Category Archives: Government and Religion

Christian Faces Trial in Afghanistan

Charisma magazine reports Afghan Christian Said Musa was to face a judge this past Sunday, though he had yet to be told what charges he faced after six months in jail.  He was imprisoned in May, after a local Afghan station broadcast pictures of Afghan Christians being baptized.

The article notes that Musa has been a Christian for 8 years, and it is a capital crime in Afghanistan to leave Islam.

Government officials reportedly called for the execution of the filmed Christians in June.

Yes, this is the same Afghan nation Read more

USAFA Religious Respect Meeting Brings Varied Faiths Together

As previously noted, the US Air Force Academy held a “religious respect” conference to work on the “religious tolerance” training program for cadets.  According to the official Academy release on the event, the attendees included Christian, Jewish, atheist, pagan, and “interfaith” representatives.

While Jason Torpy did attend, Michael Weinstein pouted that he was not invited to the “propaganda” event.  Weinstein, of course, is not a faith group representative as the other participants are; he also didn’t explain why he wanted to be party to a meeting with a school with whom he is “at war.”

Photos of the event, as well as the invited attendees, can be seen at the event website.

Also noted at the local Colorado Springs Gazette.

Army Captain: Where Did God Go in Afghanistan?

US Army Capt Michael Cummings writes an interesting commentary at the New York Times on the “religiosity” of the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan:  “Where did God go in Afghanistan?”

In what could be considered a disappointing indicator of the spiritual tenor in Afghanistan, Cummings writes that no one seemed interested in attending their Chapels, at least not publicly:

As I entered [the makeshift chapel], I thought for a moment I was in the wrong place. Read more

Gay and Marijuana in the Military: Same difference?

Is marijuana the next DADT?  The increasing (state) legality of the otherwise (federally) illegal drug indicates a growing trend of “normalizing” marijuana usage, and it is not going unnoticed by the military.

An official Air Force news release at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, notes marijuana is “not welcome here,” despite its sometimes legality in the surrounding state.

Schriever commander Colonel Wayne Montheith wrote a memo noting, among other points,

Marijuana, prescribed or otherwise obtained, may not be used, possessed, distributed, nor introduced on Schriever AFB, a Federal military [installation].

The presence of marijuana on Schriever AFB [is] a risk to good order and discipline and to the Air Force mission.

The policy applies to any person on Schriever, including civilians — who could be banned from the base for bringing even state-approved marijuana with them.

In a similar vein to the federalist treatment of homosexual marriage, Read more

USAFA Faculty Underwriting Attacks on USAFA?

Michael Weinstein and his self-founded MRFF have occasionally cried foul at the participation by US Air Force Academy members in groups sponsored by off-base organizations.  The most recent was a small Bible study going by the name Cadets for Christ.  Officers’ Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade, and the entire SPIRE system have also been criticized.

Weinstein appears to have his own inroads to the Academy, however.  He routinely publicizes information privy only to those at USAFA, and he cites “hundreds” of staff and cadets as party to his complaints.  In fact, just yesterday Weinstein cited an “anonymous” USAFA faculty member to support his latest charge against USAFA.  (Weinstein complained the MRFF wasn’t invited to the USAFA “religious respect” conference — while simultaneously calling that same conference “propaganda.”)

Some of the people he cites are not without influence.  A few who have made themselves known after leaving USAFA:  Read more

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