LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This CBS article talks about the battle over sectarian prayer by military chaplains:

Christian conservatives in Congress are expected to renew their fight to allow military chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus at public events, contending that existing practices infringe upon basic religious freedoms.

They lost a battle last week to push through legislation that would have allowed military chaplains to publicly lead groups in sectarian prayers. The language was championed by conservatives who say service policies are so restrictive that chaplains cannot invoke Jesus's name when praying in public, including over a dead soldier on the battlefield.

Military chaplains often lead groups in prayer outside private religious services, but omit references to any particular religion. Opponents have said allowing specific religious references during public military prayers could be divisive.

It's rather ironic- back when I was in the military, chaplains were very careful to be as religiously neutral and unprovocative as possible in public situations, only using sectarian phrases and prayer when they were performing services under their particular sect. It has been only in the last 15 or so years that the influx of very evangelical sects like Assemblies of God and Baptists has shifted the tenor of the chaplain corps, from spiritual support that was friendly to all faiths to a deliberate and agressive sectarian evangalicism that has become a bone of contention in the military.

Yes, chaplains should be able to perform sectarian prayer. But not in public venues, and not in the aggressive manner that current chaplains now prefer.