It may come as a surprise to some that Memorial Day, as proclaimed by the President, is unConstitutional — at least by some people’s logic.
Like the National Day of Prayer, it is annually recognized by a statute initially passed in 1950 (1952 for the NDoP) that calls on the Nation to pray: Read more
According to a few sites supportive of the MRFF, Michael Weinstein was recently a speaker at the US Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. There is little public information on the visit, except that which MRFF allies have released. In one email, a supporter — who is an Air Force officer — described a less than supportive environment in the “Q and A”: Read more
The US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit recently dismissed the case of Newdow v Roberts. The suit had sought to make “so help me God” in the inaugural oath illegal, as well as restrict inaugural prayer. Newdow may be a familiar name, as he has filed many lawsuits claiming references to God in government are unConstitutional.
The ruling is largely procedural; the three-judge panel of the 11 member court said the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. However, the concurring opinion by judge Brett Kavanaugh actually addressed the merits of the case, and it is an interesting insight into religion in government. It also contains some troubling commentary, which directly relates to the military. Read more
As promised, Franklin Graham prayed outside of the Pentagon yesterday before joining other National Day of Prayer events in the Capitol area.
At least one organization that opposed Graham’s invitation applauded the “religious freedom” that allowed Graham to pray on the sidewalk:
Rev. Franklin Graham may not have had all the bunting and military brass of an official Pentagon event backing him, but he managed to pray today anyway, and in what I consider a more suitable venue: impromptu on the sidewalk. There, any American of any faith can pray, without needing an invitation, without appearing to speak for the government, and without compromising their prophetic voice. Religious freedom is alive and well in America.
They are not the only ones to presume that Graham’s presence would be “speaking for the government,” and they are also not the only ones to forget the “religious freedom” of the men and women in the military Read more
Michael Weinstein’s MRFF has again demonstrated its tendency to hold others to a standard to which it does not hold itself. It previously exhibited such behavior with its loose honoring of copyright, and also when it distributed letter from a member of the military, and of the MRFF, that was derogatory to military leadership.
This time, the MRFF (specifically, Bekki Miller) posted an email on their website written by Dustin Chalker (the plaintiff in the abandoned MRFF lawsuit). His email was in response Read more
President Obama issued the annual proclamation marking the National Day of Prayer, which will be 6 May this year.
We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences. Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation…
Let us pray for the safety and success of those who have left home to serve in our Armed Forces, putting their lives at risk in order to make the world a safer place. As we remember them, let us not forget their families and the substantial sacrifices that they make every day.
It is interesting to note what is missing from the proclamation. Read more
Michael Weinstein is truly the gift that keeps on giving. His latest attempt at infamy is to say that a red cross appearing on a military hospital’s emblem
violate[s] the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state and should be removed.
DoD Image
Apparently Weinstein has missed the long, international history of the cross in military medical use, as well as the US military’s equivalent treatment of Islam and Judaism that would allegedly “violate…separation of church and state,” pictured below.
Weinstein also objects to the emblem’s motto “pro deo et humanitate” or “for God and humanity,” despite the military’s description of the phrase as pre-dating Christianity.
The emblem in question is that of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs.
The decision in Salazar v Buono directly relates to faith in the military profession, as its very basic premise has far reaching implications:
Is a cross on government land an unConstitutional endorsement of the Christian faith?
A variety of organizations reported on the Supreme Court ruling Wednesday essentially allowing the World War I memorial Mojave cross to remain standing. The ruling reversed the appeals court decision initially declaring the cross on federal land unConstitutional, and then declaring the US Congress transfer of land to the VFW invalid due to its attempt to “avoid” the injunction.
The Supreme Court issued six separate opinions, with no single majority opinion. The decision itself (pdf) is largely procedural, though the net effect Read more