U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan on Thursday ordered the removal of a steeple and crucifix erected over a remote American base in the Muslim country after a soldier deployed there noted that the symbols violated Army regulations, and could reinforce suspicions that the United States is fighting a holy war.

It is unclear how long ago the Christian symbols at the chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E had been in place. In terms of religious displays, they are hardly ostentatious — a cross on a small rooftop steeple and cross-shaped windows in the doors. But Sgt. Joel Muhlnickel was alarmed by the symbolism at Orgun-E, especially the cross that rises up over the rooftops at the base.

"When I think of an army sporting a Christian cross, I think Crusades," Muhlnickel wrote on Facebook from Orgun — a message that was forwarded to NBC News by a third party. "Neither my country nor my army force me to swear allegiance to Odin, Jesus, Buddha or Horus. Freedom from religious oppression is pretty much the reason why the United States was founded."

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"It is the sort of thing that provides a boundless bonanza of terrorist propaganda for the mujahedeen, the insurrectionists, the Taliban and al-Qaida that we are supposedly fighting to protect our national security," said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation. "The message of the cross on the chapel is basically putting out the message in Pashto, Dari and Arabic to please blow me up because I'm a latter day Christian crusader."

The U.S. military provides chapels for troops around the world and has thousands of chaplains deployed — the majority of them Christian, while there are also Jewish, Muslim and other faith leaders.

Chapels are set up even in outposts as far-flung as Orgun-E.

But Army regulations state that these facilities — usually nondescript temporary structures — are to be neutral gathering spaces, not dedicated to any one faith, except when being used for a specific worship service. Portable symbols, icons or statues can be used during religious services, but then must be removed or covered up for others who use the space.

"In general the chapels have to be ecumenical so they can be converted from one religion to another," said Elizabeth Hillman, professor of law at University of California Hastings College of Law and President of the National Institute of Military Justice. "To create permanent structures that evoke one particular religion — that is problematic.

"I would think that anything that would increase the vulnerability of a forward operating base is a problematic," Hillman added.

Muhlnickel raised his concerns through his chain of command, and then — unconvinced that it would result in action — turned to outside organizations, including the nonprofit American Atheists.

"Chaplains know the regulations very well," said Justin Griffith, an Army sergeant at Fort Bragg, N.C., and military director for American Atheists in his personal time. "Whoever authorized (the steeple and crosses) knew exactly what they were doing. It's intentionally disrespectful to the non-Christians in the U.S. military ... Put it in Afghanistan, the danger is very real, to personnel, even to Christians."

The Army, contacted by NBC on Tuesday morning, responded to queries Wednesday afternoon, saying the cross had been removed and boards had been placed over the cross-shaped windows while the base ordered new doors.

"The local command in Afghanistan is aware of this chapel and has taken appropriate action to ensure that it is changed into a neutral facility," said a statement from an Army Spokesman at the Pentagon.

Hours later, Orgun command sent out a memo throughout the base explaining that the chapel was to be brought into compliance by eliminating the crosses, and assuring soldiers that it would be handled in a respectful manner.

Griffith, an atheist who often calls out practices that he believes cross the line from the free exercise of religion to unconstitutional proselytizing or discrimination, has learned that his views are unpopular with many in the military. He's concerned about Muhlnickel suffering reprisal. 

"Sgt. Muhlnickel’s efforts just put the pin back in the grenade," said Griffith. "The military now needs to protect him from any backlash ... and not punish him for speaking out against the dangerous 'crusader' symbolism."

In similar situations that have come to light, military commanders have ordered the removal of the religious symbols. In April 2012, when a Marine Corps squadron revived the "Crusaders" name with the shield and cross logo for fighter jets, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation challenged the move, citing constitutional and security concerns. The next month, the Marine Corps said that the squadron had converted back to the moniker "Werewolves," replacing the logos from the jets, uniforms, buildings and elsewhere.

A chapel at Camp Marmal, another U.S. base in northern Afghanistan, was ordered to remove a large cross from its chapel after complaints, Politico reported. A spokesman from the Pentagon agreed that the Camp Marmal cross had violated Army regulations.

In Afghanistan, where the population is more than 99 percent Muslim, the tiny Christian population worships in secret, out of fear of attack by extremist Muslims. Christian evangelism is illegal in the country, and foreigners suspected of spreading Christian teachings have been deported by the government, and attacked and kidnapped by extremists.

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West Point cadet quits, cites 'criminal' behavior of officers
 

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Updated Dec. 5, 2:25 p.m. ET: Cadet Blake Page has learned from his superiors at West Point that he will be given an honorable discharge and not be required to pay "recoupment" costs for three and a half years at the military academy. He told NBC News that when out-processing is finished, he will move to Minnesota and "continue the work I've started in whatever way I can."

