MRFF Advisory Board Member Rev. Dr. Jonathan J. Etterbeek on the Importance of MRFF’s Fight

by retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.), Rev. Dr. Jonathan J. Etterbeek, MRFF Advisory Board

March 25, 2013 135

My name is Rev. Dr. Jonathan Etterbeek, an ordained, Christian Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Reformed Church in America and a recently retired Army chaplain (Lt.Col.) with over twenty years of service to military personnel and their families. During my time of service in the Army chaplaincy, I have observed repeated, serious violations of religious rights by the persistent proselytizing of certain evangelical Christian groups. These violations of the constitutional religious rights of U.S. Army soldiers are quite systemic.

In fact, while serving as the chaplain at Fort Sam Houston (San Antonio, Texas), there were organized efforts specifically targeting military personnel to convert to an ultra-fundamentalist faction of evangelical Christianity with the unbridled support and resources given by the presiding military Command. The proselytizing efforts at Fort Sam Houston began in the early to mid-1990s when Soldiers from Fort Sam Houston and Fort Hood were transported to a Marriott Hotel in downtown San Antonio under the auspices of a retreat that was, in fact, a Command-sponsored prayer breakfast organized to directly convert Soldiers, irrespective of their military preference, to Evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity. These breakfasts were paid for by some of the Christian fundamentalist organizations in the San Antonio community but the unwitting U.S. Army soldiers were transported by buses using Army Command resources. Uniformed Soldiers were transported by buses utilizing Army Drill Sergeants who were ordered by Command to attend and then transport over 600 Soldiers who were assigned to Fort Sam Houston for Advanced individual Training.

Starting in 1996, the military prayer breakfasts began at the Fort Sam Houston Officer’s Club on a monthly basis and were usually attended by over 600 Soldiers. Inspirational, fundamentalist Christian speakers gave their personal testimony and then a civilian member of a fundamentalist denomination would take over the breakfast and order Soldiers to close their eyes and bow their heads. The soldiers, collectively, were invited to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Those that raised their hands were then told to stand and receive a round of applause and religious materials from these fundamentalist groups. While the breakfasts were originally supposed to be resourced by the fundamentalist religious groups, the prayer breakfasts eventually became financed by the Installation Chaplains Office from the Non-Appropriated Fund (NAF) that is resourced through the tithes and offerings of the chapel community on the base.

By the time I had arrived at Fort Sam Houston, this annual prayer breakfast in downtown San Antonio and the monthly prayer breakfasts at the Fort Sam Houston Officer’s Club had become completely institutionalized and part of a wholly unconstitutional, systemic effort to proselytize military personnel into becoming fundamentalist Christians. Clearly, the United States Army was illegally establishing its favored religious faith of choice; Evangelical, fundamentalist Christianity. The Army was ripping apart the Constitutional civil rights of its own soldiers. Indeed, the victims were normally the most junior enlisted soldiers fresh out of basic training who were utterly powerless to resist without facing horrific and harsh reprisal. I know this. I lived this for years. Subsequently, any military chaplain who tried to raise a “red flag” was demonized by the vitriolic vituperation of the religious groups involved in and by Commanders who were intimidated by a retired Army 4-star general who began the annual breakfast in the 1990s. It is unfortunate, tragic and outrageous that this egregious violation of the Constitutionally guaranteed religious rights of young, entry-level, Army soldiers was allowed to permeate and persist as it does to this very day. There are so many dedicated military leaders who were subjected to this unlawful perversion of “religious support.”

After some sober introspection, please permit me to offer the following thoughts for your reflection. There is a line between conversion and manipulation that religion, in all its forms, has crossed over many times and back again. Conversion liberates the soul; manipulation enslaves the mind. Therefore, spiritual wisdom practices grace instead of preaching guilt. God’s human instruments of grace can mitigate manipulation by individually searching for truth in love rather than participating in organized religious gatherings shrouded in deception and deceit.

The shocking paranoia of persecution by Christian fundamentalist parachurch groups sadly renders “their cause” totally devoid of rational thought and even the most basic pastoral care and humanitarianism. I wholeheartedly salute the courageous efforts of active and retired U.S. military personnel who bravely stand up for religious freedom in the face of personal slander and oppressive persecution.

My friend Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation have set the example of those who embody the integrity and personal courage in leading this fight. We as Americans must stand up for the religious liberty of an all too vulnerable armed forces population which is required or unduly pressured to attend Command-sponsored religious events specifically designed and engineered to convert them. If we do not, then this unconstitutional cancer will only continue to persist and strengthen as it systemically permeates the Armed Forces as it is currently doing. This battle is of vital and strategic importance to our nation’s national security. If we do not win this fight, the two options are both toxic; either involuntary spiritual servitude or manipulated religious serfdom.

A United States military infused by either odious alternative is of critical danger to not only America but the entire world as well.

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2 Comments

  1. Todd Winkel July 13, 2013 at 5:49 am

    I served with Chaplain Etterbeek while I was stationed in Hawaii and during a tour of Iraq. He is one of the finest officers and individuals I have ever known.

  2. Jim Anderson December 1, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    Jonathan, I have been looking for you for years… this is LTC(R) Jim Anderson. The 2nd Brigade S-6… your baseball and football partner in Iraq. I desperately need to talk to you again brother. 940-782-8455

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