Like so many institutions around the West, the Australian Army has become a hotbed of political correctness and anti-Christian bigotry. It will side with every idiotic cause around while actively siding against Christians. And tragically, Major Bernie Gaynor knows all about this.
I have written about this brave man and dedicated Christian before. He has rightly made a stink about how the military is aggressively promoting decidedly unhelpful things for the national interest like Islam and homosexuality, while engaging in persecution of Christians: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/01/31/more-ugly-anti-christian-bigotry/
Well, for taking a courageous stance against some of this moonbattery in the military, the good Major has been given the flick. Yep, he is now seen as an enemy of the military, and he had to go. Gaynor has just written about his sacking, and I share parts of that with you now:
At this stage, the Australian Defence Force will be marching in Sydney with those who vilify Jesus Christ and Christianity next year and General Hurley will be Governor of New South Wales. While I am not surprised at this decision, I am surprised at how disappointed it made me feel. However, it is the military’s continued involvement in vitriolic anti-Christian activity that upsets me the most. The Australian Defence Force should be an honourable institution and, indeed, it has been. It has a proud place in Australian history defending our nation and its Christian values, culture and heritage.
But not anymore. Notwithstanding the many fine and honourable men and women who still serve this nation in uniform today, it is an organisation that has been corrupted at the top. Christians in the military have been sent a severe warning: do not defend your faith publicly if you want to keep your job. They must accept that their beliefs can be ridiculed by the Australian military.
The situation is so miserably bad that the same investigation that found Jesus Christ was vilified at the Mardi Gras also stated that Defence members would be severely dealt with if they attended an event that attacked Mohammad in the same way. In black and white writing, Defence has stated that Islam, the religion of our battlefield enemies, is to be protected while policy now allows attacks on the Christian faith.
He concludes:
Finally, I would like to thank you for your interest, support, donations and prayers over the last 18 months. I cannot properly emphasise how much encouragement I have taken from this and how it has made this journey easier for our family.
And please rest assured, I will continue to write and fight for family values and our Christian heritage. This is a personal defeat, but the war goes on. And when we are in God’s Army, victory is assured. We just need to accept that it will not always be at the time and place of our choosing.
In my books Gaynor is a hero and a champion. And the PC leaders in the military should be ashamed of not only how they have treated him, but how they are destroying our capability to properly defend this nation by following every leftist trend and activist agenda item.
At least one other person has rallied to his defence. Columnist Paul Sheehan has come out today with a great piece on Gaynor. He writes:
Gaynor served three tours of duty in Iraq while serving in Army intelligence. In a column published on March 17, I quoted a speech he had given to a conference in Melbourne: “It is my unpleasant duty to inform you that the Australian Defence Force has a fundamentally broken approach to religion, an approach shaped partly by the triumph of bureaucratic administration over battlefield considerations but mostly by political correctness …
“The ADF has a fundamentally flawed understanding of Islam. Just look at Iraq. I was one of the last Australians to serve there. All the politicians and military hierarchy were saying the withdrawal of Western military force was based on success. And yet al-Qaeda today controls more of Iraq than it ever did while Western forces were in the country …”
That was four months ago. It is much worse now. What Gaynor has predicted has spread, deepened and metastasised into Afghanistan.
“While everyone is watching the spread of the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria, we’re not noticing that areas where British and American troops fought and died in Afghanistan are being taken by the Taliban even before NATO forces have left the country … Helmand Province is being overrun by the Taliban. It is next to Oruzgan Province, where the Australian military was deployed and 40 Australians died.”
He continues:
Gaynor sees this military failure as a symptom of a cultural issue over which he was willing to sacrifice his army career: his Christian faith. On this issue, by his own admission, he has been a provocateur and a serial litigator.
He formally protested the decision by the army to allow service personnel to march, in uniform, in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. He argued that army personnel are barred from participating in political activities while in uniform and that the Mardi Gras is a political event as defined by its own articles of association.
He also pointed out that Mardi Gras had a long history of openly vilifying the Catholic church, and Catholic clergy, over its opposition to same-sex marriage. Gaynor, who is Catholic, argued this was offensive to many Catholics, who make up about 40 per cent of military personnel.
So the military has kicked out a good man, and instead will encourage more unhelpful and potentially dangerous capitulation to political correctness. Great way to destroy a man and his career. Great way to destroy a nation.
15 Replies to “The Australian Army’s War Against Christianity”
Bernard Gaynor has taken up his cross and followed the master and now it is our turn.
I have sent in a few comments in support of Bernard in the SMH and one has been published so far. I was heartened to read in the comments that quite a few people were disgusted by this turn of events.
He is definitely “a hero and a champion”.
This is indeed a sad day, not just for Major Bernard Gaynor, but for Australia, where the Australian Army has de-commissioning Major Gaynor because he took a rightful stand against the illegitimate Army approval of uniformed service personnel marching in the Sydney Mardi-gras, an organisation with a clear political agenda. This decorated soldier has been vilified by officials, who should applauding Major Gaynor’s proud service history and integrity in the defence our Christian heritage.