Original Post: A West Point cadet publicly announced his decision to quit the prestigious military academy just months before graduating to protest what he sees as the illegal infusion of military procedures and events with fundamentalist Christian proselytizing.

To call attention to his move, senior Blake Page wrote a scathing commentary on West Point, published Monday in the Huffington Post.

"Countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution," wrote Page, who was slated to graduate in May. "These men and women are criminals, complicit in light of day defiance of the Uniform Code of Military Justice through unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the non-religious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation."

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A public affairs officer at West Point told NBC News he was seeking a response to Page's commentary and his resignation, but had not arranged an interview or responded to the cadet's assertions by the time of publication.

Page's move was an unusual one, and it could come with a big price tag for the 25-year-old who served in the Army prior to enrolling. He could be required to pay the Army some $200,000-$300,000 in "recoupment" costs for his time at West Point.

"It's a very unusual move," said Elizabeth Hillman, professor of law at University of California Hastings College who specializes in military law. She said that while many cadets struggle with issues of conscience, few leave as a result.

"Cadets will tell you it’s very hard to leave," she said. "It’s much harder to leave than to stay."

"This kid just torched his career in the Army, and his degree at West Point," said Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for total separation of church and state. He likens Page’s move to those of Rosa Parks in the civil rights movement and monks who light themselves on fire to protest Chinese policies in Tibet. "People should recognize courage when they see it."

While at West Point, Page established a chapter of the Secular Students Alliance to support non-religious cadets at the institution. He has argued against prayer being included in mandatory events. He says he has faced persistent discrimination as a known atheist and has been told by his superiors that he will never be a good leader until he "fills the hole in his heart."

His complaints have won some concessions, with the backing of the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation — which provides legal aid and a channel to the media — and the support of Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

But Page says that even sympathetic military superiors are reluctant to take action on religious issue because of the sensitivity, and says that applications to leave campus on routine "rest and relaxation" outings were systematically denied him and his fellow secularists. 

"It’s very clear that there is a considerable level of distaste for atheists here," he said.

When he informed superiors of his plan to leave West Point, about a month ago, Page says generals appealed to him to work through official channels to bring change at the academy. 

"My motivation for resigning was first because I didn’t want to be part of it, but also to motivate other people to stand up and be counted. Without something bold that gets attention, I don’t see a way to inspire anybody to stand up and say 'I’m tired of this'," Page told NBC News. "And talking isn’t working, it hasn’t been working. I wanted to do something more."

Long-held traditions are changing at West Point, as elsewhere in the military. Last week West Point held the first same-sex wedding in its chapel.

Page has received a ream of comments congratulating and thanking him for the message he sent with his departure.

But he also got plenty of blow-back from other soldiers.

One comment posted to his Facebook page by a fellow soldier lambasted him for "(doing his best) to drag (West Point) through the mud." 

"I wish you could just pack your bags, slink away, and fade into oblivion, but I guess that's not dramatic enough," the post said. 

Page said he is planning to write a book about his experiences.

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A judge ruled Thursday that a group of cheerleaders fighting for the right to display biblical-themed banners during high school football games in their small Texas community could continue to do so, at least until the battle goes to court next June.

The cheerleaders in Kountze prompted a complaint to the school district in September when they rolled out banners with scriptural references, such as "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," and "But thanks be to God which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

A letter of complaint from the nonprofit Freedom from Religion Foundation prompted Kountze Independent School District Superintendent Keven Weldon to bar the religious banners.

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The foundation argued that when the religious sentiments are displayed by cheerleaders in school uniforms before large groups of students at official school functions, the banners violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

"It is not a personal opinion of mine," Weldon told the Houston Chronicle after making his initial decision. "My personal convictions are that I am a Christian as well. But I'm also a state employee and Kountze (school district) representative. And I was advised that that such a practice (religious signs) would be in direct violation of United States Supreme Court decisions."

But parents and attorneys for the girls, supported by the nonprofit law firm, the Liberty Institute, filed a lawsuit arguing that the scriptural banners should be allowed as constitutionally guaranteed free speech. The judge granted a temporary injunction on enforcement of the ban.

On Thursday, District Judge Steve Thomas extended that injunction until a trial scheduled for June 24.

The cheerleaders gained heavyweight support Wednesday when Texas Governor Rick Perry and State Attorney General Greg Abbot made high-profile endorsements of the religious messages.

"We will not allow atheist groups from outside of the state of Texas to come into the state, to use menacing and misleading intimidation tactics, to try to bully schools to bow down at the altar of secular beliefs," Abbot said in a statement Wednesday.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, which is a national group based in Madison, Wis., said that it did not expect a favorable ruling on the case in Texas courts, and that it hoped to take the case to federal court.

