Tag Archives: ron crews

Commander Threatens Soldier for Religious Facebook Post

As noted at FoxNews, a Colorado Springs-based US servicemember posted her opinion on Facebook — and has been threatened by her commander as a result:

The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said she returned home from church on Sunday and was watching a documentary about a minister who endorsed homosexuality…

Her Facebook message read:

“A lot ticked off, now to all my gay friends you know I care about you so don’t think otherwise. I’m watching this documentary and this gay guy went to a church and the Pastor was telling him that he needs to embrace his way and know that it is not a sin. Ok umm wow, dude it is. I’m sick of people making Gods word what it’s not. Yes God loves you as a person but He hates the sin. Tired of hearing about Pastors being ok with homosexuality.”

She was reportedly told to

either remove the post or face a reduction in rank and pay.

There is contradictory information about whether she is an Airman or a Soldier, which may be just as well, as she wasn’t seeking to make a public statement and actually asked Fox to pull the article, which it did for a short time.  She appears to have substantial Read more

Group Calls for AF to Republish Censored Chaplain Article

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty has called on Col Brian Duffy to formally apologize to Chaplain (LtCol) Kenney Reyes — and then re-publish the banned article to

resolve this unfortunate injustice without taking recourse to legal measures.

Col Duffy had indicated the article was pulled because people were offended.  The stern admonition from the Chaplain-endorsing group appears to be the first engagement of the recently announced Military Religious Freedom coalition.  The letter from retired Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews notes that the MRFF misrepresented the article in the most demeaning way — and Col Duffy appears to have either bought their line or simply failed Read more

Congressman Calls Idea of Atheist Chaplain “Total Nonsense”

Update: The House passed the Appropriations bill along with the amendment referenced below requiring chaplains to have endorsers — effectively prohibiting non-theistic chaplains (along with any new endorsers).  Rep Doug Collins (R-Ga) accused atheist activists of having the real goal of covertly undermining the entire institution of the military chaplaincy.

The Obama Administration has threatened to veto the 2014 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, saying it is too generous with military pay and too stingy with civilian pay.

As a point of clarification, the Defense Appropriations Act is a distinct entity from the Defense Authorization Act (or NDAA), which has been the point of focus for the past few months.  The Authorization Act describes how the US DoD is “authorized” to organize and operate; the Appropriations Act “appropriates” the money to accomplish that end.

The appropriations bills were actually already passed by each house of Congress, but have yet to come out of conference committee.

Additionally, the recent push for atheist chaplains has now generated an official Congressional response — twice.  First, US Rep Jared Polis (D-Co) offered an amendment (#295) to the authorization act that would have permitted  Read more

Military Atheist Chaplain Amendment Fails

Most popular press covered the religious freedom portions of the controversies surrounding the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.  Another interesting conversation, though, occurred with an official attempt by Congress to mandate atheist chaplains.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) offered the amendment to the [NDAA]. The amendment would have allowed humanists and other nonbelievers join the Chaplain Corps.

(The topic of atheist chaplains has come up many times before.)  Polis said atheists were “denied” a “right” because they could not “confide in an adviser who is not a mental health professional.”  The amendment was defeated, according to some reports, because it was “absurd.”  (This was actually the second Read more

Groups Seek “Equal Time” after US Air Force Hosts Religious Critic

Religious groups who endorse US military chaplains have asked the US military for “equal time” after they hosted religious liberty critic Michael Weinstein at the Pentagon.  Said retired Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews, of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty:

Crews says if the Air Force wants to be serious about religious liberty, its sole and exclusive meeting should not be with a man who calls religious service members “spiritual rapists” or “human monsters.”

“[Mikey Weinstein] is not the person to talk about religious liberty,” he states. “So we’re asking for a meeting with senior Air Force officials to [request that] if they’re going to revise their policy, we want to make sure that the religious liberty of all the airmen who are serving courageously in the Air Force gets maintained.”

Further,

If the Air Force wants to be serious about religious freedom, its sole and exclusive meeting should not be with a man that calls religious service members ‘spiritual rapists’ or ‘human monsters’…

The military — specifically, the Air Force — has long been accused of granting Michael Weinstein special access to military leaders.  It seems Weinstein has had ideological allies at the top of the US Air Force, which may be why he has Read more

Chaplain: Why is Air Force Seeking Counsel from Weinstein?

Retired Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty:

[Weinstein] is known for his activism to squash religious faith in the military. Why senior leaders in the Air Force would be meeting with someone to talk about religious liberty whose sole purpose it appears is to squash religious liberty, that’s a question that we have for Air Force officials.

Indeed. At FoxNews:

As an aside, a blogger made an interesting observation about the Read more

Air Force Hammered over Preferential Treatment of Weinstein

The Air Force, DoD, and even the Obama Administration continue to be hammered by conservative media and religious freedom advocates over the decision to host Michael Weinstein at the Pentagon in a meeting about “religious issues.”

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council called it an “anti-Christian offensive” on the part of the US military.

And [Weinstein] is the man the Pentagon heeded to create its policy on faith? An anti-Christian militant who’s threatened by gift collections for needy children?

A Catholic blogger took Weinstein to task, as many did, for calling Christians “monsters” in a recent virulent op-ed.  While saying he didn’t necessarily agree with evangelical Christians, the blogger said  Read more

Southern Baptist Website Blocked on Military Computers

Update: The DoD says the SBC website was blocked because malware was detected, but that connection from military servers would be restored “today.” The Southern Baptist Convention weighed in, with a caution not to rush to judgment.  Also at the Air Force Times, Christian Post, and Baptist Press.

FoxNews reports that the Southern Baptist Convention website was blocked on military servers — and the military confirmed it:

The Dept. of Defense confirmed to Fox News late Wednesday that the SBC website had been blocked — but not intentionally.

“The Department of Defense is not intentionally blocking access to this site, said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart. “We are working diligently to investigate what might be causing access issues for some of our service members and to correct the situation as quickly as possible.”

Part of the reason the situation requires “correction” is that certain servicemembers need access to the site as part of their function: namely, the many SBC chaplains in the military:

“It’s a concern for the Dept. of Defense to block the website of one of the major evangelical denominations in the country,” Crews told Fox News. “The Southern Baptist Convention has the largest number of chaplains in the military representing Southern Baptist soldiers and churches. Those chaplains need access to their denomination’s website.”

As noted the last time the issue of military internet access came up, it’s not as simple as “the government is censoring/blocking/etc” or being hostile toward Read more

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