Category Archives: Government and Religion

Jeff Sessions Criticized for same Christian Beliefs as Ronald Reagan

I do believe that we are a nation that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about power, ideology, advancement, agenda, not doing the public service.

The quote above by President-elect Donald Trump’s Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions is a statement of the obvious to millions of Christians, yet is being touted as proof Sessions is unqualified for government service.

In a widely distributed piece at The Daily Beast, author Jay Michaelson cites the above under the headline “Jeff Sessions Said ‘Secularists’ Are Unfit for Government,” and questioned Sessions’ fitness for the office:

[Sessions’] comments raise questions as to which set of “truths,” religious or secular, would motivate his Justice Department’s decisions on which laws to prosecute, which liberties to protect, and which interpretations of legal and constitutional texts to adopt.

That’s moronic for two reasons.

The first is the obvious “truth” that Read more

Retired Chaplain Norris Burkes Wrong on Gen Costin, Religious Freedom

Retired US Air Force Chaplain Norris Burkes first came to the attention of this site in 2009, when the syndicated chaplain wrote a column about the burning of Afghan-language Bibles by American troops in Afghanistan (a controversy discussed here). In essence, Burkes approved, and noted:

The possession of such religious material violates something the military calls General Order No. 1.

Though he was dismissive of most input, he did finally concede that he was wrong — General Order Number One says no such thing.

Despite the admission, Burkes declined to change the article, and it can still be found on his website, with the unchanged statement that even Burkes admitted was wrong.

Chaplain Burkes recently popped up again, and for some reason he Read more

Religious Freedom Day and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, 2017

Monday, 16 January 2017 marks the annual Religious Freedom Day, as proclaimed by President Obama over the weekend:

Religious freedom is a principle based not on shared ancestry, culture, ethnicity, or faith but on a shared commitment to liberty — and it lies at the very heart of who we are as Americans…We must be unified in our commitment to protecting the freedoms of conscience and religious belief and the freedom to live our lives according to them…

Part of being American means guarding against bigotry and speaking out on behalf of others…

Religious liberty is more than a cornerstone of American life — it is a universal and inalienable right…

Religious Freedom Day marks the anniversary of the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, originally authored by Thomas Jefferson.  It preceded the US Constitution and its similarly-themed First Amendment by several years.

President Obama’s 2017 statement was Read more

Catholic Hospital Sued for Denying Transgender Surgery

As reported by the Religion Clause:

Lambda Legal announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey federal district court against a Catholic hospital that refused, on religious grounds, to allow a surgeon to perform a hysterectomy on a transgender man as part of his gender reassignment.

This isn’t completely unrelated to the military. One unaddressed elephant in the room concerning transgenders in the military has Read more

SecDef Nominee Gen James Mattis Reassures and Worries LGBT Advocates

Retired US Marine General James Mattis sat through hearings with the US Senate yesterday on the path to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense. Gen Mattis is hailed as a no-nonsense, non-political straight-talker, yet his answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee managed to create opposite reactions from allies in the homosexual movement.

Josh Israel at the left-leaning ThinkProgress declared “Defense nominee Mattis won’t say if women and LGBT people should be able to serve,” while the infamous Ashley Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 6: Mikey as a Spam Bot

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s harassment of his critics isn’t always direct. In fact, some of his “best work” is likely done by indirect harassment — that is, when he can cajole someone else into doing his deeds for him. One of his methods of harassment to achieve this end is to flood military inboxes with unsolicited emails — apparently in the desperate hope that someone will do something just to make him stop hitting “send”.

Such was the case in 2014, when Weinstein emailed US Air Force BGen David Harris with nothing more than an email copy of a recent article from ChristianFighterPilot.com. The only original content in the message (the email is even bereft of ellipses) was Weinstein’s subject line: “Latest From Dominionist “Christian Read more

STRATCOM Revokes Christian Pastor’s Invitation over Religious Beliefs

Retired US Army LtCol Tom Gray, now a contractor at the global nuclear US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, recently issued a press release (PDF) celebrating his “vigilance” over the “separation of church and state.”  Gray announced he’d had Dr. Philip Kayser of the Dominion Covenant Church in nearby Omaha disinvited from speaking at the Offutt Chapel. According to Gray, Kayser had planned on giving “a class on leadership from a Christian perspective.” Gray objected:

Dr. Kayser’s beliefs…can be found online. I brought my concerns to Captain Yi, the USSTRATCOM chaplain, and the invitation was revoked.

The STRATCOM decision to disinvited the local pastor is problematic — and disturbing.

First, it’s worth noting even Gray — despite Read more

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