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  • 2016-02-03 (xsd:date)
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  • Obama Demanded This Admiral Stop Giving Out Bibles? (en)
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  • On 3 February 2016, the political aggregation site American News published an article titled Obama Demanded This Admiral Not Give Out Bibles, But His Response Is Going VIRAL, which claimed: The article referenced a Family Research Council video clip in which Coast Guard Rear Admiral William D. Lee was described as defiantly proclaiming that he would Share the Bible, no matter what: This issue wasn't news, however, nor did it have anything to do with President Obama. It was a resurrection of a three-year-old story about a controversy over aggressive proselytizing in the military: actively campaigning to change the faith of another person or pushing religion upon a person who is not receptive to it (which is not permitted in the military) versus preaching to the faithful (which is). In other words, simply discussing faith or offering up religious texts (such as the Bible) for someone's edification is permitted, but Leaders at all levels must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to [promote] preferential treatment for any religion. This edict against proselytizing was not put into place by President Obama or his administration. Central Command had issued a ban on proselytizing back in 2000 and again in 2006, well before Barack Obama reached the White House. The Department of Defense provides the same level of legal protections to military members that civilians have, consistent with federal law. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's directive in this case is dated 22 July 2008 and deals with freedom of expression as well as freedom from harassment. The United States Department of Defense had addressed false rumors of Bible bans in the military back in 2013: In short, distribution of Bibles (and other religious texts) had not been banned in the U.S. military. The American News claim was one of many published by the site that involved outdated, inaccurate, or otherwise misleading information. Prior items from that web site included claims that Duck Dynasty's Sadie Robertson was gravely injured (in what turned out to by a minor car accident), that President Obama forged his birth certificate, and a separate (old) birther claim sourced from a fake news site. (en)
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