Lawhorn’s commander, Colonel David Fivecoat, took action against Lawhorn after a soldier complained to the website MilitaryAtheists.org. Captain Lawhorn had spoken and distributed one page of religious material to soldiers November 20 on how his faith helped him overcome bouts of depression. Suicide in the ranks has been a major Army problem amid deployments to long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Michael Berry, a reserve Marine Corps judge advocate who is representing Captain Lawhorn, called Colonel Fivecoat’s letter “knee-jerk.” “He basically censured a chaplain for doing his job, for doing what chaplains are trained to do and what Army regulations in fact encourage chaplains to do,” said Mr Berry, a lawyer at the Liberty Institute in Dallas. “Colonel Fivecoat did not do his homework.”

In fact, the Pope himself devoted significant time in November to ecumenical initiatives. He addressed Evangelical Protestants on November 6th and he met with the Ecumenical Patriarch (the Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople), Bartholomew I, in Turkey at the end of the month. (They had already met in the Holy Land and issued a joint declaration six months earlier.) On the return flight from Turkey, Francis offered the press a number of insights into the urgency and possibilities of the quest for Christian unity today.

In 1964, the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) firmly established the ecumenical project as a necessary expression of the common baptism of all Christians and of Christ’s desire that his followers would be one (John 17:21). Pope John Paul II followed up in greater detail with his 1995 encyclical That They May Be One (Ut Unum Sint).

Wind speeds of between 60mph and 70mph are expected in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, where the Met Office has put in place yellow 'be prepared' warnings.

Police have also said that trees are down and blocking roads, especially in the Highlands and Aberdeenshire, and people have been warned not to travel 'unless absolutely necessary'.

Buildings have been damaged, trees uprooted and travel and power lines affected by the high winds, with some reporting the winds were so strong their windows were blown in.

All schools on Orkney and the Western Isles are shut today and dozens in the Highlands, including nurseries, are also closed. Planes were also captured on camera being buffeted by the gales as they struggled to take off and land at Leeds Bradford Airport. The gales are caused by a 250mph Atlantic jet stream heading for the north of Scotland from the US, bringing two storms with it, one hitting overnight and the second striking during the day today.

“Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions are determined by divine revelation and not based on people's desires,” he wrote.

“Although Muslims may not agree about the idea of freedom of expression, even non-Muslims who espouse it say it comes with responsibilities. In an increasingly unstable and insecure world, the potential consequences of insulting the Messenger Muhammad are known to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

While President Francois Hollande called for national unity in an attempt to deter the public from demonizing the country’s 5-million strong Muslim community, Le Pen said France has to confront the beliefs of the gunmen who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

“Time’s up for denial and hypocrisy,” Le Pen, who has railed against immigration, said in a video posted on her party’s website. “The absolute rejection of Islamic fundamentalism must be proclaimed loudly and clearly.” The lessons voters draw from the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II will shape the political debate as the country looks toward the 2017 election. Hollande, the most unpopular president in modern history, is struggling to make up ground on Le Pen, who’s seen her support surge as she blames immigrants for France’s near-record unemployment and deepening inequalities.

“Of all political parties, the Front National stands to gain most from this atrocity,” Jim Shields, head of French studies at Aston University in Birmingham, England, said in an interview. “Public agreement with the FN’s ideas has been rising steadily and this event will play into the party’s anti-immigration, anti-Islam agenda.”

Not so Islam. The battle within Islam itself between Sunni and Shia, so evident in the wars of the Middle East, and the fight between extremist interpretations of Islam such as those of Islamic State and Muslims who wish to practice their religion in peace, is now being played out on the streets of Europe with potentially devastating consequences for social cohesion.

These latest shootings may be the work of "lone wolves" but their consequences will ripple across Europe and provoke much soul-searching about the failure of integration over the past decades. Immigrant communities are already being viewed with increasing suspicion in both France and Germany, with their significant Muslim populations, and even in the UK.

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, some five million or 7.5% of the population, compared with Germany's four million or 5% of the population, and the UK's three million, also 5% of the population. The killings at Charlie Hebdo are a deeply unwelcome reminder to the west that for some, mainly young radicalised men, their fundamentalist interpretation of their religion matters enough to kill those who offend it.

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said he was dismayed by the remarks, in which the UK Independence Party leader said there was a “fifth column” living in Britain and France responsible for terrorist attacks. In a passionate defence of Charlie Hebdo, the targeted magazine, Mr Clegg said there is “no right to not be offended”.

Mr Farage told Channel 4 News: "There is a very strong argument that says that what happened in Paris is a result - and we've seen it in London too - is a result I'm afraid of now having a fifth column living within these countries. We've got people living in these countries, holding our passports, who hate us.

"Luckily their numbers are very, very small but it does make one question the whole really gross attempt at encouraged division within society that we have had in the past few decades in the name of multiculturalism." He repeated the message on LBC Radio, saying: “What should have been done is we should have had a controlled immigration policy and made sure we did full checks on everybody who ever came to this country from anywhere - and that applies to everyone else.

“We in Britain, and I’ve seen evidence in other European countries too, have pursued a really rather gross policy of multi-culturalism. We have encouraged people who come from different cultures to remain within those cultures, and not to integrate fully within our communities.”