A California Federal court has said that the proposed design of the Lake Elsinore Veteran’s memorial — which contains the iconic graphic of a Soldier kneeling at a cross-shaped headstone — “likely violates the Establishment Clause” of the US Constitution.
Even as a discussion is ongoing about the use of a Star of David in a Holocaust memorial in Ohio, the court found that Read more
Update: The memorial was approved, though some expect a lawsuit. It seems some in the atheist community are hesitant to criticize the memorial out of fear of being accused of insensitivity or anti-Semitism (a hesitation not seen when the issue is a cross, rather than a Star of David). A commenter on another site had a fairly objective observation:
When symbols are used to represent historical/cultural events, the fact they are religious should not be a sole justification for not using them — only when the intent of the symbol is to promote a religious viewpoint do they become a problem.
In fact, to tell Jewish Holocaust survivors that they cannot be represented by on the most import icons of their internment and murder would be a terrible insult…Jews were forced to wear a Star of David on their exterior clothing to mark them for abuse by the Nazis…
The next logical question, then, is whether a cross can adorn a memorial if its purpose is “not to promote a religious viewpoint.”
Also at Foxnews.
Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, the husband and wife team that make up The Freedom From Religion Foundation, have called on their supporters to fill the gallery in the Ohio State Capitol today as a meeting is held on a proposed holocaust memorial.
The FFRF’s objection? The Holocaust memorial contains a large Star of David, which raises “constitutional concerns.”
Despite the FFRF’s apparent revisionist thinking, Read more
As previously noted, Sally Quinn of the Washington Post has become the latest version of Pam Zubeck, the CSIndy “journalist” who is actually an advocate of Michael Weinstein’s cause. While it has become obvious Quinn is in the tank with Weinstein, it wasn’t clear until this weekend just how far she was willing to go.
In an article on sexual assault in the military — carefully crafted to get visibility because its on a topic of great interest right now — Quinn lays the responsibility for sexual assault in the military at the feet of…religion.
And guess who her source is?
Take the Cadets for Christ, a religious group at the Air Force Academy. According to Mikey Weinstein, Read more
According to his own statements reported at a Washington Post blog, Michael Weinstein (of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation) met at the
Pentagon on April 23 where they discuss[ed] religious issues in a group that included several generals and a military chaplain.
The blog was written by Sally Quinn, who has been friendly to Weinstein’s cause in the past. Weinstein seems inimitably pleased at the invitation, as likely any private citizen in America might be if US Air Force leadership had a personal meeting with them on “religious issues in the military.” It’s unclear what grants Weinstein that legitimacy, beyond a spate of failed lawsuits and a series of self-published op-eds that would put even the most advanced thesaurus to shame (save the one he apparently plagiarized).
It would seem at least one senior leader was there, as the article claims one attendee was LtGen Richard Harding — The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, who is the senior legal advisor to the Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh: Read more
Michael Weinstein’s need to stroke his ego knows no limits. Glen Doherty was one of the four men killed in Libya when the consulate was overrun. Weinstein has been loudly touting the fact Doherty was a member of his advisory board. Fair enough.
But when invited to speak on cable news about Mr. Doherty, Weinstein did what he is often wont to do: He talked about himself. Interviewing Weinstein in a split screen, Judge Jeanine of “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on FoxNews started with a simple statement: “Tell us about him.” Weinstein’s response mentioned Doherty only once, in the first few words [edited to remove verbal fillers]: Read more
A few hours after ChristianFighterPilot.com noted the publication of AFI 1-1 (an event that occurred the week prior), Michael Weinstein published his own review of the AFI on his “progressive” Alternet-hosted blog. This wouldn’t be the first time Weinstein and his crew demonstrated a propensity to glean from this site — though once before they at least took the time to backdate their own publication so it looked like they’d found it on their own.
Weinstein’s new missive is little more than a continuation of his prior screed, decrying the service of General Schwartz and, as predicted, taking the first step in trying to ingratiate himself to the new Air Force Chief of Staff: Read more
Todd Starnes of Fox News raises an interesting comparison:
In the 1930s, the Germans tried to shut down Jewish-owned businesses. In 2012, Democrats are trying to shut down Christian-owned businesses.
Too much? His argument is fairly robust.
There may be some room for comparison. It gradually became “socially acceptable” in Nazi Germany to progressively discriminate specifically against Jews. As many recent events have shown, Christianity is becoming the one religion that its “politically correct” to condemn in America today.
It may be a great irony that a 21st century self-described “Jewish agnostic who prays” — Michael Weinstein — has emerged as a Read more
Quick to level hate-filled vitriol against his critics and those with whom he disagrees, opponent of religious freedom in the military Michael Weinstein finally caught a unique target in his most recent diatribe: himself. Weinstein recently opined:
When you tell somebody in the US military that they lack intelligence, character, integrity, trustworthiness, honor, honorability, and courage because of their chosen religious faith or lack thereof…there’s no difference between that and telling someone that they’re innately stupid because of the color of their skin, or because they have a vagina, because they’re a female.
He may have forgotten that Michael Weinstein has implied “fundamentalist Christians” in the US military lack integrity, character, etc., etc., not because of any behavior on their part, but simply “because of their chosen religious faith.”
In fact, he’s said “fundamentalist Christians” — based on his analysis of Read more