God and Country

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint.  The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.

As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:

It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more…

In an interesting bit of timing, several groups have decried the decision by West Point to invite retired LtGen William Boykin, author of Never Surrender, to their National Prayer Breakfast on February 8th.  The self-described “progressive” VoteVets.org wrote to West Point Superintendent LtGen David Huntoon saying

You may not be aware of Lieutenant General Boykin’s history of extremist and hateful comments towards Islam…

These remarks are incompatible with the Army values, and a person who is incompatible with Army values should not address the cadets of the United States Military Academy.

Where have we heard similar cries before?  Ah, yes: The claim Franklin Graham was an “Islamophobe” and therefore an inappropriate speaker at a similar event at the Pentagon.  The critics won that one, and Graham’s invitation was rescinded based on his prior speech, not on what he might have said if he had been allowed to attend.  Tony Perkins was “disinvited” for his public comments that were wholly unrelated to his event, as well.  Likewise, Michael Weinstein demanded Read more…

Though its organizers have said nothing publicly, it seems entirely likely the atheist counter-event to be held at Fort Bragg, NC, known as “Rock Beyond Belief” — the atheist come-back to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association’s “Rock the Fort” — will yet again come to loggerheads with the US Army. 

In fact, the March 31st “concert” may even be cancelled.  Again.

Its primary organizer, US Army Sgt Justin Griffith, cancelled the event Read more…

You have to give Jason Torpy a little credit.  Unlike Michael Weinstein, who is characterized by ellipses, alliterative vitriol, and threats of lawsuits, Torpy has demonstrated an ability to actually communicate with people and achieve at least some level of influence (that is, until he steps into more “controversial” areas.)

The one-man wonder that is the Military “Association” of Atheists and Freethinkers recently “needled” an Air Force agency into changing the motto that has graced their patch for some years.

The US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office “expedites” acquisitions programs, many in “sensitive activities.”  The RCO had a patch that, like many units’ patches, contained embedded in-jokes, clever double-speak, and probably even hinted at national secrets.  Torpy’s beef?  The slogan at the bottom:

Opus Dei Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus
“Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money”

Apparently, the phrase “Doing God’s Work” is Read more…

Update: Military.com notes:

a week after the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers submitted the petition on WhiteHouse.gov the effort has garnered just 25 of the 25,000 signatures it needs by Feb. 5 to get any kind of response from the White House.

Jason Torpy, a former Army captain and current atheist, has filed a petition on WhiteHouse.gov to have “no religious preference,” or “NO REL PREF,” removed from the options in troops’ military records. He also wants the question removed from the list of requirements during inprocessing, making it an optional “opt in” later.

The latter is probably extremely unlikely.  First, the military has been mandated by law to make a variety of things a “mandatory opt in,” based on the belief most servicemembers will never make the extra effort to do so otherwise. (For example, one congressman floated the idea of forcing members of the military to enroll in the pseudo-retirement “Thrift Savings Plan.”)  Torpy explicitly stated there was pressure to “choose Christianity” in basic training:  Read more…

The Fort Bragg command chaplain’s office hosted the latest meeting of Strong Bonds, the chaplain-based marriage strengthening retreats intended to help troops on the homefront.

“It’s especially critical for military personnel in that it’s difficult enough being in a relationship with someone, but when you take the dynamics of the military, the Army, the separation, the work stress, the long hours from time to time, that puts additional stress on relationships,” said Chaplain (Maj.) Ralph Clark…

The chaplains host 8 such seminars every year, and are based on a variety of relationship models:  Read more…

Update: Another California paper accuses the LA Times of being “too close” to Camp Pendleton in their failure to get an “obligatory” comment from the ACLU when they first reported on the Camp Horno cross.

An Associated Press article updates the protest by atheist Jason Torpy over the memorials located on Camp Horno, on the Camp Pendleton Marine post in California.  It repeats much of the recent local article, noting a decision isn’t coming until next year, though its title is telling:

Atheists, Marines debate Camp Pendleton crosses

Even if inadvertently, the AP accurately notes it is a ‘battle’ between Torpy and the US Marines, not any other group.

The article also says Torpy is happy for the rest of the memorial to remain, just not the cross.  Ironically, this seems to counter not only the concept of Read more…

The issue of the legality of the Camp Pendleton cross was elevated to higher headquarters, according to a local article.