This is the increasingly common experience of Christians serving their neighbours in all walks of life in modern society:
ie. in fact it is as true of most institutions in 21st Century New Zealand as it is of the Australian Army!. Should anyone uphold Man-Woman Marriage and reject the “gay” / LGBT etc.agenda, we are now regarded as bigoted & unenlightened, and must suffer the consequences of not being “politically correct”. Others have already cited this as being “dry martyrdom” , and the “Way of the Cross” for contemporary Christians – an opinion and reality which it is increasingly impossible to dispute…
Neil Coup B.Soc.Sc., Dip.Libr. (Lower Hutt, NZ).
I was up early this morning and read the article just after 6 a.m. (in the paper of course). It wasn’t a good start, but it got me to the computer before I went out. Although the media is generally not on the side of right, it is good that the SMH at least allows discussion of these things on its website. They even publish a few letters which take the side of right. And in the last few years I have become accustomed to a little bit of the stuff Bill must have served daily, or hourly, with people saying I hate gays, believe in the sky fairy (I suspect some of them believe in the tooth fairy) and so on. Standing up for the truth with online comments, using our real names, is not hard, and a lot more Christians should try it.
I think it is good also to comment online or send letters to the editor on a range of topics so that no one can accuse us of being one-topic people and or not interested in the general good. Bill of course has a specialist ministry, but his range of topics is pretty impressive!
An honorable man, his family ought to be VERY proud.
Would like to share this very recent link from Dr.Ben Carson at NZ Family First Forum (look it up on Youtube) if I may? Very well said words by another honorable man; we need brave men like these, so thank you both for your courage.
Dr Ben Carson at the Forum on the Family (NZ) 2014: 2 + 2 = 5
Just another step in the militant Gay movement. An apolitical organisation now is supporting a political movement. Just like how the ABC is meant to represent everyone. It seems like codes of conduct don’t matter if they support a leftist issue but how dare you show something from the right.
An army that does march with God, will become an army defeated: Ezekiel 32:32
The Minister of Defence should hold those army people accountable for religious persecution, and get the army back to being a military organization rather than a social engineering one.
A case of the army hanging the whistleblower. It was up to something illegal in allowing uniformed marchers in the ‘gay’ march in Sydney, Bernard drew this to their attention; they didn’t like it. So, instead of commending him on his support for the law, like a corrupt organisation, defended the hierarchy that had been asleep on the job, letting the warped notion of social appeasement get in the way of their legal duty.
Bill,
Thank you for preparing this post. However, I am not at all surprised.
I served in the Australian Army in the late 70s early 80s, and one of my roles was batman to the Chaplains. Sadly, the only Chaplain worthy of the title was the Anglican Chaplain, at the time. At a later time I became privy to some private papers concerning one of the Chaplains, and discovered that he was an Army Chaplain because he was a failure in his role before he went to the military. No good at serving the Lord in a parish, so off to the Army for you, lad.
I cannot speak for the Chaplains that are serving today. They may be all really great. However, historically, they were not all great, and barely represented an apostate Christianity (except for the Anglican Chaplain, who was a God-fearing evangelical). As a Christian, I was ashamed of those who were supposed to be caring for my soul in the face of conflict and personal danger.
Once again, I cannot speak for the Chaplains that are serving at the moment, but in my day they had no wherewithal to stand against any kind of cultural creep towards the present military situation. They were part of the problem, certainly not the watch dogs that they should have been.
The rot has been coming for a long time.
Thanks for penning this piece and making us aware of this Bill. Men like Mr Gaynor are rare today and I commend him for his stand in the face of such opposition.
I am the sort that looks at how satan starts all this rubbish and have to agree with Lance A Box in some part. Many of those who occupy chaplaincy roles are compromised and this is where it starts quite often.
I know many who occupy chaplaincy roles in various areas and they are not representative of Biblical Christianity, rather apostate, luke warm something else.
Its not all, as I know others who stand up, but having sat with many over time its a concern.
The ADF should be ashamed of itself, it shouldn’t be taking a stand on political issues.
Well its no surprise that the writer of Hebrews says that there where many that the world was not worthy of. Major Bernie Gaynor is one of them and any defense force that sinks this low does not deserve men like Gaynor.
It is the beginning of the end for the ADF when they can no longer adhere to Standing Orders.
I once wore the uniform with pride; I didn’t wear the uniform for bedroom antics and despise those at the top of command that can not and will not respect the uniform that thousands before wore with pride.
Where I would once encourage some young fella to join the army, this is no more.
When I wear my medals on ANZAC day I must think of the leaders we once had and not of those we have today, less this day for me shall be no more.
I have written about this brave man and dedicated Christian before. He has rightly made a stink about how the military is aggressively promoting decidedly unhelpful things for the national interest like Islam and homosexuality, while engaging in persecution of Christians: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/01/31/more-ugly-anti-christian-bigotry/
Bernard Gaynor has taken up his cross and followed the master and now it is our turn.
I have sent in a few comments in support of Bernard in the SMH and one has been published so far. I was heartened to read in the comments that quite a few people were disgusted by this turn of events.
