Obama Threatens Military Chaplains with Arrest

Past performance is no guarantee of future results:

The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.

— Barack Obama, then still a candidate for the US Senate in Illinois, in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, which put him on the map as a leftwing politician with a future.

Words. Just words:

In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.

“With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer,” wrote John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”

— As spotted today by Bryan Preston at the PJ Tatler, who writes, “Lord Obama Threatens Chaplains with Arrest If They Minister During the Shutdown.”

And that’s on top of the testimony from Sue Martinek, president of the Coalition for Life of Iowa, to the House Ways and Means Committee back in June regarding her group being hounded by the IRS due to their religious faith:

“[T]he IRS continued questioning us,” Martinek continued. “On June 22, 2009, IRS Agent Richards sent us additional written requests, as follows: ‘Please explain how all of your activities, including the prayer meetings held outside of Planned Parenthood are considered educational as defined under 501(c)(3).”

She added: “Organizations exempt under 501(c)(3) may present opinions with scientific or medical facts. Please explain in detail the activities at the prayer meetings. Also, please provide the percentage of time your organization spends on prayer groups as compared with the other activities of the organization. Please explain in detail the signs that are being held up outside of Planned Parenthood and explain how they are considered educational.’

“We have a sadist in the White House,” Bryan writes today. “Is there a Democrat out there with a conscience who will stand up against this? One?”