Tolerating other religions "serves Satan"

Chaplain Says Christian Service Members Who Tolerate Other Religions Are “Counterfeit Christians” and “Serve Satan”

Tolerating other religions "serves Satan"
By U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert A. Sturkie [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The right winger wrote a blog before his views came to the notice of the MRFF

Sonny Hernandez, a chaplain of the United States Air Force, said Christians serving in U.S. armed forces who tolerate people following other religions actually “serve Satan.” The pastor serves as reserve chaplain for the 445th Airlift Wing, based out of Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force base.

Chaplain Says Christian Service Members Who Tolerate Other Religions Are “Counterfeit Christians” and “Serve Satan”[/tweetthis]

Hernandez said those who tolerate people of other faiths are "grossly in error.” In his article for Barbwire, a right-wing website, the military chaplain described worshipers who put their faith in the U.S. Constitution as “counterfeit Christians.” The U.S. Constitution guarantees the religious freedom right over teachings by the church.

Hernandez wrote that any person who enlists in the U.S. armed forces is needed to swear the compulsory oath to support the Constitution and defend it against all kinds of enemies-both foreign and domestic. He went on to castigate Christian service members who support and profess rights of non-Christian worldviews like Buddhists and Muslims along with their religions have made errors in their lives and are deceived. The right-wing chaplain even said that Christians serving in the U.S. armed forces who have provided their support to accommodate non-Christian rights can be regarded as serving Satan.

A formal complaint has been filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or MRFF against Captain Hernandez to the U.S. Department of Defense. This action has been done in April. The captain came to the notice of the MRFF when he wrote a blog post asking how a certain service personnel, and as per the chaplain, a homosexual, could enroll in the air force. The complaint accused Hernandez of harboring misogynistic, bigoted and homophobic beliefs. The complaint also alleged that the chaplain held his beliefs to be of more importance compared to U.S. laws and federal ethical standards.

Captain Hernandez was no stranger to controversy. A number of complaints are pending against him from a number of service people of both sexes. The MRFF is going through it all. Michael Weinstein, the founder of the MRFF, and who is a retired officer of the Air Force, said that the blog post was indicative of President Donald Trump pushing the Christian right's far fringes to the mainstream. He said, “America’s military members look to the president for direction and inspiration. Trump’s statements and actions have fully endorsed and validated this unbridled tidal wave of fundamentalist Christian persecution, which is now more inextricably intertwined into the very fabric of our Department of Defense than ever before."

Resources

Follow the Conversation on Twitter