Tag Archives: mark green

Army Major, Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard Discovers Religious Freedom

Tulsi Gabbard is a Democrat representing Hawaii’s 2nd District in the US House of Representatives. She is also a Major in the Army National Guard and a recently declared presidential candidate.

She is also a Hindu.

In response to criticisms regarding her religion and her political aspirations, Gabbard wrote a strongly worded rebuttal published at Religion News Service saying “religious bigotry is un-American” [emphasis added]:

While the headlines covering my announcement could have celebrated this historic first [a Hindu presidential candidate], and maybe even informed Americans about the world’s third largest religion, some have instead fomented suspicion, fear and religious bigotry about not only me but also my supporters…

Some media outlets have chosen to craft a false narrative of intrigue by profiling and targeting all of my donors who have names of Hindu origin and accusing them of being “Hindu nationalists.”

Today it’s the profiling and targeting of Hindu Americans and ascribing to them motives without any basis. Tomorrow will it be Muslim or Jewish Americans? Japanese, Hispanic or African Americans?

While Gabbard is right to protest Read more

Top Ten Military Christian Stories for 2017

The year 2017 was, once again, much lower on the scale with regard to headlining issues of religious liberty and the US military — to a degree.

Over at the left-leaning Baptist Joint Committee, the only military related story listed by Don Byrd was the Bladensburg cross.  However, several others deal with religious freedom that does still affect the military, like Masterpiece Cakeshop, and Senators “cross[ing] the line” in questioning political nominees about their religious beliefs.

Howard Friedman of the objective Religion Clause listed transgenders in the military as one of the top stories of the year, which many would (incorrectly) argue isn’t actually a “religious” issue. He also listed Masterpiece Cakeshop as a lead story.

As for ChristianFighterPilot.com, the following Read more

Military LGBT Activists See Ray of Hope in Anthony Kurta

President Trump recently nominated retired Rear Admiral Anthony Kurta to become the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. RAdm Kurta’s name is familiar because he’s been filling in as the Under Secretary for some time, as President Trump’s administration has been slow to fill appointee positions.

And in that nomination, LGBT activists see a ray of hope.

The office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible for recruiting, retention, health affairs, “quality of life”, among other colloquialisms for “people”. By virtue of a memorandum issued by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter under President Obama, the USDPR is the office tasked with creating, managing, and overseeing the policies with regard to transgender issues.  That’s the office currently run by Kurta, and for which he is nominated to be Deputy.

Far from being behind the scenes, Anthony Kurta has been front and center on sexual issues as Read more

Richard Spencer, Trump Nominee for Secretary of the Navy

Richard Spencer testified before the Senate Armed Services committee last week:

“I testified before this committee, I believe in 2015, that it was my belief that the Department of Defense – specifically, individual services – was not to be a petri dish for social experiments.

“We have…to fight forward so that readiness is the key and lethality is the product.”

Mark Green’s nomination for Secretary of the Army was torpedoed in part because, some noted, he was replacing the Army’s first homosexual Secretary.

Richard Spencer would be replacing someone people might arguably have called the Navy’s first homosexual Secretary, Ray Mabus, who at times was Read more

The Importance of American Christians Publicly Speaking Out

Todd Starnes of FoxNews recently celebrated the reversal of Oklahoma’s East Central University plans to remove Bibles, crosses and other religious items from their campus chapel. The University made the initial decision after receiving a legal threat from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Starnes attributed the change of mind to his readers contacting the University to express their disagreement. It appears the University had made its decision based on the “loudest voice in the room,” and only after Starnes’ column was published and other voices spoke up did they consider that the heckler need not be granted a universal veto.

The power of the American citizen’s voice should not be underestimated — and the impact of the absence of the Christian citizen’s voice cannot be overstated.

Just a couple of months ago Tennessee Read more

The Religious Test of Russell Vought, but Not Mark Green

Critics have come out in force against US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) after he said he would not support President Trump’s nominee for the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. Sanders’ reason? Vought has Christian beliefs, which he expressed in a column defending Wheaton College in 2016 in which he said that “Muslims stand condemned”:

Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.

In his questioning during the confirmation hearing for Vought’s nomination to the OMB, Sanders asked:

Do you believe people in the Muslim religion stand condemned? Is that your view?

…I don’t know how many Muslims there are in America. Maybe a couple million. Are you suggesting that these people stand condemned? What about Jews? Do they stand condemned too?

In your judgment, do you think that people who are not Christians are going to be condemned?

I would simply say, Mr. Chairman that this nominee is really not someone who this country is supposed to be about.

Atheists, liberals, and Christians alike have condemned Read more

USAA Returns Ads to Hannity After Pressure, But Still Supports Gay Gala

USAA pulled its advertising after an uproar surrounding FoxNews personality Sean Hannity — and then reversed course after its members complained:

USAA released a statement confirming it had reinstated its Hannity advertisements as a result of the outcry.

“We heard concerns from many members who watch and listen to these programs.

“Our goal in advertising has always been to reach members of the military community who would benefit from USAA’s well-known commitment to service.”

Kind of makes you wonder how those same conservative Hannity supporters would feel to know USAA has become an annual sponsor of Ashley Broadway’s AMPA gay gala. The annual party’s sole purpose is Read more

Ed Brayton’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office

Ed Brayton, a long-time secularist blogger and ally of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and Chris Rodda, recently wrote a post entitled “Klingenschmitt’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office.”

One of Brayton’s pastimes is keeping up with former Navy Chaplain and former Colorado state legislator Gordon Klingenschmitt, himself a prolific public speaker and writer.

Brayton quoted Klingenschmitt from a LifeSite news article in which Klingenschmitt was commenting on the decision by Tennessee state legislator Mark Green to withdraw from nomination as Secretary of the Army.  Klingenschmitt said

The bully left is now openly creating an unconstitutional religious litmus test for public office. If you believe the Bible, or quote the Bible in public, they claim you are unfit for office and apply their political labels until you quit.

Brayton mocked Klingenschmitt’s statement as “absurd,” and then followed it with his own absurdity:  Read more

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