I would fully support a "SAF Muslim/Christian/Buddhist Officer's
Association." I believe in the freedom to form
associations.
Perhaps melding was not the best of words. If we look at
the various religions and their take on violence and bloodshed, we
realize that it puts a religion and the military at odds. If
such associations under careful supervision is able to
deconflict the interests of religion and the military, I do not see
why they should not be encouraged.
There are needs that the religious servicemen that cannot be met
by the SAF as a neutral organization. Such associations can
be a "gap" filler in officially addressing a soldier's
religious needs.
I find it hard to see how various religious associations formed
to address the needs of servicemen will cause "national" disunity.
( we are not even discussing this on a national level. ) If
this country is able to have churches, mosques, temples operating
side by side in a neighbourhood, have its people attending it live
in harmony and mindful of sensitivities, it will also be able to
implement "religious associations" within a SMALLER organizational
structure such as the SAF. A military organization with even
stricter guidelines should have even lesser problems.
With regards to evangelical Christians servicemen, as long as
they are sensitive, non-intrusive with their evangelism they should
be able to stay out of trouble. Besides, if they do step over
the board, complaints can always belodged for necessary
disciplinary actions to be taken. That is one thing that
doesn't happen outside the military. =D
Agreed that the SAF cannot meet the religious needs of
servicemembers, thus all these organisations are acceptable given
that it is on private time and discreet. The incident raised by
Unknown_X would be pushing the limits already because it is using
SAF resources to distribute Christian material. My whole discomfort
with the issue is from the fact that because religious restrictions
are not always clearly defined by the SAF that evangelical groups
of any denomination would try to 'play the system' as has already
happened. Also, religion and race are closely interlinked in our
part of the world, and anything that disturbs the status quo needs
to be closely watched-- as I said before, if there were any hint of
discrimination in the SAF based on religion, the whole house of
cards may just come down.
Finally, as you said yourself, some tenets of religion are not
compatible with the military, or indeed, society as a whole-- our
modern society functions because we sidestep,ignore or
re-interprete those tenets. In fact I am sure that all those who
have done BMT within the past few years would have done a
questionaire that asks you whether you would place loyalty to your
religion above loyalty to your country.
From the website of the MCF:
"In the following 2 years, attempts were made to
register the group with the Registry of Societies but these efforts
failed. We then faced the prospect of being disbanded.
Upon knowing our situation, the Fellowship of Evangelical
Students (FES) formed the Armed Forces Committee (AFC) on 8 July
1972, and we became affiliated to FES as the AFC."
The fact that this MCF is not allowed to be an official society,
but must go through loopholes and establish itself as adjunct of a
previously approved society, shows that the official stance would
still be to disallow such societies.
Also, one of the links of the MCF is to the OCF, which is an
organisation for American Christian officers. In the first place,
such a link to another military would be inadvisable due to
security issues. Also, the OCF is the very organisation that has
lead to such reports of discrimination against non-Christians in
the US Army and Marines.
For these reasons I would be disinclined to think that the MCF
is a good idea.