Holman Bible Publishers, a subsidiary of LifeWay, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, will no longer be allowed to use the official U.S. armed forces branch emblems on their military Bibles.
Over the past few years, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has probably received more complaints about these Bibles, which are displayed and sold in all the base exchanges and other stores on military bases, than any other single issue.
Here are a few photos of these Bibles, which, up until now, have sported the branch emblems of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines on both the boxes they come in and on the Bibles themselves.
In addition to the constitutional issue of allowing the use of official U.S. military emblems on any Bible, these Holman military Bibles also contain a lengthy section of essays and other information promoting the Officers’ Christian Fellowship (OCF), an organization of about 15,000 military officers who think the real duty of a military officer is to raise up “a spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit.” This is the organization that has produced such fine Christian officers as Air Force Major Jonathan C. Dowty, a.k.a. the Christian Fighter Pilot, who became a member of the OCF while at the Air Force Academy and later went on to be an OCF team leader at Edwards Air Force Base.
The Bibles also contain a bogus quote from George Washington, created by taking a paragraph of Washington’s 1783 circular letter to the governors of the states at the end of the Revolutionary War and altering it to turn into a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
Here’s the press release from MRFF about our win in getting all four branches of the military to revoke their permission allowing LifeWay to use the branch emblems on their Holman Bibles.
MRFF Pressure Halts “Military Bible” Authorization by All Four Military Branches
In clear violation of the U.S. Constitution,
USMC, Air Force, Army, Navy insignia were used
to promote Southern Baptist Convention BibleALBUQUERQUE, NM – Following efforts by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), all four branches of the U.S. Military have revoked their approval of the Military series of Holman Christian Standard Bibles (HCSB). The Holman Bible is a modern English, Baptist translation that was completed in 2004 and is published by LifeWay Christian Resources’ Holman Bible Publishers, a subsidiary of the Evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist Bible Convention. These editions were prominently emblazoned with exact replicas of the trademarked emblems of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
MRFF is a civil rights organization representing over 28,000 members of the armed services and veterans (96% of whom are Christian). As of June, 2011, MRFF had been contacted by nearly 2,000 servicemembers who witnessed the Bibles being conspicuously featured on military Exchange shelves and storefronts across the globe. This raised fears among military personnel that, in the words of an anonymous U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate, it was “a big step towards establishing the Holman Christian Standard Bible as the official religious text of the military services of the United States.”
The dangerous nature of an official endorsement of Bibles by the U.S. Military is made clear by the fact that the Holman translation does not include those texts purged from the Bible during the Protestant Reformation which are still included in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox editions of the Holy Bible.
Entitled “The Soldier’s Bible,” “Sailor’s Bible,” “Marine’s Bible,” and “Airman’s Bible,” respectively, the HSBC Bibles contained material merging Evangelical symbolism and theology with national and military iconography and anthems. Each HCSB Military Bible also contained “quotations, prayers, and inspiration” from figures ranging from George Washington and President George W. Bush to various historical figures from each of the respective branches of the U.S. Armed Services.
READ THE CEASE AND DESIST LETTER SENT BY MRFF LEGAL COUNSEL AND THE RESPONSES FROM THE MILITARY
Following a request filed by MRFF’s outside legal counsel under the Freedom of Information Act, the foundation discovered that the U.S. Military had given authorization to LifeWay allowing for reproduction of the emblems, an action that stood in direct violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Upon investigation, each branch of the military responded in succession with the notification that permission to use each branch’s imagery had been revoked.
“Once again our foundation has decisively beaten back those who would see the wall separating church and state reduced to rubble,” said Mikey Weinstein, President and Founder of MRFF. “The very fact that the Pentagon — or ‘Pentacostal-gon’ — had allowed for the insignias of the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force to be used for such a clearly Evangelical fundamentalist agenda should sicken anyone with any inkling of respect for the ‘sacred’ principle of religious freedom as enshrined by the foundational documents of our nation, namely the U.S. Constitution.”
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tubi
June 12, 2012 at 2:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And now for the press releases from WND, Fox News, et al.
“MRFF Forbids Airmen from Carrying Their Own Bibles”
Yoritomo
June 12, 2012 at 3:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wonder what would have happened if the military had gone the other way – Airman’s Kama Sutra, anybody? Would probably sell better than the Bible, though I believe it’s not as interesting as it’s supposed to be. *wanders off to check whether the local library carries the Kama Sutra*
coragyps
June 12, 2012 at 4:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ooh! Let the outrage begin! There will be some lovely rhetoric from the right over this – could we archive it here, Chris?
Gregory in Seattle
June 13, 2012 at 9:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@coragyps #3 – Word of the day: Poutrage noun
Related: to be poutraged
1: The combination of emotion and behavior that results from feigned outrage over a perceived slight or injustice, or over being caught doing something known to be wrong.
Ex: American theocrats were poutraged when told that they could no longer print and distribute Bibles embossed with official military emblems.
RW Ahrens
June 13, 2012 at 11:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Interesting that each service just happened to have withdrawn permission for their emblems to be used by these folks for “unrelated reasons”, shortly before receiving the MRFF’s letter.
What a happy coincidence!
Pierce R. Butler
June 14, 2012 at 8:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Excerpts from an email signed by “Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD” -
and “Dr.” K throws in some free bonus homophobic whining:
I can’t help but wonder if the myst erious spa ces in the middle of certain words are intended to bypass the filters with which some Christian Patriots protect their Families™ from
homosexual sodomythe 21st century.Yoritomo
June 14, 2012 at 8:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Suddenly all the weddings I’ve ever been invited to feel boring.
michaelbrew
June 15, 2012 at 8:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Saw one of those a couple hours ago at the chapel in Shank. Only one, though, so I assume they’re just letting their inventory run dry rather than tossing them.
machintelligence
June 16, 2012 at 10:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Get a complete set now! They will soon be collectors items.
patricksimons
June 17, 2012 at 10:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
About damn time. I served in the 60′s and say what you will about that decade, but you never saw crap like that in a PX.