Tag Archives: Religion

“Blackhawk Down” Pilot Relied on God

The story of how Army Sgt Jeff Struecker became US Army Chaplain Struecker is fairly well-known.  Less publicized is the faith of Michael Durant, the helicopter pilot whose UH-60 Blackhawk was shot down over Mogadishu; the shootdown ultimately resulted in the deaths of his crew at the hands of the Somalis.  Also killed were two Delta snipers, MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart, who received the Medal of Honor after volunteering to mount a vastly outnumbered defense for the beleaguered survivors.

Durant was a speaker at a National Prayer Luncheon at the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.  He said that prayer was central to his survival:  Read more

AU Lodges IRS Complaint Against Liberty University

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has, again, filed a complaint with the IRS asserting that Liberty University is misusing its status as a tax-exempt (501(c)3) organization.  The original complaint can be read here.

For its part, Liberty barely addressed the merits of the complaint, instead saying that this was simply another attempt by the AU to intimidate Liberty.  In fact, Mat Staver, the Liberty School of Law dean, said the school was considering legal action in response to the AU’s attempt to intimidate Liberty students:

“We’re now looking at whether we are going to respond by filing some kind of civil action against Americans United — because what they’re trying to do is essentially intimidate Liberty University, particularly the students, from exercising their constitutional right to vote,” he argues. “We’re not about to allow this organization to do that to Liberty University students.”

As noted in the discussion last year when AU filed a complaint against Liberty, the AU is frequently associated with criticisms of Christians in the military.  It remains a “partnering link” on the MRFF page, and Michael Weinstein has claimed AU membership at one point.

Christian Officer Commands Combined Arms Center

LtGen Robert Caslen assumed command of Fort Leavenworth, home of the US Army Combined Arms Center, this week.  (Caslen recently returned from a year-long deployment to Iraq, and he pinned on his third star just prior to the assumption of command.)  Home of 16 US Army professional military schools and centers, the CAC is the “intellectual center of the Army” and is responsible for much of the professional training of US Army leaders.  It is also now creating a Mission Command center of excellence to focus on battle command and future Army leader needs.  The CAC website says

CAC provides Army-wide leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; training support; battle command; doctrine; lessons learned; and other specified areas that the TRADOC Commander designates.

All of these are focused toward making CAC a catalyst for change and to support the development of a relevant and ready ground force to support joint, interagency and multinational operations anywhere in the world.

Now an influential military leader, LtGen Caslen is a model of professional success and Christian officership.

Vanderbilt Chaplain on Islam, Homosexuals, and the Military

A somewhat under-the-radar controversy erupted in late January at Vanderbilt University.  Apparently, the Muslim Students Association and the Army and Navy ROTC programs jointly sponsored a discussion about Muslims in the military, a forum entitled “Common Ground: Being Muslim in the Military.”

Vanderbilt junior Devin Saucier, who is also a member of the Youth for Western Civilization, and Vanderbilt Islamic chaplain Awadh Binhazim participated in a heated exchange that was videotaped and made the rounds of the internet.  (It received enough publicity that Vanderbilt issued a statement clarifying Binhazim’s relationship with the school and expressing its support for free speech.)

Through several iterations of the question, Saucier asked Binhazim if he supported the Islamic belief that homosexuality was a capital crime.  After a variety Read more

Ash Wednesday in Iraq and DC

February 17th was Ash Wednesday, a day recognized by Catholic and some liturgical Protestant denominations by the placing of ashes or oil on the forehead.  As seen in a variety of pictures provided by the Department of Defense, this was a religious celebration that was able to occur even in a war zone: 

DoD Photo (Spc Daniel Schneider)

Ash Wednesday in Iraq. DoD Photo (Spc Daniel Schneider)

While the US military’s abundant support of free exercise enabled these Soldiers to partake in the religious celebration, there are obviously certain limitations in the combat theatre.  For example, the Soldiers would obviously not be able to refuse to put their protective gear (helmets) on because of the oil or ash on their forehead.

By the same token, there is no indication that the Soldiers were required to wipe off the religious observances prior to returning to combat.  Like their freedom to wear a cross or carry a Bible, even in combat, US Soldiers may go into combat on Ash Wednesday with the evident Christian symbol of ash on their forehead.  The US military does not restrict Read more

US Marine, Christian, Wants to Fight in UFC

Marine Sgt. George Lockhart, a martial arts instructor, recently applied for six weeks of leave in order to take part in the filming of a reality series called “The Ultimate Fighter.”

A Military Times article notes that his immediate commander had previously given him approval to try out, and Lockhart won an invitation to participate in the show that allows fighters to compete for a potentially lucrative UFC contract.

While his immediate commander also supported his request for extended leave to film the show, his commanding general ultimately determined that Lockhart’s unit was too busy to allow him the time he would need off.  A Marine spokesman was also concerned about “barbaric” behavior on the show that might reflect negatively on the Marines, though that hasn’t stopped the Marines from using the show for recruiting ads.

Interestingly, Lockhart isn’t known just for his fighting:

A devout Christian who often quotes from the Bible, Lockhart said Read more

MAAF Misrepresents Data in Brief to White House

The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers was one of several groups that recently met with White House staff members as part of a White House meeting with the Secular Coalition for America.

According to the MAAF web page on the meeting, president Jason Torpy presented a briefing at the meeting that claimed to explain the relative percentages of faiths represented in the military.  His briefing grossly misrepresented numeric government data, apparently in an attempt to strengthen the MAAF position and demands.

In what the MAAF called a “new MAAF demographics study,” which was actually an MAAF presentation of a study done by the Defense Manpower Data Center, the MAAF said

DoD data show nearly one-quarter of the military is nontheistic

Using the DMDC data, the MAAF claimed that 23.4% of the Department of Defense was “nontheistic.”  Based on this number, according to the MAAF, “nontheists constitute a significant portion of the military.”  Thus,

Military and Civilian leadership must recognize and support this significant demographic

Some might say numbers don’t lie, but the MAAF certainly demonstrated that one can misrepresent them to support untrue Read more

Bush Recalls Power of Prayer, Awe of Military

Former President George W. Bush spoke recently at a fundraiser for Fort Worth Christian School in Texas.  Articles on the event note Bush’s dependence on the power of prayer.  This included not only his own prayers, but those who obeyed the Christian command to pray for their national leaders:

I don’t see how I could be president without prayer…The prayers of the people…sustained me, comforted me and strengthened me in a way I could have never predicted before becoming president, and for that I am extremely grateful.

They also repeat Bush’s now famous deep respect and admiration for the US military.

Fort Worth Christian School is an unabashedly Christian educational institution with an enrollment of 865 children from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

1 327 328 329 330 331 378