Category Archives: Government and Religion

Mikey Weinstein Throws Tantrum at Tobyhanna. No One Notices.

In early May an aggrieved civilian working at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania contacted Michael “Mikey” Weinstein with a religious complaint so horrible, so egregious, so dangerous that it is amazing it had not already caused massive loss of life.

Someone was wearing a hat.

Quoth Weinstein [emphasis added]:

Dear Col. Peterson,

Sir, one of your armed, DOD, Army, civilian gate guards at the Tobyhanna Army Depot Main or “Scranton” gate is wearing a baseball hat with the biblical citation from the New Testament Book of John “3:16” on it…

MRFF demands that you immediately order that offending gate guard to expeditiously remove that Christian-proselytizing baseball hat and appropriately, aggressively and visibly punish that individual as well as all others in his chain of command who are either directly or indirectly responsible…

It just takes a hat to convert people?  Missionaries have been doing it wrong all these years.

Turns out Weinstein was pretty far off the mark. First, it seems  Read more

President Trump’s “Questionable” Claim on Military Religious Freedom

When President Trump signed his executive order on religious liberty at the beginning of the month, most of the criticism (as the President seems to attract much of it) was focused on the IRS and enforcement of the Johnson Amendment.

A few sites, however, took issue with his reference to religious liberty in the US military. During his Rose Garden announcement on the National Day of Prayer, President Trump said (video):

Just one example, people were forbidden from giving or receiving religious items at a military hospital where our brave service members were being treated and where they wanted those religious items.

Though he made no direct statement, that clearly seems to be a reference to the December 2011 controversy in which Walter Reed updated its visitor policy to say Read more

Mikey Weinstein Blames Donald Trump for Christian National Security Threat

Yesterday Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was covered by Newsweek in an article entitled “Trump Effect Inspires Radical Christians in Military” (warning for ad-heavy site).

The article began [emphasis added]:

Donald Trump’s election has led to such a steep rise in fundamentalist Christian evangelizing and religious bigotry in the US armed forces that the matter is reaching the level of a “national security threat…”

The allegation that Donald Trump has inspired “evangelizing and religious bigotry” in the military is a serious charge — one which “award-winning” columnist Nina Burleigh utterly fails to support with any evidence. What follows in her article is a rah-rah fluff piece that does little more than parrot the words of Mikey Weinstein as if Weinstein himself is preaching the gospel.  Burleigh dispenses with “anonymous sources” and simply has one: Mikey Weinstein.

In an apparent effort to bolster her claim — or perhaps sensationalize it — Burleigh cites an exhaustive list of “charges” against the military as a result of Trump’s election, which she seems Read more

Mikey Weinstein Attacks Muslim US Troops over Religion. Almost.

In an act that almost amounted to a display of principle, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF finally spoke out against US Air Force MSgts Laura and Mark Magee — both Muslim service members. The Magees were the focus of a “Through Airmen’s Eyes” article put out by the Air Force early last week which highlighted their faith. The article was entitled “Nevada ANG chaplain [sic]: ‘I want people to know Islam is not evil’“. (The title should have said “…chaplain’s assistant,” not “chaplain”.)

Weinstein’s group put out a statement saying [emphasis added]:

MRFF objects to it just as strongly as it has to the many articles published by the Air Force highlighting the faith of Christian airmen [sic]…

The MRFF complaint gives only a single example that it says violates Air Force regulations, citing the article which quoted MSgt Mark Magee saying: Read more

Christian Fighter Pilot Tells Troops about Need for Faith

Guy Gruters recently spoke at a gathering at the Navy Medicine Operational Training Center at Pensacola, Florida. The first words of the official Navy article on the event are fascinating:

Guy Gruters is a religious man. You would be, too, if you’d been in his shoes.

Then-Lt Gruters was an Air Force F-100 pilot in Vietnam who, after his second shootdown, was captured and spent nearly six years as a POW. One of his cellmates was Lance Sijan, and Read more

Ed Brayton’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office

Ed Brayton, a long-time secularist blogger and ally of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and Chris Rodda, recently wrote a post entitled “Klingenschmitt’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office.”

One of Brayton’s pastimes is keeping up with former Navy Chaplain and former Colorado state legislator Gordon Klingenschmitt, himself a prolific public speaker and writer.

Brayton quoted Klingenschmitt from a LifeSite news article in which Klingenschmitt was commenting on the decision by Tennessee state legislator Mark Green to withdraw from nomination as Secretary of the Army.  Klingenschmitt said

The bully left is now openly creating an unconstitutional religious litmus test for public office. If you believe the Bible, or quote the Bible in public, they claim you are unfit for office and apply their political labels until you quit.

Brayton mocked Klingenschmitt’s statement as “absurd,” and then followed it with his own absurdity:  Read more

Is the US Military Forgetting about Post Traumatic Growth?

A fascinating piece at the Australian military’s The Cove asks an important question: With all the focus on PTSD, are we forgetting post traumatic growth?

Highlighting only chronic illness amongst veterans however, risks creating an unhelpful sense of expectancy that illness will follow service…

This illness narrative does not align with the experiences of many veterans from both historic and contemporary operations, who have endured varying levels of trauma, but grew from these experiences.

Author Tim Robinson notes the idea has been around for awhile, and James Mattis — now Secretary of Defense for the US military — has proffered it as well: Read more

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