Rank and file Navy chaplains all over the country have been speaking out against Gordon Klingenschmitt's false claims of persecution by the Navy. Evangelical Navy chaplains from all denominations simply cannot believe how many conservative evangelical civilians have simply accepted Klingenschmitt's "sky is falling" account of religious repression in the Navy without checking how his story squares with the truth. A cursory look into Klingenschmitt's claims is more than enough to repudiate his wild accusations. Every one of Klingenschmitt's claims of religious persecution has been investigated by proper authorities and has been found to be baseless fabrications.
Below is a copy of an email sent from a conservative Navy chaplain to the Conservative American Union, sponsors of the 34th Annual Conservative Annual Political Action Conference (CPAC) concerning their scheduling of Gordon Klingenschmitt to give the invocation at the conference.
From: (redacted)
Sent: Tue 2/20/2007 6:23 PM
To: CPAC
Subject: Gordon Klingenschmitt
Dear CPAC
I'm a conservative, Republican Christian Navy Chaplain who in most things would agree with you. I cannot believe that you have a man like Gordon Klingenschmitt giving the invocation at your meeting. This is embarrassing. The man is a liar who has used alleged discrimination against him, discrimination that in every case has been disproved by Inspectors General, Courts, and EEO investigations. If what he said was true I would support him, but you guys should know better. If you had anyone with any real military background go through his web site and read all his crap you would find out that he is a fraud. There may be some cases of actual discrimination against Christians, in fact I know that there are, but Klingenschmitt is not one of them. Good luck, I'm tired of this kind of acceptance and legitimization of Klingenschmitt's story by conservatives who should know better. Klingenschmitt's dissembling makes Bill Clinton's actions look principled. I'm tired of conservative leaders that I used to respect sinking to such lows. Maybe that's why we lost the last election and will likely lose the next. You guys are killing us. And by the way Klingenschmitt is no longer a chaplain. He is mere a undesignated line officer because he lost his endorsement and because of his poor performance as an officer. The court martial he brought on himself did not have his new endorsement accepted. Give him the microphone and you will lose the support of many conservative, Christian Chaplains who routinely pray in Jesus name without a problem, no thanks to Klingenschmitt. I've been in the military 25 years serving as a line officer and chaplain and I too gave up rank to come in the Navy, as does everyone who comes in at a higher rank from another service to the Chaplain Corps, Medical Corps or Judge Advocate General Corps. If you guys keep this up and decide to let him do the invocation at the Presidential dinner don't ever count on my support. The least you guys can do is have someone actually research his claims, read his website and look a the Wikipedia article about him (that he himself initially began) before you embarrass yourself.
Respectfully,
One Concerned Chaplain (actual name redacted)
Somehow, Gordon Klingenschmitt was able to get himself on the schedule to appear with Vice President Cheney at this year's CPAC. Imagine the scene, a former chaplain who lost his professional qualifications due to his criminal misconduct gives the invocation at a conference with the Vice President as a scheduled speaker. What an embarrassing situation! Who in their right mind would have ever invited a convicted officer, who was forced to resign his ordination from his church because of his criminal behavior, to appear with the Vice President of the United States? Undoubtedly, Klingenschmitt would have used his appearance at the conference as some sort of a validation for all of his unseemly behavior since he transferred to the Navy to serve as a chaplain. Thank God that the CPAC organizers heeded the message above and disinvited Klingenschmitt. At least this saves the world from yet another Klingenschmitt spin-machine story. It seems that the truth about Klingenschmitt and his propaganda machine is finally getting out.
FLASH: NEW UPDATE!!!
(NOTE: Updated on 28 February 2007)
On 28 February 2007, Gordon Klingenschmitt posted an old copy of the CPAC Agenda listing him as scheduled to deliver the invocation at the Presidential Banquet on 1 March 2007 on his personal website in an attempt to make people believe that he was still appearing on stage with the Vice President despite his knowledge that his appearance was cancelled. Klingenschmitt posted this even though he was informed earlier this month that he was disinvited by CPAC organizers. (CPAC replied to "One Concerned Chaplain's" email on Monday, 26 February 2007 at 7:50 PM stating that Klingenschmitt was neither attending nor participating in the event.) He also posted this webpage listing him as a chaplain when, in fact, he lost the right to refer to himself as a serving chaplain since he lost his professional qualifications back in October 2006. He is currently an undesignated Navy officer without any current qualifications whatsoever awaiting discharge for loss of professional status.
The current CPAC Agenda lists J. William Lauderback of the American Conservative Union as the person scheduled to deliver the invocation at the banquet. Why would Klingenschmitt post an inaccurate, outdated copy of this webpage with the title "Chaps invited to pray with Vice President Cheney (Thursday night)" on his personal website when he knew that doing so was a total deception? What possesses a man to publish such distortions on such a regular basis? This is yet another piece added to the voluminous evidence of the dishonesty and fraud that the Klingenschmitt propaganda spin-machine produces on a regular basis.
FLASH: NEWER UPDATE!!
(NOTE: Updated on 1 March 2007)
The Klingenschmitt propaganda spin-machine is already in full swing with the following headline on his personal website: "CHAPS BOOTED FROM NAVY FOR 'DISOBEDIENT' PRAYERS AND SERMONS...CNO FORBIDS PRAYING WITH VICE PRESIDENT". The DC Court of Appeals dissolved its emergency stay on Klingenschmitt's discharge from the Navy on 28 February 2007. Klingenschmitt will finally discharged from the Navy by the end of the 1st day of March 2007. The reason for his discharge is his loss of professional status, his well-documented poor performance, his misconduct, and his criminal conviction. The fact that Klingenschmitt prayed had nothing to do with his discharge. His troubles are solely the result of his poor choices and criminal activities. Klingenschmitt's false claim in this headline makes about as much sense as saying that Charles Manson was sentenced to life in prison because he prayed before murdering. Had Manson prayed, it would have not changed the fact that he was still guilty of the crime of murder. Gordon Klingenschmitt prayed while committing a Federal crime. The fact that he prayed during the commission of his crime does not alter the fact that he committed a crime. Gordon Klingenschmitt was convicted of the commission of a Federal crime--NOT FOR PRAYER! It is time for Klingenschmitt to finally come clean and begin telling the truth about what happened and why.
The Klingenschmitt propaganda spin-machine has been caught in yet another deception. Yesterday, I cut and pasted the following headline from Klingenschmitt's personal website "Chaps invited to pray with Vice President Cheney (Thursday night)." Today, I just noticed today that Klingenschmitt inserted the word "was" in the the headline to make it appear that he was not being deceptive yesterday. This blog had hundreds of hits yesterday after I posted the first update. Too many people already know about the deception.
