The UK Guardian‘s Riazat Butt continued her reporting on religion in the British forces in Afghanistan with an article on the UK chaplaincy, which is similar to the chaplaincy in the US military, but with some significant differences. Still, the content of the fairly long article is interesting.
Noting the importance of the ministry of presence by chaplains (who are, in fact, on the “front lines” with the troops): Read more
Arid Uka, accused in the murder of two members of the US Air Force at the Frankfurt airport in Germany, now says he does not believe Islam permits violence beyond self-defense.
While Arid Uka still prays and considers himself a Muslim, he said Wednesday he was duped by extremist propaganda and no longer believes his religion permits violence, except in self-defense. He added that shooting the airmen was not permitted by his religion.
This change of heart is somewhat unique, as some other recent Read more
Last week Sherwood Pictures’ Courageous opened as the number one new film in America. The church-produced film, operating on a $1 million budget, brought in more than $8 million in its opening weekend.
The outstanding movie is about 5 men, four on a local police force, striving to be better fathers.
Alex Kendrick, the main force behind this film and Sherwood’s Read more
While homosexual ceremonies may be permissible on military institutions according to the Pentagon, it appears that ruling may not extend to the Catholic chapel at West Point.
Taylor Henry, spokesman for Archbishop Timothy Broglio — who oversees all Catholic chaplains in the US military — said
the Holy Trinity chapel at the famous military school is a Catholic parish, unlike the non-denominational chapels that are found on other military installations, and that the only services held there are Catholic services.
Since the Roman Catholic Church “does not perform the sacrament of matrimony for same-sex couples,” no such ceremonies will take place at that institution, Henry said.
In addition, consistent with the military’s message on the matter, Henry explicitly said no Catholic chaplain would be performing similar ceremonies of “unions between individuals of the same gender resembling marriage.”
Broglio also noted what some are saying is an inconsistency between the military’s recent policy and the Defense of Marriage Act: Read more
If you ditch your plane 13 miles short of the Hawaiian Big Island, does the Coast Guard rescue swimmer still give you a lei?
Charles Mellor was reportedly ferrying a twin-engine Cessna 310 to Hawaii; he was 500 miles out when he contacted the FAA and told them he wasn’t going to make it.
The man was flying for delivery a Cessna 310 twin-engine aircraft from Monterey, California, to Hilo when he radioed federal aviation authorities that he was 500 miles out and low on fuel, Read more
As noted previously, the US military has four Jewish Chaplains in Afghanistan to help US servicemembers celebrate the Jewish High Holy days; in fact, three of the chaplains are in country temporarily solely for that reason.
Four rabbis – roughly 15 percent of the military’s Jewish chaplaincy – are visiting Afghanistan, including several remote military installations, to help troops and civilian employees mark the High Holidays through Oct. 21.
The four are Army Chaplains (LtCol) Laurence Bazer, (Col) Jacob Goldstein, (LtCol) Avi Weiss, and (Navy Lt) Josh Sherwin. Chaplain Bazer noted the significance of the Jewish presence in the predominantly Islamic country: Read more
One of the “advantages” of unmanned aerial vehicles is the removal of the human element from much of the operation. In theory, its inability to get tired, make mistakes, or act with emotion may make a UAV a “better” system. In theory.
While the UAV may not be able to get “sick,” it is apparently still vulnerable to computer viruses, as public reports indicate has occurred to both MQ-9s and MQ-1s (which are essentially the same UAV). To be fair, that was likely a result of the “human element,” but the fact remains that UAVs are not always the panacea some may think they are.
An MQ-9 Reaper has crashed on final approach at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. The base reported that the owning squadron was a training unit for the MQ-9.