A group of reporters was allowed to make the trek to see the memorial upon which the controversy was based.  To his credit, Mark Walker of the North County Times accurately gave some depth to the content of the memorial:

The site is home to numerous mementos, as well as the crosses, neither of which is visible from nearby Interstate 5.

Each is surrounded by thousands of rocks carried up by Marines from sea level at Camp Horno as a homage to troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many of those rocks have hand-scrawled messages of love and remembrance.

There are dozens of bottles of booze, 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…

US Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) sent a letter to Camp Pendleton’s commanding officer Colonel Nicholas Marano indicating his support for allowing the now-controversial memorial cross to remain standing in order to honor four US Marines who fell in Iraq:

Majs. Douglas Zembiec and Ramon Mendoza, and Lance Cpls. Robert Zurheide and Aaron Austin..

What makes Hunter’s call unique, besides his status as a member of Congress?

He was there.  Read more…

Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers was recently interviewed by NPR on the topic of atheist chaplains.  At one point he said he felt “excluded…because of his beliefs” while he was in the Army.  His unit was preparing for a convoy:

Going on a military mission, for example, we were getting ready to roll out…So as the commander of this convoy (said), ‘Everybody come in and we’re going to do a prayer first together.’ We’re not going to talk about communications, we’re not going to talk about route planning, we’re not going to talk about first aid, we’re not going to talk about maintenance.
 
So I had to opt myself out of that situation, to ‘out’ myself because this commander took it upon himself to have a personal religious activity in the midst of a military mission.

CNS News caught that, and later asked Torpy to clarify.  Torpy ultimately admitted the unit had prepared for the mission, despite his implication Read more…

Ian Smith of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has written a letter to Camp Pendleton’s commander joining Jason Torpy in his calls to have the memorial cross removed.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written to base commander Col. Nick Marano, saying the cross’s establishment on government property represents an unconstitutional endorsement of the Christian religion.

Ironically, or ignorantly, Smith undermines his own message:  Read more…

An unnamed US Soldier in Afghanistan took personal umbrage at the removal of a cross from the local chapel.

U.S. soldiers assigned to Camp Marmal in northern Afghanistan said the removal of a cross from an Army chapel has created a “huge controversy” and at least one soldier called it a “direct attack against Christianity and Judaism.”

How Judaism plays into it isn’t exactly clear, but if the facts are correctly laid out in the article, he may actually have a point:

The chapel is used for general Protestant services and a Baptist church service. There is a smaller chapel used for other services. The camp also has a mosque and a German chapel that is used for Catholic services.

In other words, every faith group has a place to ‘call their own.’  What do you think the chances are the mosques are identifiably Islamic?

Irrelevant, some will say:  The regulation says Read more…

After being repeatedly called out for decrying one cross and not others, atheist and former Army Captain Jason Torpy, of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, finally addressed the “controversial” issue of Arlington National Cemetery:

Other memorials are biased toward Christianity and ought properly to be removed to private property.  The Camp Pendleton cross is just one of many…

The Argonne Cross at Arlington, a 1921 monument erected “In memory of our men in France” also excludes all non-Christians.  This cross now memorializes a time when our military had nearly no recognition for anyone not Christian and was segregated by both race and gender…

In deciding to include the Argonne Cross with others “to be removed,” this initially seems like an opportunity to applaud Torpy’s intellectual Read more…

A follow-up article to last week’s conflagration over the memorial cross raised by Marines on Camp Pendleton indicates the Marine base had no idea the ruckus that was about to ensue.

Which, of course, they didn’t, because the Marines were acting on their own, not on the part of the Corps or the government.  (Of course, local attorney Randall Halmud said the group was still culpable: ”When they erected their cross on that hilltop, they violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution…”)

Public supporters of the cross, many from the Marine base itself, have swarmed news sites with comments.  The people themselves varied from atheist to religious, military to civilian. 

A Facebook site has appeared entitled Keep the Camp Pendleton Cross.  The page highlights some history of the memorial — a site which contains more than the cross.  Notably, the memorial was rebuilt by more than 100 Marines from RCT-1, has been visited by entire units, and was even the subject of a prior Public Affairs news piece.

A few supporters of the memorial seem to have found MAAF Jason Torpy’s website, leaving messages of their Read more…