Watchdogs Decry Chaplain's Book

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Watchdogs Decry Chaplain's Book
Military.com | By Bryant Jordan | January 04, 2008

By regulation and custom, military chaplains are required to serve Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen of all faiths.

But some of the writings of Lt. Cmdr. Brian K. Waite, currently chaplain for the Naval Submarine Support Center in Norfolk, Va., has a watchdog group wondering how he can deal honestly and professionally with Muslims, who, he argued in a 2002 book, Islam Uncovered, "embrace a religion that is hostile to peace-loving Christians, Jews, and anybody that does not conform to beliefs."

Waite may be better known for a more recent book, For God and Country: One Chaplain's Perspective of War and the Life Lessons Learned, about his service in Iraq. There he served with Marines during some of the early, heavy fighting of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

But before Iraq, while head of a large Oklahoma church, he wrote Islam Uncovered, in which he held that the Muslim faith is itself culpable for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Since 9/11 was carried out "with the battle cry of 'Jihad'," he wrote, Islam should be subject to attack as much as the terrorists who plotted it and the countries that harbored them.

The book was published by HeartSpring Media, a Christian publishing house in Texas, but Waite took it out of circulation after allegations that significant portions of the book were lifted from other sources and that endorsements on the back of the book from evangelist Franklin Graham and syndicated columnist Cal Thomas were not authorized, according to 2002 reports in two Christian publications.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159341,00.html