Details of Lawsuit Amendments

The amended complaint contains two additions regarding unsuccessful attempts by service members to resolve their complaints through military channels, which SPC Chalker as well as other service members have, in fact, tried to do. This is extremely important because the DoJ's motion to dismiss Jeremy Hall's case relied heavily upon the "Mindes Doctrine," asserting that the federal courts should not hear Hall's case because he had failed to utilize the military channels that the DoJ claims would have adequately handled the complaint. Based on the reports of service members who have unsuccessfully attempted to utilize these military channels, MRFF contends that these military channels consistently fail to adequately address or resolve such complaints.

The first addition regarding this issue in the amended Chalker complaint, section 12, relates specifically to SPC Chalker's unsuccessful attempt to resolve his complaint through military channels:

12. Plaintiff Chalker has sought relief for his claims by invoking an intra-army administrative process. He has exhausted this alternative remedy but has obtained no substantial relief.

The second, section 14 (v), refers to the many additional reports received by MRFF from other service members who had similarly unsatisfactory results when they tried to resolve issues through military channels:

v) Failure of military chain of command and/or EO system to adequately address complaints of constitutionally impermissible promotions of religion. MRFF has received a number of well-documented reports from service members who have unsuccessfully attempted to resolve these issues through their command's EO office and/or Inspector General;

Sections 14 (l) through (p) are five new categories of examples showing the "pattern and practice" of constitutionally impermissible promotions of religion by the military. The last paragraph of section 14 (i) is also new, adding another example to that existing category.

l) 2008 Army Suicide Prevention Presentation and Manual

The 2008 Army Suicide Prevention Manual, the instruction manual for presenting the Army's "Suicide Awareness for Soldiers 2008" PowerPoint, promotes religion over no religion, Christianity over other religions, and instructs both chaplains and behavioral health providers to promote "religiosity" as a necessary element of suicide prevention. The manual, which recommends that the presenters of the PowerPoint be chaplains, senior NCO chaplain assistants, or behavioral health providers, states that "Chaplains also need to openly advocate behavioral health as a resource," but then adds that "Behavioral health providers need to openly advocate spirituality and religiosity as resiliency factors."

Each slide of the PowerPoint presentation has a script that includes "Talking Points" labeled "General," "Spiritual," and "Behavioral Health." The "spirituality" and "religiosity" parts of this presentation are a new addition in the 2008 version, created by Army Chaplain (LTC) Orman "Wayne" Boyd. They did not appear in the 2007 version.

The spiritual talking point for slide 1 of the presentation, addressing failed relationships as a cause of suicide, is: "Spirituality looks outside of oneself for meaning and provides resiliency for failures in life experiences. Religiosity adds the dimension of a supportive community to help one deal with crises. Both embed themselves in a relationship with God, or a higher power, that provides an everlasting relationship. Bottom line, Soldiers should not base their reason for living in another human being!"

Spiritual talking points for the next three slides are: "Connectivity to the Divine is fundamental to developing resiliency that allows one to deal with disappointments," "Emphasize the importance of spiritual health, connectivity with a faith community, and a relationship with God," and, for a slide that follows a DVD of former football star Terry Bradshaw talking about his battle with depression, "Terry is very open about his faith in God and his relationship with his church. Spirituality is an invaluable ingredient in his battle with this disease."

The talking point for slide 5 is: "Soldiers need to take care of each other and rid any thoughts of survival of the fittest. Almost all religions adhere to some form of Christianity’s Golden Rule, or the Categorical Imperative of Immanuel Kant." The script for this slide then gives examples of statements from some other religions that are similar to Christianity’s Golden Rule, but the image on the slide shown at this point depicts a group of silhouetted soldiers with one soldier up in the clouds looking at a large Christian cross. (This same image appears in the 2007 presentation, but without the soldier and cross in the sky. This Christian imagery was apparently added to the image for the 2008 presentation.)

In the script for one of the presentation's last slides, the presenter is instructed to have the audience adopt a word rooted in Christian scripture as a "motto or mantra." The talking point for that slide is: "Emphasize the phrase 'that you persevere, that you stay alive.' This is from a Greek word 'Hupomeno' which is used in Christian scriptures, particularly in the Pauline epistles. It is also used by James, the bishop of Jerusalem, as Jerusalem was in devastation and about to be destroyed. He wanted all Christians, despite the persecutions and violent times, to not lose hope, to keep on enduring. Encourage the audience to repeat this word and use it as a motto or mantra when in difficult times."