He is definitely “a hero and a champion”.
This is indeed a sad day, not just for Major Bernard Gaynor, but for Australia, where the Australian Army has de-commissioning Major Gaynor because he took a rightful stand against the illegitimate Army approval of uniformed service personnel marching in the Sydney Mardi-gras, an organisation with a clear political agenda. This decorated soldier has been vilified by officials, who should applauding Major Gaynor’s proud service history and integrity in the defence our Christian heritage.
This is the increasingly common experience of Christians serving their neighbours in all walks of life in modern society:
ie. in fact it is as true of most institutions in 21st Century New Zealand as it is of the Australian Army!. Should anyone uphold Man-Woman Marriage and reject the “gay” / LGBT etc.agenda, we are now regarded as bigoted & unenlightened, and must suffer the consequences of not being “politically correct”. Others have already cited this as being “dry martyrdom” , and the “Way of the Cross” for contemporary Christians – an opinion and reality which it is increasingly impossible to dispute…
Neil Coup B.Soc.Sc., Dip.Libr. (Lower Hutt, NZ).
I was up early this morning and read the article just after 6 a.m. (in the paper of course). It wasn’t a good start, but it got me to the computer before I went out. Although the media is generally not on the side of right, it is good that the SMH at least allows discussion of these things on its website. They even publish a few letters which take the side of right. And in the last few years I have become accustomed to a little bit of the stuff Bill must have served daily, or hourly, with people saying I hate gays, believe in the sky fairy (I suspect some of them believe in the tooth fairy) and so on. Standing up for the truth with online comments, using our real names, is not hard, and a lot more Christians should try it.
I think it is good also to comment online or send letters to the editor on a range of topics so that no one can accuse us of being one-topic people and or not interested in the general good. Bill of course has a specialist ministry, but his range of topics is pretty impressive!
An honorable man, his family ought to be VERY proud.
Would like to share this very recent link from Dr.Ben Carson at NZ Family First Forum (look it up on Youtube) if I may? Very well said words by another honorable man; we need brave men like these, so thank you both for your courage.
Dr Ben Carson at the Forum on the Family (NZ) 2014: 2 + 2 = 5
Thanks Dell
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Bknvxi8TM
Just another step in the militant Gay movement. An apolitical organisation now is supporting a political movement. Just like how the ABC is meant to represent everyone. It seems like codes of conduct don’t matter if they support a leftist issue but how dare you show something from the right.
An army that does march with God, will become an army defeated: Ezekiel 32:32
The Minister of Defence should hold those army people accountable for religious persecution, and get the army back to being a military organization rather than a social engineering one.
A case of the army hanging the whistleblower. It was up to something illegal in allowing uniformed marchers in the ‘gay’ march in Sydney, Bernard drew this to their attention; they didn’t like it. So, instead of commending him on his support for the law, like a corrupt organisation, defended the hierarchy that had been asleep on the job, letting the warped notion of social appeasement get in the way of their legal duty.
Bill,
Thank you for preparing this post. However, I am not at all surprised.
I served in the Australian Army in the late 70s early 80s, and one of my roles was batman to the Chaplains. Sadly, the only Chaplain worthy of the title was the Anglican Chaplain, at the time. At a later time I became privy to some private papers concerning one of the Chaplains, and discovered that he was an Army Chaplain because he was a failure in his role before he went to the military. No good at serving the Lord in a parish, so off to the Army for you, lad.
I cannot speak for the Chaplains that are serving today. They may be all really great. However, historically, they were not all great, and barely represented an apostate Christianity (except for the Anglican Chaplain, who was a God-fearing evangelical). As a Christian, I was ashamed of those who were supposed to be caring for my soul in the face of conflict and personal danger.
Once again, I cannot speak for the Chaplains that are serving at the moment, but in my day they had no wherewithal to stand against any kind of cultural creep towards the present military situation. They were part of the problem, certainly not the watch dogs that they should have been.
The rot has been coming for a long time.
Thanks for penning this piece and making us aware of this Bill. Men like Mr Gaynor are rare today and I commend him for his stand in the face of such opposition.
I am the sort that looks at how satan starts all this rubbish and have to agree with Lance A Box in some part. Many of those who occupy chaplaincy roles are compromised and this is where it starts quite often.
I know many who occupy chaplaincy roles in various areas and they are not representative of Biblical Christianity, rather apostate, luke warm something else.
Its not all, as I know others who stand up, but having sat with many over time its a concern.
The ADF should be ashamed of itself, it shouldn’t be taking a stand on political issues.
Well its no surprise that the writer of Hebrews says that there where many that the world was not worthy of. Major Bernie Gaynor is one of them and any defense force that sinks this low does not deserve men like Gaynor.
It is the beginning of the end for the ADF when they can no longer adhere to Standing Orders.
I once wore the uniform with pride; I didn’t wear the uniform for bedroom antics and despise those at the top of command that can not and will not respect the uniform that thousands before wore with pride.
Where I would once encourage some young fella to join the army, this is no more.
When I wear my medals on ANZAC day I must think of the leaders we once had and not of those we have today, less this day for me shall be no more.