Month: April 2012

Chuck Colson: US Marine, Convict, and Christian

Chuck Colson died on 21 April 2012.  His name is so well known it requires little in the way of background, though surprisingly few know some of the finer details of Colson’s life.

Chuck Colson was an officer in the US Marine Corps from 1953 to 1955.  Most people know he worked for President Richard Nixon, and that he would ultimately go to prison for obstruction of justice in the Watergate scandal.  He became a Christian just prior to his arrest, beginning the rest of his life.

On 17 November 1993 Chuck Colson addressed the US Air Force Academy.  An Read more

Religious Freedom Group Offers to Defend Camp Pendleton Cross

The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal association which “trains, funds, and litigates” on behalf of religious freedom, has offered to defend the Camp Pendleton cross free of charge.

The Alliance Defense Fund [is] offering our services free of charge to the Camp to defend the rights of its Marines to prepare themselves mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, as they prepare themselves to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Legal counsel Joel Oster notes the ‘clause of unlimited liability’ nature of military service encourages troops to “come to grips with their emotional and spiritual [selves].”

That is why militaries have chaplains.  It is simply a Read more

Fort Hood Plotter Abdo’s Confession Allowed to Stand

US Army PFC Naser Abdo, arrested in July 2011 while allegedly collecting supplies to bomb and shoot Fort Hood soldiers, reportedly confessed shortly after he was arrested.  His lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get the confession ruled inadmissible.

[U.S. District Judge Walter Smith] rejected a defense motion to throw out a confession from the soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops…

Prior to this point, Abdo had been fairly defiant, and he didn’t seem to shy telling the police what his plans were:

“So I’m AWOL … and I was planning an attack here in the Fort Hood community,” Abdo says in the recording…  Read more

The Fighter Pilot Elephant Walk

Five different fighter squadrons at Kunsan Air Base, Korea, recently loaded every available aircraft in its go-to-war configuration and then conducted an “elephant walk” — taxiing slowly down the runway in a mass formation and back to parking.

In theory, the elephant walk tests every part of a unit’s ability to go to war — including loading live weapons — except actually launching/flying.  It proves that, if called upon, a unit can generate (almost) every aircraft in its combat configuration on a specific timeline.  While it might seem odd to taxi around the field, even Read more

Update: Air Force Inns and Bibles

Air Force Public Affairs took “strong exception” with the Warner-Robins Patriot’s characterization of the Air Force reaction to the atheist complaint about Bibles in lodging rooms.

Michael Dickerson, Air Force Services Agency spokesman, has taken strong exception to a Tuesday morning story [that] said “Air Force officials have agreed in principle to remove Bibles … following pressure from an atheist group.”

Dickerson emphasized that the Air Force had not Read more

Air Force May Remove Bibles from Military Hotel Rooms

When the Air Force directs its members to travel on official business, it attempts to provide them lodging facilities “similar to US mid-level, limited service commercial hotels” even on Air Force bases spread around the globe.  As of October 1, 2012, those attempts will no longer include the traditional Bible in the nightstand.

According to atheist Jason Torpy, his demands have resulted in the Air Force changing its policies on the placement of Bibles in Air Force billeting facilities around the world.

After inquiries from the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers and a legal review, Air Force Services Operations [sic] has promised to end their Bible requirement…

Air Force counsel has recognized that…Air Force lodging managers are Constitutionally-bound to avoid entanglement with religion. Including a Bible in every room is a privilege for Christianity.

That isn’t exactly what the Air Force Services Agency said:  Read more

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