This presentation is not only an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity for the soldiers who are mandated to attend it, but for the behavioral health providers and non-Christian chaplains who must present it.

m) Proselytizing to Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan

Numerous detailed accounts of U.S. military personnel proselytizing to Iraqis and Afghans, in direct violation of CENTCOM General Order 1-A, can be found in the publications of various missionary and chaplains' organizations.

Chief Warrant Officer Rene Llanos of the 101st Airborne Division, referring to a special military edition of a Bible study daily devotional published and donated by Bible Pathways Ministries, told Mission Network News that "the soldiers who are patrolling and walking the streets are taking along this copy, and they're using it to minister to the local residents," and that his "division is also getting ready to head toward Afghanistan, so there will be copies heading out with the soldiers. "The soldiers are being placed in strategic places with a purpose. They're continuing to spread the Word." The devotional book referred to by CWO Llanos carries official DoD seals on its cover.

Army chaplain Capt. Steve Mickel stated in the newsletter of the International Ministerial Fellowship that he was evangelizing local Iraqis while passing out food in the predominantly Sunni village of Ad Dawr. Capt. Mickel was clearly aware of the U.S. postal service restrictions on shipping non-Islamic religious materials to military personnel, restrictions put in place to prevent exactly what he was doing, stating, "I am able to give them tracts on how to be saved, printed in Arabic. I wish I had enough Arabic Bibles to give them as well. The issue of mailing Arabic Bibles into Iraq from the U.S. is difficult (given the current postal regulations prohibiting all religious materials contrary to Islam except for personal use of the soldiers)."

The involvement and aid of U.S. military personnel in the evangelizing of Muslims is also documented in television programs produced with the assistance of the military.

"Travel the Road," a popular Christian reality TV series produced by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), follows the travels of Will Decker and Tim Scott, two "extreme" missionaries as they circle the world fulfilling their mission to “Preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth and encourage the church to be active in the Great Commission.” Season 2 of this series ended with three episodes filmed in Afghanistan. For these episodes, the missionaries were permitted to be embedded with U.S. troops. They stayed on U.S. military bases, traveled with a public affairs unit, and accompanied and filmed troops on patrols -- all for the purposes of evangelizing Afghans and producing a television show promoting the Christian religion, including the distribution to Afghan Muslims of New Testaments in the Dari language. In addition to violating CENTCOM General Order 1-A by its facilitation and support of the proselytizing activities of the missionaries, the mere participation by the U.S. Army in the production of this program was contrary to both DoD Public Affairs regulations on military participation in entertainment productions and CENTCOM policies on embeds.

n) Official Air Force Sponsorship of
Evangelical Christian Motocross Ministry

"Team Faith," an evangelical Christian Freestyle Motocross (FMX) ministry, which performs stunt shows at high profile, televised motocross events such as the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series, was officially sponsored by the U.S. Air Force as of 2007. The team's uniforms displayed a logo which was a combination of the U.S. Air Force and Team Faith logos, and the U.S. Air Force logos was also displayed on their motorcycles and ramps. Members of Team Faith, whose mission is "to infiltrate professional racing circuits and other Action Sports events all over the US and Canada" in order to "lead extreme sports athletes to Christ and disciple them so that they will in-turn, lead others involved in or interested in the sport to Christ," give their Christian testimony during their performances and travel with "pit pastors" who proselytize to the members of other teams. Air Force sponsorship of this evangelical Christian team was widely publicized on the internet and in motocross magazines.

o) Anti-Muslim article by Member of Extremist Organization

Published in U.S. Air Force Journal The Fall 2008 issue of the Air & Space Power Journal included an article titled "Know Your Enemy," which asserted that the Muslim religion itself is responsible for terrorism, selectively quoting passages from the Qur'an, with commentary added to portray Islamic theology as inherently violent.

The Air and Space Power Journal is a quarterly publication described as "the professional flagship publication of the United States Air Force," and carrying the logos of the Department of the Air Force, the Air Education Training Command, and the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, and is available on the Maxwell Air Force Base website.

The Air & Space Power Journal identified the author of "Know Your Enemy," Col. Thomas E. Snodgrass, USAF (ret.), as the "director, Military Intelligence and Strategy, Society of Americans for National Existence."

The Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) is an anti-Muslim, white and Christian supremacist organization that emphasizes that the success of the United States was the result of its founding and development by white Protestants. SANE is an extremist organization that has a published its own "War Manifesto."

