by Jim Heaphy

Recently, here in Napa, a Junior Traffic Patrol Review was held to honor young people who volunteer to help keep pedestrian crossings near schools safe. Representatives of the public schools and the police joined to give these young people the recongnition they deserve. During the event, a minister gave an invocation that closed "in the name of Jesus Christ".
To many, this is just another minor event. Just another example of an insensitive and thoughtless Christian minister not realizing that such a prayer at a public community was bound to offend non-Christians present. Another trivial slight to be forgotten. It so happens that I am familiar with the work of this minister, and researched his activities well over a year ago.
The minister in question heads the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County. Napa's police chief is on its Advisory Council. There is also an organization called the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC) that sets professional and ethical standards for this sort of chaplain. This international organization has strict standards of ecumenism that forbid a chaplain from disdaining the faith of others or proselytizing them for his or her own church. The ICPC has a logo that features both a cross and a star of David superimposed on a police badge. The Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County has a similar logo, only they have eliminated the star of David. It gets more interesting.
A Jewish woman here in Napa had a background in search and rescue work and decided that she wanted to be a police chaplain. She spent considerable time traveling to Sacramento to attend a training course in this discipline. Near the end of her training, she approached the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County about working with them. She was told that she would only be accepted into that organization if she accepted Christian beliefs such as the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, his sinless life, his resurrection and ascension into heaven and so on. She rejected that proselytizing and had to relocate to another community to do the work she was trained for.
Let me be clear. The minister in question has every right to hold those beliefs and to preach them at his church. However, I would argue that he has no right at all to carry out work for a governmental agency such as the Napa Police Department in such and exclusionary and insulting fashion.
Now we come to events of last month. Early Friday morning, June 19, firebombs erupted in three synagogues in and around Sacramento. Crude anti-semitic literature was strewn around some of these synagogues, now crime scenes. That afternoon, I heard a radio report on my way home from work, and later asked my son James to download the news reports from the Internet. I was shaken as I read that news from the bimah that evening. The following morning, instead of driving 20 minutes to our synagogue in Napa, Debra and I and our sons drove one hour to Congregation Bnai Israel in Sacramento. I am not ashamed to admit that that I broke into tears as I approached the yellow police tape strung around the synagogue, and saw the devastation -- the stained bricks and charred beams and ashes that are all that remains one of the finest Jewiish libraries in Northern Califonia. Thank God that no one was physically injured or killed, but the psychological injury is immense. Debra and I were able to speak to a woman who is a member of Bnai Israel, and let her know that the Jews of Napa were horrified at this atrocity.
Of course, I am not trying to hint that there is any direct connection between the police chaplain in Napa and the Sacramento firebombings. I do believe, though, that we must be vigilant and willing to speak out against anti-semitism, especially when it emanates from those with authority and power in our community. As instructed by the Board of Trustees, I have contacted the appropriate public authorities here in Napa to lodge our protest against the offensive activities of the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County.