It sounds like the “Coercive Baptisms” incident might be cleared up. The army probe has exonerated the chaplain, saying that the facts don’t support the story as it appeared.
“I am confident that Chaplain (Josh) Llano does not, has not and will not use coercion in the exercise of his official responsibilities,” said Chaplain (Col.) Al Buckner, director of operations at the Army’s chief of chaplains office at the Pentagon, in a statement.
A report from the Knight Ridder news agency about Llano’s possible exchange of baptisms for baths prompted strong criticism from organizations concerned about church-state separation. That news story stated that the 32-year-old chaplain, who described himself as a “Southern Baptist evangelist,” told a reporter: “It’s simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized.”
A statement from the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs said Llano does not recall making such a statement. “He did make some of the remarks the reporter attributed to him, but not all to her, and not in the context or with the intent the article appeared to suggest,” the statement reads.
The Army said soldiers at Camp Bushmaster were not suffering from a water shortage and the chaplain was only given water for baptism after water needs of the soldiers were met. “Soldiers had no need to resort to being baptized to get clean,” the Army said.
(Volokh was unable to find the news online. The RNS is a subscription service; I can find the headline for the story on their site, but can’t pull up the text. I’m a bit surprised I can’t find the story elsewhere, though, since this is dated the 11th.)
UPDATE: Ah. Here we go, with more details.
If you want to look at what this looks like (it doesn’t look like 500 gallons to me):
Here’s the caption (I don’t know if this is or is not related to the “incident”):
Pfc. David Kurns is baptized by Task Force Chaplain Capt. Ron Cooper, left, and 1st Lt. Brian Case, right, in the desert north of Kuwait City, Wednesday, March 12. Eight members of the 3rd Infantry Division were baptized in the desert on Wednesday.
I’m not sure about coercive baptism, but Mormons (or Latter Day Saints as they now wish to be known) have been baptising the dead for years. In fact, if you have a Mormon relative, once dead you are likely to be baptised even if you were fervently against the church during life! As annoying as Jehovah’s Witnesses can be, at least they leave you aline when you’re dead. 😉
Unless they know something I don’t (in which case, more power to them), I don’t think I’ll be particularly bothered by posthumous baptism.