The following are quotes from the SANE website:

"The Society of Americans for National Existence or SANE is what its name declares: a society of sane Americans dedicated to preserving and strengthening America's national existence. By national existence we mean what you normally mean when speaking of such matters. America is a unique people bound together through a commitment to America's Judeo-Christian moral foundation and to an enduring faith and trust in G-d and in His Providence. America's founding, and its greatness was neither accident nor staging ground for some better existence or world state. America was the handiwork of faithful Christians, mostly men, and almost entirely white, who ventured from Europe to create a nation in their image of a country existing as free men under G-d. This constellation of forces existed no where else in the world and resulted in a unique people and nation."

"With the SANE War Manifesto, we need not target all or even any substantial number of the world’s Shariah-faithful Muslims. Instead, we target their leadership, their command-and-control centers, and their infrastructure. Will many of them be killed in the war? Of course, and it is intended to be so. Otherwise we can never expect to be victorious. Shariah-adherent Muslims will certainly never abandon historical and traditional Shari’a easily. But given sustained and determined separate-quarantine-search-and-destroy operations, Muslims will have the choice: either reform your own societies or forever be rebuilding them while burying your dead."

"But there is one guiding principle at work in all of this. Any world view, ideology, or –ism that promotes directly or indirectly the elimination of national existence and the establishment of a world state is our foe. So you can know at the start that liberalism (and this includes libertarianism) and Islam are in our sights."

p) Endorsements of Non-Federal Entities and
Promotion of Religious Products by Military Personnel

The following are three separate examples of endorsements by military officers, Chaplains Maj. Todd Kepley, Maj. Oscar Arauco, and LCDR Brian K. Waite, in violation of DoD regulations. Each appeared on video in uniform to endorse a non-federal entity and/or product.

On at least two occasions, the most recent being September 14, 2008, a mass email was sent out to Newsmax.com subscribers on behalf of their sponsor, Campus Crusade for Christ's (CCC) Military Ministry. The purpose of the email, with the subject line "Help Give Bibles to Our Troops," was to solicit donations for Campus Crusade's "Rapid Deployment Kits," which contain a pocket-sized New Testament, a daily devotional, and an evangelistic booklet. The Newsmax.com email contains a photo, copyrighted by CCC, of a uniformed Naval officer handing Bibles to enlisted personnel. A link in the email leads to a webpage containing a Campus Crusade promotional video for the Rapid Deployment Kits. An Army chaplain, Capt. Todd Kepley, (recently promoted to major), appears in uniform in this promotional video, in clear violation the DoD regulation prohibiting the endorsement of a non-federal entity while in uniform.

Maj. Oscar Arauco, Joint Operations Chaplain, Multi-National Corp-Iraq, was interviewed in uniform on video by In Touch Ministries about their new product for our troops, a handheld, solar-powered audio device called the "In Touch Messenger." The Messenger, launched on Memorial Day weekend 2007, contains 35 sermons from In Touch Ministries founder Dr. Charles Stanley. When asked by the interviewer what his prayer request for the troops would be, Maj. Arauco began his answer, "I would pray that every service member and civilian here would grow closer in a relationship with Jesus Christ. For some folks -- they don't have a clue -- and they'll move a little closer and maybe one day come to Christ." When asked if he was familiar with the teachings of Dr. Stanley, Maj. Arauco said that he was. Dr. Stanley's teachings include many statements on the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being opportunities for evangelism, such as: "God has divine reasons for choosing to use war as a vehicle to accomplish His will," and "American foreign policy and military might have opened an opportunity for the Gospel in the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." According to the In Touch Ministries website, 50,000 Messengers have already been sent to U.S. troops, and another 30,000 are on the way. The Messenger is also now being produced in several foreign languages -- including Arabic.

Navy Chaplain LCDR Brian K. Waite has habitually violated DoD regulations endorsing non-federal entities in uniform by his endorsements of Revival Fires Ministries. In late 2007, an investigation of LCDR Waite also revealed that his educational credentials consisted primarily of diploma mill degrees, that he had written a virulently anti-Muslim book in 2002, which was pulled off the market when it was revealed that much of its content was plagiarized and that Waite had faked two of the endorsements on its back cover. The exposure of Waite's Anti-Muslim writings and plagiarism led to the immediate removal of Waite from the Graduate Theological Foundation, a civilian institution where he was the director of a doctoral program in military ministry, instituted at the request of the Navy, but no action against LCDR Waite by the Navy.