"If the school district drops this, what we would like to do is sue the school district, but we have to have a plaintiff," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Madison, Wis.-based organization.

But she said that finding someone to be named in the lawsuit in Kountze, a predominantly conservative Christian community with a population of about 2,100, is a challenge.

"People who are in the community are afraid to come out of the closet," said Gaylor. "Our complainant is not able to be the plaintiff for that reason."

A Facebook page supporting the cheerleaders had more than 48,300 members on Thursday.

"Our little town is sticking together and standing behind our kids!!!" the introduction to the page states. "Someone has tried to prevent our cheerleaders from ...using religious scriptures on their run-through signs at the football games. This was all led by our children, and they made the decision to give the glory to God this year. We, as a community, will stand up for our kids and make sure they do not lose their voice and their rights in this."

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A group of Texas high school cheerleaders is at the center of a spat over religious speech after the school district told them they had to stop using Christian-themed banners at school football games.

The large signs, carried onto the field at Kountze High School, included messages such as "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" and "But thanks be to God which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," according to a report by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

Kevin Weldon, superintendent of the Kountze school district, about 85 miles northeast of Houston, informed the cheerleaders’ parents Tuesday that the religious banners would not be allowed, the station reported.

Weldon's decision set off a tempest in the community of about 2,100, but he told the Houston Chronicle that it was based on 2001 Supreme Court decision that keeps religion out of public schools.

"The decision I made is not my personal opinion," Weldon told the Chronicle earlier this week. "I'm a Christian. This puts me between a rock and a hard place."

Weldon reportedly made the decision after receiving a letter of complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that advocates separation of church and state, the Christian Post reported.

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But the cheerleaders scored a partial victory on Thursday, when a judge granted a temporary restraining order on enforcement of the ban after parents of the cheerleaders filed a discrimination suit earlier in the week, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Under the injunction, the cheerleaders will be allowed to use the Biblical banners at games at least until an Oct. 4 hearing.

The nonprofit Liberty Institute, which is representing the cheerleaders' parents, argues that it is unconstitutional to censor religious speech in this manner, the Post said.

The Texas Association of School Boards would not discuss its confidential conversations with Weldon, who had sought the organization's advice prior to banning the religious banners, but issued a statement on the case:

"The federal court guidance... draws a distinction between private student speech, including written messages, which enjoys free speech protection under the First Amendment, and school-sponsored speech, which must conform to the Establishment Clause by not endorsing, coercing, or favoring religion,” Joy Baskin, the association's director of legal services, said in the statement.

"Whether the display of a religious message by cheerleaders on the field at a high school football game constituted private or school-sponsored speech depends on a number of factors which must be weighed by the district, its counsel, and in this instance, the judge considering the case," Baskin said.

Cheerleader Macy Matthews, 15, argued that no school money was used and the signs weren't made on school property, so they should be allowed. She said she didn't anticipate the ban.

"It was upsetting because it's what motivated the boys each week," Matthews told the Chronicle. "I was shocked, really. I didn't understand why it would be a problem."

A Facebook page promoting the cheerleaders' cause had garnered more than 39,000 members by Friday.

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Just days before retiring as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz issued a document designed to dictate the conduct of U.S. airmen worldwide — all violations enforceable by military law. For the first time, amid regulations on tattoo size and flag handling etiquette, it laid down the law on religious proselytizing by leaders: Don’t do it.

Section 2.11 of the 27-page Air Force Instruction AFI 1-1 Standards of Conduct is the latest salvo in a battle over religious bias and Christian proselytizing in the military branch. It calls on officers and supervisors to "avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion." 

The document's section on religion echoes a memo Schwartz sent out to all Air Force leadership on religion last September, but adds the threat of penalty for violations.

"COMPLIANCE WITH THIS PUBLICATION IS MANDATORY," the memo says in bold, adding that "failure to adhere to the standards set out in this instruction can form the basis for adverse action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)."

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"It carries a lot of weight inasmuch as it’s careful to point out that an individual who violates it can be subject to court martial," said Gary Solis, who teaches military law at Georgetown University. "So the things that are covered in the document, which are very wide ranging, open up violations to court martial prosecution, that is federal conviction should there be a conviction. So it carries significant weight."

What is harder to predict is how AFI 1-1 — called by an Air Force Press release "the capstone act" of Schwartz’s 29-year career — will be interpreted, distributed and enforced where it applies to religion.

"It certainly is important and binding ... and it could lead to punishment. But then it could lead to punishment if you wear your hat backwards," said Elizabeth Hillman, professor of law at University of California Hastings College of Law and President of the National Institute of Military Justice. "It is still going to be up to individual commanding officers to decide what’s OK and what’s not. They have a great deal of discretion."

