Navy Vet Alleges Chaplains Tried to Convert Him

There have been a lot of stories written in the past couple of years about the influence of fundamentalist Christianity within the U.S. military. Allegations of improper religious activities at the U.S. Air Force Academy and other incidents have highlighted these tensions.

Now the Des Moines Register reports that a Jewish Navy veteran claims that hospital chaplains at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City repeatedly tried to convert him to Christianity during several visits over a two-year period.

David Miller, who spent four years in the Navy, outlined his complaints recently at a news conference in Des Moines, where he described the VA facility as "an institution permeated by government sponsorship of fundamentalist Christianity and unconstitutional discrimination against Jews."

Over the past two years, Miller said, he has been asked over and over by the Iowa City VA medical center's staff within its offices, clinics and wards, "You mean you don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah?" and "Is it just Orthodox Jews who deny Jesus?" He said one staffer told him, "I don't understand; how can you not believe in Jesus; he's the Messiah of the Jews, too, you know."

The hospital's administration said that it's standard practice nationwide to conduct a spiritual assessment when patients are admitted to the hospital. They also said they would look into Miller's complaints. But Michael Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and an attorney who worked in the White House under President Ronald Reagan, said he is preparing to sue the Department of Veterans Affairs over Miller's treatment.

12:27 PM ET | 05-18-2007 | permalink