Month: June 2012

Former West Point Cadet Challenges Cadet Prayer

In 2010 West Point Cadet Alan Spadone was disenrolled for failing to participate in a remediation program after admitting to violating the Honor Code.  He was directed to begin serving as an enlisted soldier, as he had already begun his third year at West Point when he committed his violation in the fall of 2009.

He filed civil complaints on multiple counts, including everything from the remediation program was unreasonable to the government was trying to “enrich itself” by making him serve as a soldier.  Those claims were all dismissed in a recent ruling:

Spadone has not established that his suspension and disenrollment from West Point violated the APA or his right to due process, and Spadone failed to demonstrate a waiver of sovereign immunity for his claim of unjust enrichment.

Interestingly, however, Spadone is permitted to continue his claim that the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution was violated when Read more

Missionaries Killed in Zambia Plane Crash

Missionary couple Jay and Katrina Erickson were killed in a recent crash in Zambia after working at a local hospital.  Jay Erickson was reportedly the pilot, trained by Moody Bible Institute’s Moody Aviation.  The aircraft was a 6-seat Cessna.

The couple were in their 20s and had left their two young daughters at the hospital:

Their daughters, 2-year-old Marina and 1-year-old Coral, had stayed behind at the hospital. Katrina Erickson’s parents, who live in Wisconsin, are preparing to travel to Zambia with Jay Erickson’s mother to reunite with their granddaughters, said Pastor Ron Ulmer of Hillyard Baptist Church on Monday.

While there are no further details, it remains true that mission aviation — arguably, even civil aviation — is a dangerous profession.  Though they are largely unknown and under-appreciated, missionary aviators support missions around the world.

Michael Weinstein Targets Evangelicals in Fishing for Bibles, Part 2

As predicted last November, Michael Weinstein went fishing for controversy over military-themed Bibles and finally managed to manufacture a scandal out of the nearly decade-old Holman series of military-themed Bibles carrying official military service seals.

But what that led to is even more interesting, for Weinstein may have let slip (again) his real target in his “war” against religious freedom in the US military.

For its part, the military says the decision to withdraw permission for Holman to use the seals was administrative housekeeping.  Weinstein’s research assistant Chris Rodda cried malarkey, saying the military never would have revisited the permission if not for the MRFF inquiries.

As it has in the past, the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, representing 2,000 military chaplains, is calling on Congress to investigate why the military is so keen on bowing to pressure from the MRFF.

The end result is the Holman Bibles can be Read more

Hasan Fort Hood Trial Delayed over Beard

US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s trial over murder charges stemming from the 2009 Fort Hood massacre was delayed — again — when Hasan showed up to court with a beard.  He is still considered a member of the military and is required to maintain military standards of uniform wear.

Judge Col. Gregory Gross ordered the motions delayed “until the near future,” when Hasan meets Army grooming standards or Read more

President Declares LGBT Pride Month with Biblical Language

President Obama declared June to be “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month,” which purportedly takes the opportunity for the US government to “celebrate” sexual attraction to one’s own gender.  Unlike some other proclamations called upon by Congress, the LGBT Pride proclamation was done independently by Obama as it was under Clinton, the last president to make such declarations.

And because we must treat others the way we want to be treated, I personally believe in marriage equality for same-sex couples…More remains to be done to ensure every single American is treated equally, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Moving forward, my Administration will continue its work to advance the rights of LGBT Americans.

Bob Stith, of the Southern Baptist’s Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals, said the Presidential proclamation continued a recent socially accepted theme:  opposition to homosexuality is bigotry.

The fact that Obama is framing the legalization of gay marriage as one of ridding the country of prejudice does not bode well for traditional Christians, Stith said.  Read more

Articles Defend, Attack Camp Pendleton Cross

Competing opinion pieces at the UT San Diego debate the appropriateness of the Camp Pendleton crosses, memorials that have stood on a remote hill on a US Marine base for years until an atheist found out they were there.

Ever-sensitive atheist Jason Torpy, the original complainant who found out about the crosses on the internet, reminds people the crosses “violate religious neutrality,” since the presence of religious symbols on government land is apparently totally forbidden:

Two 13-foot Christian crosses stand on restricted federal land as a result of unauthorized actions by private individuals…All of this speaks to a Marine-led Christianization of the military Read more

Homosexual Ceremony Conducted in Military Chapel Despite Law

A chaplain at Fort Polk, Louisiana, has reportedly conducted a same-sex ceremony within the military chapel despite Louisiana’s ban on homosexual marriage:

U.S. Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said in a statement Wednesday that the “marriage-like” ceremony performed for two women by an Army chaplain shouldn’t have been allowed because Louisiana law doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage or civil union. U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., claims the ceremony violates Defense Department policy.

Congressman Todd Akin called it a clear violation of state law and military policies, while the participants (and the chaplain) got around that little problem Read more

General Carver Says DADT Repeal Produced Tension in Military

Former US Army Chief of Chaplains, MajGen Douglas Carver, recently told a conference sponsored by the American Religious Freedom Program that the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has caused tension and questions over morality in the US military:

“I can assure you that a tension exists in this area,” Carver [said]. “For example, the Department of Defense no longer considers homosexuality a moral issue. [To the department,] it is an amoral issue. To them, it’s a concern of human dignity, respect, discipline and professionalism. However, a number of our chaplains and troops believe that homosexuality is a moral issue.”

Chaplain Carver also said there was an apparent increasing “intolerance Read more

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