As in U.S. public institutions more broadly, there has been a long string of battles between those in the military who want to root out religious content and others, mainly fundamentalist Christians, who argue that to do so impinges on religious freedom.

Related: Outrage, calls for action over anti-Muslim materials in military training
Related: Marine werewolves transform into Crusaders, and back again

The conflicts have arisen over military leadership promoting Christian religious meetings through official channels, military courses incorporating Biblical material in coursework, officers trying to convert non-Christians and allegedly favoring "born again" Christians and using Christian doctrine and imagery in logos and official military materials and Christian prayer in official events.

The military has been sued for using Christian doctrine to recruit new members, and pressured to change logos and review course materials that incorporate Christian doctrine, and more recently, those that are anti-Islam.

In 2006, after complaints by non-Christians that they were being pressured by evangelicals to convert, the Air Force issued guidelines cautioning superiors from pressing their personal religious views on subordinates. But months later they eased the guidelines after Christian conservatives argued that the guidelines restricted freedom of religion.

In Aug. 2011, in a victory for trying to extricate religion from military business, the Air Force suspended a course called “Christian Just War Theory” — which had been required for missile officers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The PowerPoint for the class drew heavily upon Bible passages and Christian imagery to teach morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons. In the class students were taught based on a passage in the Book of Revelations that Jesus Christ is a "mighty warrior" who believed some wars to be just, according to Truthout.com which broke the story.

Shortly after this revelation, Schwartz issued a memo using language almost identical to that used in AFI 1-1 calling on all Air Force leaders to "avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion."

He went on to say that opportunities for worship, religious studies and prayer meetings can be promoted by chaplains, but not by commanders. And he instructed those who felt they were facing unfair bias on the basis of religion to contact a military attorney.

Political blowback
In response to the memo, and other moves, 66 members of Congress led by Randy Forbes, president of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, wrote a letter of protest to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta blaming Schwartz for an "alarming pattern of attacks on faith in the Air Force."

"We believe this statement exemplifies the troubling 'complete separation' approach that is creating a chilling effect down the chain of command as airmen attempt to comply," it said, according to a report in Air Force Times.

For those who advocate a "complete separation" of church and state, the Schwartz memo would have been a victory, except that some commanders refused to disseminate the memo, according to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation. 

That omission prompted MRFF to receive "a literal torrent of complaints" from military members who Weinstein says are afraid to directly confront the pervasive Christian culture in the Air Force.

The organization invested in a large billboard down the street from the academy containing the text of the entire memo.

As for dissemination of AFI 1-1, the Air Force has a plan "to ensure all Air Force personnel have access to this Instruction," said Air Force spokesman Capt. Derek White.

White did not have the Aug. 7 instruction before speaking to NBC News on Aug. 20. 

Forbes of the Congressional Prayer Caucus did not respond to a request for comment on the new regulations.

For Weinstein, it remains to be seen if AFI 1-1 marks a move in the right direction — and it depends on distribution and enforcement.

"It looks very nice," he said. "The problem is if you create a mandate that is complied with more frequently in the breech than in the conformance you create a problem 100 times worse than if you had not created the mandate in the first place ... It is looked at with scorn and derision."

Weinstein, who has been involved in dozens of battles to extricate religious materials from military settings, recently lambasted Schwartz for his "scandalously non-confrontational approach to the Christian extremist predators" in the Air Force.

"It was a transparent and likely guilt-ridden concession by Schwartz, yet it was both too little and too late," Weinstein wrote in an op-ed article. "With Schwartz’s butt-covering, last second, 'midnight drive-by' delivery of AFI 1-1, we have no alternative left but to look to the new USAF Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, to show the all-too-rare backbone once required of all top leaders within the U.S. Military."

Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School, said  the document could make a difference in Air Force culture.

"It’s one thing for a Chief of Staff of the Air Force to issue a letter that goes around," said Fidell. "It is another to put it in permanent form so the next chief won’t take a different approach. I think for him to have done what he did ... I think it was appropriate and gutsy."

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WEST NEW YORK, N.J. -- Hundreds of Catholic faithful and curious onlookers descended on a West New York street Thursday, eager to visit a tree that many are convinced bears an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary as worshipped in Mexico. 

The crowds gathered around the tree on Bergenline Avenue, leaving piles of flowers and praying as they touched the tree.

"As soon as I got here, I felt this rush when I saw it, this rush from my body," said Barbara Questel of West New York. "It's such an amazing feeling." 

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See the original report at NBCNewYork.com

Johanna Ramos was among the first to spot the image earlier in the week.

