Tag Archives: Islam

Osama bin Laden Confirms Weinstein’s Claim?

Statements released by Osama bin Laden have validated the fears of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s Michael Weinstein, whose organization has repeatedly claimed that associations of Christianity with the US military provide “propaganda” and “recruiting tools” to America’s adversaries, endangering US troops and the mission of the nation.  Read more

MRFF Sticks Its Foot in Its Mouth. Again.

Few people might realize that while the Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims some 16,000 undefined “clients,” fewer than a half dozen people actually speak for the MRFF (and even fewer speak with any regularity).  It is interesting, then, to observe Michael Weinstein’s inability to control his own message.

This site has already pointed out the self-contradiction of Chris Rodda, the MRFF research assistant who said a Chaplain’s sermon was “of course…permissible,” but it was alsopart of the…problem.”  (Her statement was also in direct contradiction with Weinstein’s own words.)  In addition, the MRFF still uses the Read more

Weinstein Reveals Vendetta in Demanding Removal of “Cross”

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

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.

Military Religion Question Answered: Beliefs, Part 2

The last Military Religion Question of the Day asked if a military Chaplain’s article about God’s provision was correctly characterized by a critic:

The…Chaplain writes about why women were created (as an afterthought to keep men from being lonely), marriage as a Christian institution, and segues to a blatant Jesus salvation pitch.

The critic did not directly accuse the Chaplain of wrongdoing.  Instead, he appears to be holding the Chaplain’s beliefs up for ridicule.  Is the mockery justified?

The critic’s interpretation of the Chaplain’s description of “why women were created” Read more

Marine Base Guilty of Viewpoint Discrimination

As noted nearly 18 months ago, the US Marines at Camp Lejeune directed 25-year Marine veteran Jesse Nieto to remove stickers from the back of his car that they deemed offensive.  Nieto sued, and a federal judge has now ruled that the base violated Nieto’s rights.

The stickers were described as “anti-Islam;” Nieto put the stickers on his car not long after his son, a Navy Sailor, was killed on the USS Cole when it was bombed in 2000.

Interestingly, it appears the judge did not rule the policy that Camp Lejeune used was inherently bad; instead, he seemed to say it was the unbalanced application Read more

MRFF Opposes Troops’ Religious Freedom at Easter

Last September, Chris Rodda, a researcher for Michael Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote an article enumerating her “Top Ten” list of Christian travesties in the US military, emphasizing acts which “convince the Muslims we’re on a crusade.”  A less combative version of this same list was re-published in the US Air Force’s Attitudes Aren’t Free just a few weeks ago.

At number 8, Rodda lists this rather interesting way in which the US military is showing the Muslim world America is on a crusade:  Read more

Military Religious Freedom at Work

It is not uncommon for people of a religious faith–Christian or not–to occasionally speak of the difficulty of celebrating their faith while in the military.  This is particularly true in intense training environments, as well as the obvious restricted areas of combat.  The military culture is sometimes hostile (even unintentionally) to the spirit of a religious faith, and the logistical environment sometimes restricts the ability to fully exercise one’s faith.

Despite the challenges encountered, it is important to highlight the fact that the US military has a responsive environment of both commanders and Chaplains to see to the religious needs of all of its servicemembers.  Though there are obvious logistical hurdles in some cases, there is no institutional support for or bias against any particular faith.  In fact, the opposite is true.

For example, the Aleph Institute, a DoD Chaplain endorsing organization and valuable support agency for Jews in the US military, recently said they had to come to the rescue of a Soldier seeking spiritual resources, and because of “red tape” a Jewish Soldier has “almost no chance” of getting spiritual resources like prayer books and kosher field rations.

History, however, demonstrates the opposite.  In fact, Jewish military Read more

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