God and Country

Chris Carroll at the Stars and Stripes notes the importance of Catholic chaplains to a large majority of the US military population — and yet the marked shortage of priests in the military as a whole.

Searching for bombs day in and day out, [US Army SPC Joe] Murphy needed the reassuring hand of his faith more than ever, but because of a worsening shortage of Catholic chaplains in Afghanistan and throughout the military, it had never been more difficult to practice it.

“The only time in Afghanistan I ever saw a priest was Read more…

The Baptist Press says US Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Kevin Humphrey’s report back to his sending agency

reads like the script of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Chaplain Humphrey is currently deployed to Kandahar and has been nearly constantly busy with rocket attacks, attending to the wounded, and serving the spiritual needs of all on the base, including US, British, Canadian, Pakistani, and others.

With challenges come opportunities:  Read more…

Everyone already knows versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 remove the prohibitions on sodomy and bestiality (since reinstated), have amendments on homosexual marriage, and redefine rape.  It’s also known President Obama originally vowed to veto it over language on detainee treatment.

In yet another section of the now-passed bill, an amendment by Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran of Kansas successfully inserted language that would award the Medal of Honor to Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun. (The House version had an identical amendment by Rep. Mike Pompeo.)  Chaplain Kapaun is famous for Read more…

Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers picked up last month’s post on Tebowing, even plagiarizing text from ChristianFighterPilot.com in the process.  He reached a different conclusion, however:

Tebowing with Afghan kids is clearly an evangelical activity that must be pulled from the site with reprimands for the troop involved.  The NFL game is misappropriation of government resources — and any Marine will tell you his body is a government resource. 

First of all, Tebowing.com a private website, so there is no governmental Read more…

The Los Angeles Times is fast becoming a frequent commenter on all things military and religion, with the US Air Force Academy high on that list.  In an unusual twist from the norm, its articles are biased toward the positive.

(For example, it published the original story about the baptism of US Marines to which Michael Weinstein objected, and most recently gave favorable coverage to the Camp Pendleton cross, now a controversy in its own right.)

In its most recent article on the topic, it notes the “Air Force Academy adapts to pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans:”

“We’re here to accommodate all religions, period,” [USAFA Chaplain (Maj) Darren] Duncan says. The building of the Cadet Chapel Falcon Circle on the hilltop, he says, is no different from the past conversion of chapel rooms into worship spaces that serve this year’s 11 Muslim, 16 Buddhist and 10 Hindu cadets. There are also 43 self-identified atheist cadets whose beliefs, or lack of them, Duncan says are also to be respected.

Never one to let good will go unspoilt, the article quotes Michael Weinstein as saying he Read more…

The Rev. Billy Graham has a syndicated daily newspaper column called “My Answer.”  He recently addressed a question from a US servicemember in Afghanistan reconsidering their calling in life:

DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Right now, I’m in the military deployed in Afghanistan, and I’ve really grown closer to God during my time here. Do you think God wants me to be a pastor or something like that when I get out? How can I know? — M. M.

Graham thanked the servicemember for their service and noted the Read more…

The Stars and Stripes covers the story of US Army SGT Chris and Cristina Tarantino, who were “reared Catholic” but recently converted to Islam.

She started to wonder what happened after death, she said, and how to best live life on earth.

She was spending time with her older sister, who had converted to Islam after marrying a Palestinian, and she sought her sister’s guidance.

Her sister’s answers about Islam made sense Read more…

The RecordOnline reports on the many faithful members of the US Military Academy’s football team:

They sprint onto Blaik Field and head directly to the north end zone. About 20 or so Army teammates take a knee and pray individually.

Some prayers last a few seconds. Others are deeper. They ask for both teams to be safe. They express how thankful they are for Read more…

CNN’s religion blog highlighted research by Christianity Today suggesting evangelical Christians may be statistically more “patriotic” than other Americans:

Among those surveyed, evangelicals were the most likely to think the United States is No. 1.

“Other Christian traditions were less enthusiastic about America’s position in the world, but they still saw the U.S. as one of the best on the planet. About 40% of other Christians said the U.S. stands alone as the greatest country; around 55% said it and some other countries were equally great.

Those “without religious beliefs” held a “much less favorable view” Read more…

The Mission Aviation Fellowship blog has a short post on a medical evacuation by float plane in Borneo:

After flying over four hours in the middle of Borneo navigating low rivers, reverse currents, boaters, swimmers, logs, docks, and shooting eight landings, this is why we do it Read more…

The “military director” of American Atheists and coordinator for “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg, Justin Griffith, previously misstepped when he tried to ‘humorously’ make the point “there are no chaplains in foxholes.’  (Even some who support him have asked him not to demean the service of chaplains who died in the line of duty or received such accolades as the Medal of Honor.)

Griffith was also so offended by an answer BrigGen Rhonda Cornum gave in a media interview that he misquoted her and allowed another military atheist, Dustin Chalker, to rail on about her misquoted statement.

Now, he’s done it again.

This time Griffith targeted Read more…

Senior Airman John Harris is a Messianic Jew who was deployed to the Middle East, but he still wanted to celebrate Sukkot.  With the help of the deployed chaplains, including a Rabbi at a completely different base, he was able to get the support he needed.

“I spoke with the Chapel staff here and they put me in contact with a rabbi at (Joint Base Balad),” said Harris…

“It has been an unexpected joy for me to be able to Read more…

Addressing Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Richard Land told students God calls some into public service — with the express intent of influencing the culture.  Referencing Romans 13, Land said

God “does call some of us to be involved in government, because you cannot write laws that will protect you from bad application by evil people…We need for godly men and women to be willing to be open to the prospect that God’s will for your life may be to go into public service, to serve Read more…

A group of trainees at the US Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, was photographed in a religious training event that has raised the ire of a religious watchdog.

On the first Sunday in August a representative of Harun Yahya was allowed, following an invitation from the Muslim chaplain at Lackland, Captain Sharior Rahman, to present two classes: a morning one on “The Collapse of Darwinism and the Fact of Creation” and an evening one covering “Miracles in the Qur’an.”

Dr. Timothy Furnish of Family Security Matters has made it his purpose in life to track the “mahdi movement” (loosely paraphrased, the messianic side of Islam), of which Harun Yahya is a part.  Furnish obtained photographs of basic trainees sitting through a class on these Islamic studies:  Read more…

As noted at the Huffington Post, US Marine Anthony Vance deployed to Iraq and soon became Ibrahim Mohamed, a new convert to Islam.

Mohamed felt the pull toward the faith strengthen in Iraq — “the heart of the Islamic world,” as he says — and he reached out to the Muslim contractors on his base and started learning about the precepts of the Quran.

Convinced that he was being called to Islam, he officially became a Muslim while Read more…