Tag Archives: Religion

POW/MIA Recognition Day Earns Mikey Weinstein’s Ire

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Last Friday, September 15th, was National POW/MIA Recognition Day. It is intended to honor the memory of those imprisoned as POWs and those who have not returned. It is one of the few days that Congress officially mandates the flying of the POW/MIA flag.

It should be a somber occasion of remembrance — but for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, it’s a target for his vitriol if those ceremonies dare to associate a Bible with the event.

Weinstein recently shared Representative Steve Knight’s Facebook post about Palmdale, CA, hosting a POW/MIA ceremony attended by a high school JROTC color guard. Weinstein was apparently too lazy to even add his own vitriol to that which he copied and pasted from an obscure Facebook page apparently run by an atheist-MRFF supporter:

Do you see the egregious and disrespectful violation of our military code of conduct present at this divisive and Un-American service too?…

The #FilthyBook (Bible) on the table, the table that is meant for ALL our missing and fallen solders.

Did you notice the unsanctioned inclusion? Or are you just so used to seeing it slipped in there against protocol that you thought it was part of the display?…

Mikey Weinstein has been after the Bible for Read more

Military Religious Freedom in the Arctic

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A fascinating story at the Boston Globe recalls the steps taken to ensure the religious freedom of deployed US Sailors — in 1956:

Elihu Schimmel…was responsible for the medical care of men on dozens of ships. Often he had to be transported — by helicopter, by launch, by seaplane — from the Lindenwald to another vessel to see a patient.

But with Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) just around the corner, Schimmel was wondering whether a few men could be moved in the other direction. Specifically, a few Jewish men: enough to assemble a minyan, a quorum of 10, so that services could be held on the most sacred days of the Jewish year.

Schimmel figured he had nothing to lose by asking — and both Read more

Update: Air Force Backs Chaplain Hernandez on Religious Freedom

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As reported at the Stars and Stripes, the Air Force has defended Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez’s recent publication of his views on Christianity and military religious freedom [emphasis added]:

Air Force Reserve spokesman Lt. Col. Chad Gibson said Hernandez is expressing his own views, not those of the Air Force, and his freedom to express his own faith is an essential protection in the military. The Air Force is not conducting an investigation, he said.

“I think we should reflect on why the Air Force is here,” Gibson said. “We are sworn to protect freedom of faith and religion unless it infringes on other people’s rights.”

That’s an admirably bold and direct statement from Read more

Update: Responses to Chaplain Hernandez and Military Religious Freedom

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Chaplain Hernandez’s previously discussed column on military Christians and religious freedom continues to receive critiques — more accurately, criticism — from a wide variety of sources.

One of the more interesting responses came from Don Byrd of the Baptist Joint Committee, a left leaning advocacy group that tends to take a more atheistic view of religious liberty than most Baptists.

In a blog entitled “Air Force Chaplain is Wrong to Oppose Religious Liberty Rights for All,” Byrd began with a principled observation ignored by most [emphasis added]:

Capt. Hernandez is of course free to believe according to his conscience and faith…The controversial issue of salvation for non-Christians is a question of Christian theology, not public policy…

Personal theological beliefs do not disqualify an individual from public service.

Byrd then added a significant “however” [emphasis added]:  Read more

Chaplain Sonny Hernandez Criticized for Column on Religious Freedom

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Last week US Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez published a column at Barbwire.com entitled “Christian Service Members: Avoid Supporting or Accommodating Evil!” The article has been widely criticized — from the much-expected Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, to Chelsea Clinton, to multiple other sites — by those who have taken issue with Hernandez’s views on Christianity and military religious freedom.

Some of the criticisms are laced with the vitriol of those who despise Christianity in any form but milquetoast — so it wouldn’t matter what Hernandez said. Some of the criticisms are more academic. But almost all call for Hernandez’s head — or at least a pro forma “investigation” followed by a foregone dismissal. While Hernandez may have said — and did say — things that seemed illogical, theologically questionable, or wrong, nothing he said was illegal or otherwise a violation of any rule, regulation, or law. Those who are attacking his ability to serve in the US military — that so-called bastion of tolerance and diversity — have no leg upon which Read more

Democrat Senators Again Grill Trump Nominees on Religious Beliefs

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US Senators have again taken President Trump’s nominees to task for their (Christian) religious beliefs:

Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame, was grilled by Democrats over how her Catholic beliefs might influence her decisions from the bench.

“When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for, for years in this country,” Sen. Feinstein said.

The Senators’ unjustified criticisms of Barrett’s religion has been noted even by the left-leaning Baptist Joint Committee, which published a reminder Read more

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