Atheists contest treatment from Camp Pendleton [View all]

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By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 13, 2012 8:22:48 EDT

Two national atheist groups, and one advocating religious freedom, have complained to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus that officials at Camp Pendleton, Calif., continue to deny them access to the base while giving “preferential treatment” to Christian religious organizations, including a controversial church they say is steeped in “doomsday theology” and embroiled in sexual-abuse scandals.

American Atheists Inc., the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, in an Aug. 6 letter to Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, argued the Marine Corps base has denied them equal treatment by first stalling and then denying their requests for access. At the same time, the three groups claim, Camp Pendleton officials, including those at Marine Corps Community Services, repeatedly have allowed religious groups to hold events there.

They single out the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in Southern California, the mother church in a network of roughly 1,300 Calvary Chapel congregations nationwide. Its head pastor, Chuck Smith, has been mired in controversy for years, with critics blasting his teachings that center on predictions the apocalypse is near. He and other leaders within the congregation also have been accused of not doing enough to prevent the alleged molestation of several children.

“We are disturbed that the government is giving such extensive support, including assets, resources and personnel, to a single sect of Christianity,” the three groups wrote in their letter to Mabus. “Even more troubling is the ‘doomsday’ nature of the CCCM. … The last thing Camp Pendleton needs is a large group of well-armed Marines convinced of an imminent doomsday crisis.”

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/08/marine-atheists-pendleton-access-complaint-081312/