"It took me awhile, but when I realized the colors and shape of it, it was really noticeable," she said.

The crowds grew so large, police set up barricades to protect people waiting in line from traffic.

"It's excellent," said Bacher Archnir of West New York. "A lot of people come and believe."

Visitors to the tree lingered into the night. Barricades around the tree will remain, as police expect the number of visitors to grow. 

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A Marine fighter squadron challenged on its use of the "Crusaders" name and cross-and-shield symbolism as its insignia has been ordered to reverse the decision, and to return to identifying itself as "Werewolves," the Marine Corps said on Thursday.

The news came a month after the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation blasted the use of the Crusaders name and logo — citing constitutional and practical objections — on behalf of dozens of soldiers, including Marines in the affected squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122. (See msnbc.com's original report here.)

"The deputy commandant for aviation directed VMFA 122 to maintain the unit identification as the Werewolves," said Marines public information officer Lt. Col. Joseph Plenzler. "I called down there to confirm that they have changed the tail markings, squadron patches" and other places the squadron logo appears, he said.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates complete separation of church and state, welcomed the policy change.

"This is a great victory. Lady liberty is smiling today," said Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of foundation. "We commend the Marine Corps," he said, but added: "The Marines Corps does not get a gold star for doing the right thing because they shouldn’t have done the wrong thing in the first place."

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The squadron, based in Beaufort, S.C., used the Crusaders symbol from 1958 to 2008, when Lt. Col. William Lieblein pointed out that imagery invoking the Christian conquest and colonization of Muslim nations during the Middle Ages was counterproductive to the U.S. presence across the Arab and Islamic world.

"The notion of being a crusader in that part of the world doesn't float," he said, ordering the change to "Werewolves," as reported by the Beaufort Gazette at the time.

News that the Crusaders had been reinstated surfaced in April, just as world attention focused on the trial of Anders Breivik, a Norwegian who admitted to killing 77 people in a crusade against Islam and multiculturalism. Breivik brandished the cross and shield symbols in his "manifesto" and YouTube video posted shortly before his bloody rampage.

Later in April, the military announced a Department of Defense-wide review of all training materials to purge anti-Islam bias. Documents that surfaced from that review exposed materials discussing the possibility of attacking Muslim populations and destroying the Islamic holy sites Medina and Mecca.

Weinstein said his foundation had received complaints by many soldiers upset by the return to "Crusaders" and that he represented 122 military members who were prepared to file a lawsuit over the name.

"I don’t know that the Marine Corps could do anything more to fuel the cause of jihad," Weinstein told msnbc.com in April. "It will directly end up costing lives and maiming members of our military."

As of May 18, legal counsel for Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos continued to defend the use of the Crusaders name and symbolism in a teleconference with a lawyer for the foundation.

The military attorney questioned whether the cross was a religious symbol and argued that the crusades were really military, not religious in nature, according to an account of the meeting verified by Caroline Mitchell, a lawyer from the firm Jones Day, which is representing the foundation.

In a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Amos on Wednesday, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation threatened legal action to force a change in the squadron name. It also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all communication and documentation related to the return of the squadron’s name from Werewolves to Crusaders.

But Plenzler said Thursday that a decision made weeks ago by Deputy Commandant of Aviation Lt. Gen. Terry Robling had overruled the squadron commander who reinstated the Crusaders logo.

Conversations with public affairs officers did not clarify why, in light of the policy change, the Marine Corps attorneys continued to dispute the issue with the foundation attorney last Friday. Nor was it clear when the cross-and-shield logo on the vertical stabilizers of the F-18 fighter jets had been painted over and other logos removed.  

Maj. Will Klumpp, a public affairs officer on the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, said he could not confirm that the Crusaders logo had been used.

"I can only tell you that there is not an aircraft with anything but a Werewolf within that squadron," he said.

"We still demand that those who made the decision … be fully and aggressively prosecuted so this never happens again," said Weinstein. "And we want a full accounting of how much money it cost taxpayers to change the name from Werewolves to Crusaders and back to Werewolves."

 

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NEW YORK -- A day before Easter, the head of New York's Roman Catholic archdiocese faced a challenge to his stance on gay rights: the resignation of a church charity board member who says he's "had enough" of the cardinal's attitude.

Joseph Amodeo told The Associated Press on Saturday that he quit the junior board of the city's Catholic Charities after Cardinal Timothy Dolan failed to respond to a "call for help" for homeless youths who are not heterosexual.

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"As someone who believes in the message of love enshrined in the teachings of Christ, I find it disheartening that a man of God would refuse to extend a pastoral arm" to such youths, Amodeo said in his letter to the charitable organization last Tuesday.