Chaplain Waite has a very close association with Revival Fires Ministries and its founder, Dr. Cecil Todd, who clearly holds the same anti-Muslim views expressed by Waite in his book. Waite has appeared in uniform at the ministry's campmeetings for the past three years. Waite's photo and endorsement also currently appear on the ministry website of Cecil Todd's son, Tim Todd, recently appearing next to the younger Todd's statement: "We must let the Muslims, the Hare Krishna’s, the Hindu’s, the Buddhist’s and all other cults and false religions know, 'You are welcome to live in America…but this is a Christian nation…this is God’s country! If you don’t like our emphasis on Christ, prayer and the Holy Bible, you are free to leave anytime!'" Another statement on this same page falsely stated that "Our government no longer provides Bibles for our troops! Because of the foolish 'separation of church and state' battle going on in this country, our military stopped this years ago. However, the U.S. military does give a copy of the Koran to all of our soldiers so they can 'know their enemy.' I say we need to give our soldiers a copy of the Bible so they can 'know their savior!!!'"

A video of the most recent Revival Fires campmeeting, held in June 2008 in Branson, Missouri, at which Chaplain Waite appeared in uniform as a featured speaker, was not only religious, but political, including an anti-Muslim sermon titled "America's Worst Nightmare," delivered by Cecil Todd, in which, among other things, then presidential candidate Barack Obama was portrayed as an Islamic terrorist sympathizer. LCDR Waite's photo and endorsement appear on the same Revival Fires website that contained similar sermons containing statements such as "Now -- GOD FORBID -- We have one of our Presidential candidates who was raised a Muslim ... he was trained in a Muslim school -- he will rarely (if ever!) pledge to our flag if he can avoid it," and ""Why is Obama pushing so hard to bring our troops home? Why is that so important to him and his supporters? I believe I know why ... the evidence is in, I believe OBAMA IS STILL A MUSLIM IN HIS HEART! He doesn't want his Muslim brothers and sisters killed! In my opinion -- Barack 'Hussein' Obama is posing as a Christian to get your vote!"

Also at issue is the relationship between Revival Fires Ministries and the Pentagon itself. According to a press release from the ministry, Revival Fires, "at the request of the Chief Chaplains of the Pentagon," has been shipping Bibles to Iraq, via military airlift, since 2003, describing the Bible, which carries on its cover the official logos of all branches of the military, as having been "designed and authorized by the Chief Chaplains of the Pentagon." In a recent news item posted on the Revival Fires website about the ministry's "Yellow-Ribbon Rallies," events to raise money for Bibles for the military, Cecil Todd described himself as being "on assignment from the Pentagon," and again stated that the relationship between Revival Fires and the Pentagon was initiated by the Pentagon. In November 2008, MRFF sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense demanding that the DoD Inspector General promptly initiate an investigation into the background and activities of LCDR Waite, and that any existing association between the U.S. military and Revival Fires Ministries be immediately terminated.

Additional example added to section 14 (i), Participation by Military Personnel in Religious Entertainment Productions and Events:

On September 10, 2008, the Discovery Channel's Military Channel aired a two-hour program titled "God's Soldier," filmed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) McHenry in Hawijah, Iraq. According to the program's credits, it was "Produced with the full co-operation of the 2-27 Infantry Battalion 'Wolfhounds.'" The co-producer of "God's Soldier" was Jerusalem Productions, a British production company whose "primary aim is to increase understanding and knowledge of the Christian religion and to promote Christian values, via the broadcast media, to as wide an audience as possible." To fulfill its goal of getting non-Christians to watch Christian programming, the company "focuses on those programmes which are broadcast outside designated religious slots and which appeal to an audience which does not necessarily have an active Christian commitment." The program was deceptively advertised as being about "a group of U.S. Army Chaplains from different faiths on a tour of duty in Iraq." There was no "group" of Chaplains or representation of different faiths in this program. The entire two-hour program was about one evangelical Christian chaplain, Capt. Charles Popov. Bible verse text captions, such as "I did not come to bring peace, but the sword" and "Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may stand your ground," appear between segments, and various violations of military regulations, including the violation of Army chapel regulations and inappropriate promotions of Christianity to U.S. military personnel, are seen throughout the program. The program also shows the chaplain describing his plan to have the unit's Iraqi Muslim interpreters participate in a nativity pageant at Christmas.