Tag Archives: Obama

General Encourages Troops to Express Views on DADT

A letter to the editor at the Stars and Stripes is attributed to LtGen Benjamin R. Mixon of Fort Shafter, Hawaii.  LtGen Benjamin R. Mixon is the three-star commanding general of US Army Pacific.  In that position, he is in charge of all US Army units in the Pacific theatre.

The General’s letter calls the proposed repeal of Don’t ask, Don’t tell, “ill-advised.”  He encourages troops to write both their elected officials and their chain of command to let their views be known, with the potential outcome of correcting the misperception in the media that the majority of the military is in favor of ending DADT.

LtGen Mixon is the highest ranking officer behind Marine Gen James Conway to disagree with President Obama’s proposed repeal of the law, and he appears to be the first to encourage average military members to make their views known.  As noted earlier, Read more

Chaplains Disinvite FRC’s Perkins over DADT Statements

Just days after noting the potential impact that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal might have on military Chaplains, there are now widespread articles on the decision by an Air Force base Chaplain’s office to rescind the invitation of a speaker who opposed President Obama’s proposed repeal.

The actions were those of an individual Chaplain’s office and were not necessarily indicative of the decisions of higher level leadership.  However, the decision itself is a perfect example of the conflict that organizations opposing the repeal intend to highlight.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had been invited in October by the Chaplains’ office to speak at the February 25 National Prayer Luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base (now known as Joint Base Andrews).  Perkins is a US Marine veteran and ordained minister.  Supposedly, after President Obama used his State of the Union to call for a repeal of DADT, and Perkins and the FRC vocally opposed him, the Chaplain’s office rescinded the invitation.  (Notably, the Chaplain’s office is free to invite or disinvite anyone they choose; it is their public reasoning for doing so that makes this case interesting.)

The letter from the Chaplain’s office rescinding the invitation reportedly said:  Read more

Prayer, Government, and the US Military

The National Prayer Breakfast was already a controversial event this year, as at least one group had urged President Obama to skip the annual event attended by sitting Presidents for the past few decades.

He chose to attend, but he did not avoid controversy.  He addressed the concerns of those who did not want him to attend by specifically speaking against a law about homosexuals in Uganda.  The normally smooth orator also managed to mispronounce a military rank, calling a Navy medic a “corpse-man” rather than a “corpsman” (properly pronounced “core-man”) (not once, but three times), and he expressed the thought that non-theists Read more

Air Force Times: Prayer Should be Private

The Air Force Times has editorialized that

Before the Air Force can move past its reputation for religious intolerance, it must do one more thing: Eliminate prayers from official events.

Beginning an editorial with such a statement certainly reveals the tone.  After all, while the Air Force has been accused of intolerance by vocal critics, no institutional intolerance has ever been substantiated, and there is no public indication that intolerance is a valid “reputation” of the Air Force.

The editorial also treats a fairly complex issue rather whimsically.  The simple and unexplained demand that the Air Force “eliminate prayers from official events,” after all, would have prevented a Chaplain from praying at the nationally-televised memorial service at Fort Hood attended by the President.  Read more

Religious Freedom Day, 16 Jan 2010

Updated with President Obama’s proclamation.

Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (see 2009).  President Obama does not appear to have issued his proclamation for tomorrow yet (now available), though the day has been a topic of discussion in varying forums across the internet.

Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today.  Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute:  Read more

Merry Christmas from ChristianFighterPilot.com

God and Country will return on 28 December.  In the meantime, we leave you with the words of President Barack Obama, chatting with children during a visit to a Boys and Girls Club in Washington, DC.  Amazingly, at least one person has implied Obama violated the Constitution in making these comments.  The relationship between those in government service, the Constitution, and religion is certainly controversial–and misunderstood–in America today.  Kudos to the President for not shying away from the legitimate discussion of religious beliefs, as well as respecting those of the children.

Have a wonderful celebration of the birth of our Savior.  Merry Christmas.

THE PRESIDENT:  You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

CHILD:  I know!

THE PRESIDENT:  Do you know?

CHILD:  The birth of baby Jesus.

THE PRESIDENT:  The birth of baby Jesus, Read more

Military Walks Careful Line in “Holiday” Celebrations

The US military is increasingly sensitive to associations with events that might be perceived as religious.  While it strives to protect the free exercise rights of its members, it is also cognizant of criticisms of inappropriate interactions between a government institution and religion.

Few times is this more evident than near the end of the year, when the military struggles to support the religious celebrations of its members of varying religions.  In general, there is little chance of offense between the varying religions that share holy days during this season.  The greater possibility, in fact, is that critics of religion will be offended by the military’s support of military members’ religious celebrations.

The military’s handling of these events is not uniform, and there are no official policies on the support of public religious celebrations by military members.  This has led to some interesting contrasts.

For example, military bases traditionally have displays during the “holiday” season, not unlike the White House’s National Christmas tree and Menorah.  Searches for “Air Force Base” and “Christmas tree” show that, in the Air Force at least, there are still a great many military bases that do, in fact, light “Christmas” trees.  However, expanding the search Read more

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