I have just spoken on the telephone with Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt.  It was a pleasant conversation, and the Lt. seems to me to be a sensible, amicable and educated man — certainly not a maverick .  He is facing court martial because he prayed in Christ’s name while in uniform at Lafayette Park.  There are many issues we are going to cover in the coming weeks on this story.  I will not let it die, no matter how small my blog is.  I will keep writing on this.  The facts will be laid out in detail in the coming days here at the Captain’s Journal; I recommend that you go to Klingenschmitt’s web site for further information.  But right now it seems appropriate to me to begin this coverage with a statement by one of my heros, Justice Antonin Scalia, from “Scalia Dissents,” Kevin A. Ring, Ed.:

“Church and State would not be such a difficult subject if religion were, as the Court apparently thinks it to be, some purely personal avocation that can be indulged entirely in secret, like pornography, in the privacy of one’s room.  For most believers, it is not that, and has never been.  Religious men and women of almost all denominations have felt it necessary to acknowledge and beseech the blessing of God as a people, and not just as individuals, because they believe in the “protection of divine providence,” as the Declaration of Independence puts it, not just for individuals but for societies; because they believe God to be, as Washington’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation put it, the “Great Lord and Ruler of Nations.”  One can believe in the effectiveness of such public worship, or one can deprecate and deride it.  But the longstanding American tradition of prayer at official ceremonies displays with unmistakable clarity that the Establishment Clause does not forbid government to accommodate it.”

I should also mention that I had sent a letter to the Marine Corps Times editor, who in turn sent the letter to the Navy Times editorial staff.  I received a request via e-mail from Deputy News Editor of the Navy Times, Mr. Philip Creed (pcreed@atpco.com, or 703.750.8747) to use my letter in an upcoming issue of the Navy Times.  I responded in the affirmative, and added that I was a Milblogger.  I later sent another note to Mr. Creed asking if the letter had been used, and he responded back that it had not (without explanation).  But earlier this letter was picked up by The North Carolina Conservative which published it on June 21, 2006.  This version of the letter included another web site that links to a strong response to the same thing attempted in the Air Force.

We will cover this document, Lt. Klingenschmitt’s court martial, and the details of the case in the coming weeks.  You will get to see the Constitution under attack from the very people who are sworn to defend it.  I will also cite the Oath of Enlistment that every Soldier, Marine, Sailor and Airman takes.  My son took it prior to Boot Camp at Parris Island.  I go into his room to read it often.  In the coming weeks, you will have the opportunity to compare this oath with the actions of the senior leadership within our military.  You can judge for yourself how they stack up.