God and Country

The Liberty Institute launched a campaign called “Don’t Tear Me Down” aimed at protecting military memorials.  (While the push is new, the effort has been ongoing for some time.) The effort is initially focused on the Mount Soledad cross, but they accurately note the attacks on memorials could have a far wider impact:

“The ACLU is so driven to purge religious displays from the public Read more…

Jason Torpy, the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, is an atheist and former Army officer.  While his MAAF is ostensibly a “community support network,” he recently revealed the true motivation behind his ideology.

In a recent display of internet frustration, Torpy took fellow atheists to task for not banding together and being “anti-” enough.  The context was a comment that people don’t join groups for things they don’t believe in, spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a self-described agnostic (who says he is “often claimed by atheists”):

Do non-golf players gather and strategize? Do non-skiers…come together and talk about the fact that they don’t ski? I can’t do that. I can’t gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn’t believe in God.

This is the same point raised by many people  Read more…

Consistent with US law, President Barack Obama proclaimed Thursday, May 3, 2012 to be a National Day of Prayer.  He also called specifically for prayer for US troops:

Let us pray for the continued strength and safety of our service members and their families…

I invite all citizens of our Nation, as their own faith directs them, to join me in giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy, and I call upon individuals of all faiths to pray for guidance, grace, and protection for our great Nation as we address the challenges of our time.

His proclamation for a day of prayer contained a subtle Read more…

The as-yet undecided case of the Camp Pendleton cross, a memorial facing complaints by atheists, has actually impacted a second, unrelated cross.  LCpl Benjamin Whetstone was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire, and members of his platoon had apparently planned to erect a cross on an overlooking hill on Camp Pendleton:

But because of a pending military review of placement of religious symbols, the parents of Lance Cpl. Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Read more…

In April 2010, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that claimed a transfer of National Park Service land in the Mojave National Preserve — upon which stood a cross — was an end-run around the US Constitution.

In January 2011, the VFW sued the government for failing to abide by that decision and allowing the cross to stand.  In fact, while the case was ongoing the cross was stolen; when a replacement appeared, the government took it down.

Now it appears the case is done:

A federal judge has approved Read more…

A rebuilt mosque in Afghanistan is now the “centerpiece of the local government” — with the aid of the US Marines.

Marine Capt. Jesse Hills…was the project manager for the refurbishment. He was responsible for finding out what exactly was needed to repair the mosque: the time and resources Read more…

Michael Weinstein took a pay cut in 2010, so it looks like he felt the need to write a book to try to make up the difference.  He wrote an “op-ed” printed on the Washington Post website, though it was characterized by a fairly solid theme:  No new material, except for hawking Weinstein’s book.

It was refreshing, in some respects, to see Weinstein eschew the subtlety of some of his supporters and just come right out and say he and his “religious freedom” group are targeting Christians:  Read more…

Last September, the patriotic “God banners” in Poway teacher Brad Johnson’s classroom were ruled unconstitutional by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.  The appellate decision reversed that of the district court, which had previously written a strong ruling finding in Johnson’s favor.

The Thomas More Law Center recently appealed to the Supreme Court, with TMLC president Richard Thompson saying  Read more…

The Kansas Congressional delegation continues the multi-year push to honor US Army Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun with the Medal of Honor.

Army Capt. Emil Kapaun of Pilsen was serving as a chaplain when he died in a prison camp in May 1951…  Read more…

Update: The Army defended its actions, with FoxNews saying it was a “cautionary move to preserve “military order and discipline,”" not censorship.

In a surprisingly underreported story, the US Army reportedly censored — and then admitted the wrong of censoring — US military Catholic chaplains during their performance of their Catholic Mass.  Catholic priests were apparently given letters to read to their parishes explaining the Catholic opposition to the Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring insurance coverage for things that violate Catholic beliefs.

On Thursday, January 26, Archbishop Broglio emailed a pastoral letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit at Sunday Masses the following weekend in all military chapels. The letter calls on Catholics to resist the policy initiative, recently affirmed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for federally mandated health insurance covering sterilization, abortifacients and contraception, because it represents a violation of the freedom of religion recognized by the U.S. Constitution.

The US Army’s Chaplaincy office responded:  Read more…

According to articles on the event, the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, was unique this year:

In a town where just about everything is scripted, the sight of the President, Vice-President and members of Congress singing “Amazing Grace,” during the 60th Annual National Prayer breakfast was one of several off script moments that was almost refreshing today.

According to another source, the talk of the town was the speech delivered at the breakfast — but not President Obama’s speech:  Read more…

The US House of Representatives passed two separate bills (previously noted) related to religion at US military war memorials — a point of controversy for about the past two decades in southern California, at least. Though they’ve been inaccurately described as “promoting” religion, the first does little more than officially authorize longstanding tradition, and the second adds a Presidential statement to a war Read more…

In a move that will likely cause Michael Weinstein, Richard Baker, Leah Burton and other conspiracy theorists to have heart palpitations, author Mark Andrews has released an eBook entitled Sword of the Covenant.

The premise:  The US “lacks the political will” to help prevent the annihilation of Israel by Iran, so two top Pentagon officials try to convince USAF fighter pilots in Turkey and US Navy fighter pilots on a gulf-based aircraft carrier — all evangelical Christians — to launch Read more…

The Air Force Times notes the US Air Force has yet to replace the introductory ethics course taught to ICBM officers that was pulled late last summer.  The Air Force withdrew the course “for review” after the MRFF complained about content mentioning Christian beliefs.  The Air Force had previously stated it could reinstate the course, replace it, or simply delete it.

On a related point, there has been no public release to Senator Cornyn’s request for the Air Force to explain its actions, either.

As noted previously, the MRFF’s Chris Rodda took issue with the Senator’s words defending the Constitution.

It was noted here once before that US military fighter pilots sanitize their uniforms prior to combat missions, so if they are captured they have little on their person to provide information to the enemy.  However, intel officers occasionally encouraged pilots to carry family photos, thinking the “personalizing” aspect of the photo might positively influence their captors’ perspectives.  Similarly, some encouraged carrying a religious item like a cross that would be found on them if they were captured.

Why carry an obviously Christian item on a combat sortie into a predominantly Islamic country?

Simple: Adversaries, primarily of the Islamic faith, respected Christians as “people of the book.”  Many have misunderstood Muslims’ use of the term “infidels,” which refers to those “without faith.”  In short, hostile Islamic adversaries viewed a Christian in the US military far more positively than an atheist in uniform.

The US Marines recently capitalized on that knowledge, using the faith of an American soldier as a positive message of religious respect to counter the Taliban propaganda of American “infidels” — militant atheists trying to get rid of religion in Afghanistan:  Read more…