Phone and email requests from the AP for comment from the archdiocese were not immediately answered on Saturday.

Emergency services
The conflict started with a letter to Dolan from Carl Siciliano, founder of the nonprofit Ali Forney Center that offers emergency services to homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people. He said the cardinal's "loud and strident voice against the acceptance of LGBT people" creates "a climate where parents turn on their own children."

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"As youths find the courage and integrity to be honest about who they are at younger ages, hundreds of thousands are being turned out of their homes and forced to survive alone on the streets by parents who cannot accept having a gay child," Siciliano wrote in his letter, sent last week.

Siciliano, who is Catholic, said parents who are strongly religious are much more likely to reject children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Of the nation's homeless youths, as many as 40 percent are LGBT, studies show.

Siciliano received a response from the cardinal in a letter dated March 28.

"For you to make the allegations and insinuations you do in your letter based on my adherence to the clear teachings of the Church is not only unfair and unjust, but inflammatory," Dolan wrote. "Neither I nor anyone in the Church would ever tolerate hatred of or prejudice towards any of the Lord's children."

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The response prompted Amodeo to quit the board, said the 24-year-old gay Catholic who still teaches religious education to elementary school children as part of a New York archdiocese program. He'll be doing that on Easter in a parish near Manhattan's Union Square.

'Love thy neighbor'
Amodeo was a member of the executive committee of the junior board of the New York branch of Catholic Charities, one of the largest global networks of charities, started in New Orleans in 1727 as an orphanage.

"Every Sunday, I teach second-graders to 'love thy neighbor,' but then, when we as a church have a teachable moment, we fail," Amodeo told the AP in a telephone interview.

He said the cardinal "failed to respond to a call for pastoral assistance, to answer the question, 'What can we do together as a church and as a people for youths who are homeless?"

Dolan leads one of the nation's largest archdioceses — which has 2.6 million Catholics — and is president of the Washington-based U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Last summer during New York's same-sex marriage debate, the prelate warned that the proposed legislation — which later passed — was an "ominous threat" to society.

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Oikos University, the private college in Oakland, Calif., where authorities say an expelled student methodically gunned down seven people, caters to a fast-growing target market: Korean-American Christians.

One L. Goh, 43, a South Korean national, had been a nursing student at Oikos. Oakland police do not have a precise motive yet, but they say the alleged gunman was upset with his former school, where he apparently had been teased over his poor English. He went hunting for a female administrator at the school on Monday and then opened fire on others when he couldn’t find her, according to police.

Oikos, a one-building evangelical Christian college in an industrial park near Oakland’s airport, was founded in 2004 by the Rev. Jongin Kim of San Leandro, who remains the school’s president.

According to its website, its mission is to “educate men and women to be the leaders to serve the church, local communities, and the world by using their learned skills and professions in the areas of biblical studies, music performance, Asian medicine and practical vocational nursing.”

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Oikos awards degrees in nursing, biblical studies, music, ministry, divinity and Asian medicine. It attracts mostly Korean Americans from the Bay Area as well as Koreans from abroad. Tuition runs between $2,200 and $3,100 per semester for most bachelor’s programs and students are required to attend church services.

The school is one of about 1,400 institutions licensed by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, established in January 2010 within the Department of Consumer Affairs to oversee private postsecondary schools operating in California.

Police: Oikos shooter targeted female administrator

Bureau spokesman Russ Heimerich says the state has not received any merited complaints about Oikos. But he says the school’s nursing program, separately accredited by the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, could be in hot water because its pass rate for the nursing exam is well below the state average of 75 percent. (Oikos’ nursing pass rate was 58 percent and 41 percent, respectively, for 2010 and 2011, Heimerich said.)

“They are in jeopardy of having their accreditation altered in some way or withdrawn” if the school doesn’t bring up its pass rates, Heimerich told msnbc.com.

It was not immediately clear how many students attend Oikos. The school's website lists about 50 instructors.

Boyung Lee, associate professor of educational ministries at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, says Oikos is among a number of theology-related schools catering to Korean-Americans that have sprung up in Los Angeles, Atlanta, northern New Jersey-New York and other places around the U.S. with sizable Korean-American populations.

In South Korea, Christianity is the dominant religion; about 35 percent of the population are either Protestant or Catholic, Lee says.

“In Korea getting into college is extremely competitive so a lot of parents send their kids abroad. We have this term called 'goose family,' where the father stays in Korea and makes money while the children and mom are abroad  for education,” Lee says.

“Every parent wants their children to be fluent in English. Some parents may feel safe if their children are attending a school like Oikos because of its exclusive fundamentalist Christian environment.”

