Tag Archives: aclj

There are No Atheists In (or Out of) Foxholes: A Military Chaplain’s Perspective

I. Introduction

In 2013, United States Air Force Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes published an article that cogently chronicled the historical and aphoristic phrase ‘No atheists in foxholes.’.[1] Immediately, the article was lambasted with an incendiary campaign that demanded the extraction of Chaplain Reyes’s post. Michael (Mikey) Weinstein from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) was expeditious in reviling the article by demanding its removal which subsequently led to the Air Force removing its publication. Weinstein called the article a “bigoted and religious supremacist phrase” and lauded himself with victory once the Air Force removed the article.[2]

Weinstein’s vitriol was not surprising since he does not win in litigation; he is forced to rely on coercion. However, the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) interposed by persuading the Air Force to consider the transparent constitutionality and recurrent legal threats from the MRFF,[3] which eventually caused the Air Force to reinstate the article.[4] Victory for religious freedom and a loss for Weinstein!

Chaplain Scott Reyes’s article is a wonderful military depiction of perseverance that every member of the Armed Forces can relate to, especially if they have served during times of conventional, asymmetric or globalizing warfare. If a member of the Armed Forces is held captive during wartime operations as a prisoner of war (POW), apart from strategic interdictions and a battalion of ground forces, what else is a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine left with? Faith! According to George MacDonald:  Read more

ACLJ Details Support for Military Religious Freedom

The ACLJ recently posted an appeal for support that listed recent cases of military religious freedom, and they set themselves up as the foil to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF in the process. Speaking of their support for court-martialed US Marine Monifa Sterling [emphasis added]:

Angry atheist Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) also filed a brief asking the court to reject Sterling’s appeal and ignore the violation of her religious freedom. (Remember it is Mikey Weinstein and his extremist group that has repeatedly called Christians in the military “monsters who terrorize.”)

Regarding a recent FOIA lawsuit Weinstein filed against the US Air Force Academy [italics original, emphasis added]:  Read more

Military General Cautioned to Avoid Attending Chapel

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and his acolytes within the MRFF have long claimed that military officers should not be allowed to even introduce themselves as Christians, claiming that if subordinates had the slightest inkling the officers had religious beliefs, they could “coerce” their subordinates into the faith.

The claim is ridiculous on several levels, not the least of which is the MRFF’s contention that all military subordinates are sycophants.

Further, as noted in Christian Fighter Pilot is not an Oxymoron, the lengths to which a superior would have to go to “hide” his religious faith to meet Weinstein’s demands would be extreme:  Read more

Congressmen Urge Review of Bible Verse Court-Martial

The ACLJ filed an amicus brief (PDF), joined with 42 members of Congress, urging the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to hear the appeal of discharged US Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling. Sterling received a Bad Conduct Discharge for, among other things, disobeying an order to remove a Bible verse posted on her desk.

From the ACLJ:

The lower court had acknowledged that RFRA extended broad protection to religious liberty, the court adopted a very narrow definition of the statutory term “exercise of religion” and arrived at the startling conclusion that Sterling was not exercising her religion by displaying a Bible verse.

Our brief argues that the lower court’s decision sets military tribunals up as theological experts evaluating the validity of religious beliefs, and clearly violates the First Amendment principle that no court is competent to dissect religious beliefs, or to pass judgment on whether those beliefs are part of a religious belief system.

The lower court’s examination Read more

ACLJ: Major Victory for Military Religious Freedom

Last week the ACLJ proclaimed a “major victory” for religious freedom in the US military, citing a belated response finally received from the US Air Force JAG office. More than a month after the National Prayer Breakfast, in which General Craig Olson cited his reliance upon God and Michael “Mikey” Weinstein called for his crucifixion, the Air Force JAG finally responded with a terse, one-paragraph response [emphasis added]:

We have thoroughly reviewed the facts and circumstances involving Maj Gen Olson’s participation in the National Day of Prayer Observance held on May 7, 2015, at the Cannon House Office Building, Washington DC. Maj Gen Olson did not violate Air Force policy by participating in this Congressionally-supported event. His remarks were his own personal opinions and did not represent the views of the United States Air Force.

The letter, dated June 24th, is Read more

ACLJ Defends General Olson, Criticizes Mikey Weinstein

Skip Ash of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) penned an article last week taking Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to task for Weinstein’s demand that the Air Force court-martial Major General Craig Olson. In the piece entitled “The Radical Assault on Faith in the Military Must be Stopped,” Ash called Weinstein’s allegations “outlandishly wrong” and “hogwash!”  (This comes after Weinstein’s friend, Chaplain Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, described (PDF) Weinstein’s attack as “hysterics” from an “activist[] with an axe to grind against religion.”)

The ACLJ also revealed that they wrote their own letter (PDF) to Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh with a remarkably clear and simple explanation of the error of Weinstein’s ways (Crews wrote a similar one (PDF)). Referring to Weinstein’s imploring of General Welsh to “take a good, hard look” at the video of General Olson’s speech, the ACLJ said [italics original, emphasis added]:  Read more

DoD to Continue using SPLC as Reference

Despite recent scandals regarding the DoD’s alleged classification of Christians as “extremists” — including an Army-wide standdown in Equal Opportunity training over the controversies — the DoD says it will continue to use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “reference” in its Equal Opportunity training.

A DoD spokesman answered that while the agency will remove “hate groups” information provided by the SPLC from the training materials used at its Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), the DoD will continue to use the SPLC’s data in its “non-federal reference material” for DEOMI.

The SPLC — whose work has been specifically cited in recent Army briefings — is one of several “non-Federal” sources the DoD plans to continue using:

“Some of the non-Federal entities used to inform DEOMI’s training,” said Christensen, “include: Anti-Defamation League; Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism; Know Gangs, Political Research Associates, Read more

Mikey Weinstein Targets Military Christmas. Again.

FoxNews reports that last Friday Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s “charity” once again attacked the Air Force for erecting a Nativity scene on an Air Force Base. Two years ago, it was Travis AFB in California. This year, they targeted Shaw AFB, SC:

The MRFF’s Paul Loebe wrote in a statement that since the display was not erected near a chapel, it was illegal.

“It was very sectarian in nature and a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution as well as a blatant violation of Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.11,” he said.

Weinstein presumably called the office of LtGen Richard Harding, The JAG of the Air Force, and getting no relief there, called Shaw AFB via their Command Post.

Most civilians who call an Air Force base will probably be directed to Public Affairs, because it is the job of PA to help military commanders interact with the public and ensure the correct message is conveyed. Weinstein was transferred to the Commander’s office, where an “office assistant” reportedly spoke for the Air Force. The assistant told Weinstein the display was erected by “a volunteer group” and it was being taken down. Loebe was free to interpret this as the Air Force agreeing with the MRFF position:  Read more

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