Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire

What a crock. Mr Weinstein is taking his anti-religious views too far. Can we shoot him if he endorses any religion? Even the anti-religion of atheism? That is what he seems to be endorsing. Moron.

Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire: "Gen. David Petraeus is used to controversy surrounding the war in Iraq, but his publicized thoughts on an Army chaplain's book for Soldiers put him squarely in the middle of the ongoing conflict over religious proselytizing in the U.S. military.

The book is 'Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel,' by Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William McCoy, and according to Petraeus' published endorsement of the work, 'it should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy.'

But the endorsement - which has spurred a demand by a watchdog group for Petraeus' dismissal and court martial on the grounds of establishing a religious requirement on troops - was a personal view never intended for publication, the book's author now says.

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Mikey Weinstein, head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, believes McCoy is taking the fall for Petraeus and Hertling's improper endorsements. Weinstein said it "strains credulity" that Petraeus never knew that his private written endorsement of the book was in the public domain since last year.

Weinstein is a former Air Force judge advocate general and White House counsel during the Reagan administration. His group has been fighting in the courts to keep improper proselytizing out of the military. Now, he said, he intends to incorprate the Petraeus and Hertling endorsements into an ongoing lawsuit against the Pentagon for an alleged pervasive and permicious "pattern and practice" of religious liberties violations in the military.

"MRFF is now officially putting both Army chaplain Lt. Col. Bill McCoy and General Petraeus on notice not to destroy any of the written or electronic records of their communications about this [issue]," Weinstein said.

The chapters in McCoy's book are offered up as "Orders," he said, and one of them is titled "Believe in God."

With his plug for "Under Orders," Weinstein said in a statement to Military.com, Petraeus - one of the most widely recognized officers in the American military - is endorsing religion as something all Soldiers should have and, specifically, the Christian religion."