Here's the latest on it:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...on/5607432.htm
Posted on Fri, Apr. 11, 2003
Army probing chaplain report
Religious coercion of soldiers alleged
BY TONY PUGH AND KEN GARFIELD
tpugh@krwashington.com
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army Office of the Chief of Chaplains is checking into a report by Herald staff writer Meg Laughlin that an Army chaplain in Iraq withheld clean bathing water from U.S. soldiers who did not first agree to hear a sermon and be baptized.
The allegation against Chaplain Josh Llano, 32, of Houston, has drawn heated responses from religious, civil libertarian and atheist groups who say the practice amounts to religious coercion. Army officials said that so far their investigation hasn't shown that to be true.
''Neither the Army nor the Army Chief of Chaplains approves of religious coercion, but reports we've gotten indicate that's not what this was at all,'' said Pentagon spokeswoman Martha Rudd, who added that there was plenty of additional water available to soldiers at that camp.
``We don't have any information at this time that the chaplain was coercing anyone. But we're still looking into it.''
Army Chief of Chaplains Gaylord Gunhus said he believes Llano was simply joking with soldiers of the V Corps combat support system at Camp Bushmaster near Najaf.
''I have confidence in my chaplains,'' Gunhus said from the Pentagon. ``It had nothing to do with keeping people from having water or anything at all. Speculation is, he was jesting with a bunch of folks.''
Llano, a Southern Baptist, recently told Laughlin that he makes soldiers sit through a 90-minute sermon and then take part in baptismal services in a 500-gallon container used only for baptisms. Rudd said many of the soldiers had gone up to 10 days without a shower.
In the story, Llano said the soldiers willingly agreed to his terms. Said Llano in the story: ``It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized.''
Llano could not be reached for comment on Thursday. But Rudd said Llano told investigators he does not recall making those statements. She said Llano's commanders have denied the water-for-baptism allegations. Laughlin noted that she was not alone when Llano made the statements.
But the media accounts have set off a controversy. Military chaplains are supposed to provide services when asked -- and with no conditions, said Edd Doerr, executive director of Americans for Religious Liberty, a multifaith group in Washington that advocates for separation of church and state. Requiring soldiers to be baptized in exchange for water ignores their right to religious freedom, Doerr said.
Llano is trying to ''lure potential converts and he is preying on vulnerable, stressed-out military men and women,'' to do so, according to a statement by Kathleen Johnson, military director for American Atheists, a civil rights advocacy group in Parsippany, N.J.
Llano was an Army drill sergeant before he was ordained and served as a military chaplain through the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga. The convention has 320 military chaplains serving in the Middle East.
North American Mission Board Vice President John Yarbrough said he will wait to see what the Army finds before responding. The options include counseling Llano or revoking his endorsement to serve as a military chaplain through the Southern Baptist Convention.
While not confirming whether Llano erred, Yarbrough said: ``This is very atypical of the way our chaplains would function.''
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