Pyong Gap Min, a sociology professor at Queens College in New York, said about 60 percent of Korean immigrants in the U.S. are Protestant. "Korean immigrants have drawn largely from the Protestant segment of the population in Korea and many non-churchgoers in Korea attend Korean churches here," Min told msnbc.com by email. "But Korean protestantism is very interesting because they are heavily evangelically oriented.  They have sent  about 15,000 missionaries to all over the world.  This number is the second largest group in the world next to the U.S."

Andrew Sung Park, a professor of theology and ethics at United Theological Seminary in Ohio, told CNN that most of 1.3 million Korean Americans are Christian and they generally subscribe to evangelical Protestantism.

"There is a saying that when Koreans get together in the United States, they establish churches first," Park, who is Korean-American, told CNN. "Some other Asians are more concerned with businesses or finances, but Koreans care about religion and about Christianity."

Kim, the school’s president, didn’t return media calls Tuesday, and Oakland police said the school is closed indefinitely. According to the Oakland Tribune, Kim is affiliated with the Praise God Korean Church in Oakland and is listed as the president of California Ezra Bible Academy in Sunnyvale.

The term "oikos" is ancient Greek for household or family. In a statement on Oikos University's website Kim says the school’s main goal is “to foster spiritual Christian leaders who abide by God’s intentions and to expand God’s nation through them.”

The statement adds:

“To accomplish our mission, we actively seek out, educate and train students, ministers, teachers and church leaders to become more qualified leaders. Oikos University has rapidly grown in its quality and size to become an institution that contributes to and positively changes their surrounding environment--and the world in general.”

The school’s “Doctrinal Statement” lists 11 fundamental beliefs, including the Bible, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Number 11 on the list is Satan:

"We believe the existence of a personal, malevolent being called Satan who acts as tempter and accuser, for whom the place of eternal punishment was prepared, where all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity. He can be resisted by the believer through faith and reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit."

“I was taken aback by how fundamentalist and conservative these systems are. I assume that those beliefs, doctrines were taught to students,” Lee said.  “I wonder whether such a system creates liberation among students.”

Msnbc.com's James Eng contributed to this report.

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When Patrick Greene learned that a county five hours north of his San Antonio home had placed a nativity on the courthouse square, he vowed to file suit if they did it again, the Malakoff News reported. An atheist, Greene did not believe the religious symbol of Christmas had any place on government property.

Then, as quickly as he blew into Henderson County, he withdrew. He would not lead a rally, he told reporters there, because he believed he suffered from a detached retina and was going blind. He had to leave his job as a taxi driver, he elaborated, and he did not have health insurance, according to the Malakoff News.

Greene thought his short foray into Henderson County ended there, but a group of Christians organized to offer him money, the Malakoff News reported.

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Jessica Crye of Athens, TX, a member of San Springs Baptist Church, organized the fundraiser. She said that while others in her community were relieved to hear about Greene’s eye condition, she saw the situation differently.

“Why not turn this into something else? This is a great opportunity to turn the other cheek and show God's love,” she told TylerPaper.com.

Erick Graham, her pastor, said they didn’t have time to think or pray about the decision.

“We don't discriminate on who we help, whether they are Christians or non-Christians, church members or not,” Graham told TylerPaper.com. “We just help those with a need.”

Several Henderson County Christians offered to pay for Greene’s eye surgery, but he refused. The surgery wasn’t guaranteed and he said he didn’t want to waste their money.

They asked how they could help and Greene, who was in the Air Force for eight years, admitted that he needed money for groceries until he sorted out his social security.  

When a check arrived for $400, he was surprised and touched.

“They said they wanted to do what real Christians are supposed to do – love you – and they wanted to help,” Greene told TylerPaper.com.

Greene asked a friend to spread the word on how he spent the money:

“Our cat now has enough food until our social security checks arrive,” Greene wrote by e-mail. His cat is named Big Boy. “We also have enough food until then. We did not spend any of it on beer or liquor, because not any of the three of us drink any kind of liquor. We did not spend any of it on sports, because all three of us hate sports. Me, my wife and our cat. Our cat is very much into bird watching.”  

Recently, Greene has discovered that he also has glaucoma. He set up a blog to solicit help, which he said pains him to do. Some of those donations come from atheists, some from Christians.

In an interesting twist, a property manager has suggested he move to Henderson County, where the rent is cheaper and where he and his wife would be within walking distance of Wal-Mart, a good thing because they don't have a car.

Given the people he's met from there, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. He, his wife and Big Boy are packing their bags.

The Rev. Pat Robertson says America should legalize marijuana. Would Jesus agree?

Msnbc.com put that question to a few theologians and religion experts, and the answer is … decidedly hazy.

