?\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to the actions of the American Family Association<\/a>, the essay has been put back up on the website. Base commander Colonel Brian Duffy was influenced by over 70,000 emails and scores of posts on the base\u2019s Facebook page by AFA supporters.<\/strong><\/p>\n So what is the lesson we can learn from this episode? Anyone can call anything they want hate speech<\/a>. If you are someone that supports the rights of military chaplains to speak of their faith, you need to be ready to respond when something like this happens. The response of everyday people like us makes a difference–even the military will respond to public opinion. If you hear of an incident like this one, speak up, be heard. If this is important to you, get involved with an organization such as the American Family Association or the Family Research Council. If we do not speak up when something like this happens, we may lose the right to speak at all.<\/p>\n
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