Robertson, the outspoken Christian evangelist and host of “The 700 Club,” made national headlines this week when he told The New York Times that pot should be decriminalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs has failed miserably and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

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“I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded,” he told the newspaper.

Scholars disagree on whether the Bible lays down the law on use of mind-altering drugs such as marijuana, also known as cannabis.

"It’s not so simple that you can just go to the Scriptures and say, 'Hey, that (passage) says marijuana should be illegal,'  or 'that says marijuana should be legal.' There is no such passage," says Father Thomas Reese, S.J., senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Some pro-pot Christians refer to Genesis 1:29 and interpret it to mean God does not frown on ingesting plants such as marijuana:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, which has seed in its fruit; to you it shall be for food.

Indeed, several websites have sprung up contending that it’s OK for Christians to smoke pot to get high, including God Gave Us Cannabis, Christians For Cannabis and holyhemp.org.

But Todd Johnson, associate professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution in Pasadena, Calif., says the more relevant biblical passage is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the New Testament, in which the apostle Paul writes about wrongdoers and ills affecting the early church:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul goes on to describe food and the body, and concludes:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 

“Paul is addressing the issue of morality. One of the concerns he has is drunkenness. He concludes your body is in fact a temple of the Holy Spirit,” Johnson says.

“What substances do you put in your body? I think Paul implies there is a connection there.”

“I think the issue is, are you doing something in excess that could damage your body, that is not reflective of the holiness that God invites you to love?”

Reese says because the Bible doesn't refer directly to marijuana, theologians can only draw moral analogies based on biblical references to the drug of choice at the time -- alcohol.

"Just as abuse of alcohol is sinful because of its weakening of character and our ability to do good, so too we look at drugs and can come to moral conclusion that if drug use is leading us to do things we wouldn't do if we weren’t on drugs … then the use of these drugs is also bad."

Casting out demons
Carl A.P. Ruck, professor of classical studies at Boston University and co-author of “Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist,” contends there’s evidence biblical figures used cannabis as an ingredient in holy incense and anointing oil, as well as medicinally.

He says cannabis was widely cultivated throughout early Christian times, and contends Jesus himself used it. Jesus’ anointment with chrism, a cannabis-based oil, may have caused his spiritual visions, he adds.

“Residues of cannabis, moreover, have been detected in vessels from Judea and Egypt in a context indicating its medicinal, as well as visionary, use. Jesus is described by the apostle Mark as casting out demons and healing by the use of this holy chrism,” Ruck wrote in a 2003 newspaper column titled "Was there a whiff of cannabis about Jesus?”  “Earlier, from the time of Moses until the later prophet Samuel, holy anointing oil was used by the shamanic Levite priesthood to receive the ‘revelations of the Lord.’ The chosen ones were drenched in this potent cannabis oil.”

In an email Friday to msnbc.com, Ruck says there are also references in the Bible to the use of mandrake, a poisonous and mind-altering plant.

“The Bible … claims that Leah paid some mandrakes to Rachel in order to spend a night sleeping with her own husband that Rachel had stolen away from her. Understandably, some scholars would like to not identify the plants as mandrakes,” Ruck says.

“The Bible also speaks of 'strong wine.' There was no distillation known in antiquity to fortify the alcoholic content of wine. The strength comes from the fact that wine was usually the medium for administering a variable mixture of intoxicating additives.”

NYT: Pat Roberston says pot should be legal

Several Christian organizations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church, have issued statements supporting medicinal marijuana use, according to a 2007 story on slate.com. But none of them seem to endorse smoking pot recreationally.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops didn’t immediately return a call to msnbc.com for comment on where it stands on the legalization of pot. But the Vatican has said that the use of drugs causes “very grave damage on human health and life” and adds that “their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense.”

Legalize or not?
So is legalization of marijuana the Christian thing to do?

Reese, who like Bill Clinton says he's "never inhaled," supports legalization. "There’s a tradition within Catholic theology that the purpose of law is not to outlaw every sin. Prohibition was a classic failure of trying to do that," he says.

"I think because of the terrible impact on society of these criminal gangs that control marijuana, we’d be better off legalizing it and putting a decent tax on it and having it branded like we brand cigarettes."

Scholars all agree on this much: Drugs are tearing apart America’s neighborhoods and society and current solutions aren't working.

"The war on drugs has been lost and like the war in Vietnam, maybe it’s time to cut and run," Reese says.

“Prohibition merely manufactures criminals. There should be an approach that tries to evolve an etiquette for the correct use, similar to the designated driver for alcohol parties,” says Ruck.

Adds Johnson: “In some ways I have to applaud Pat Robertson for posing that question. I think Robertson, agree or disagree, has raised a question about a very relevant topic. We as a society have to wrestle with that.”

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