Lord Knows: Mikey Weinstein Threatens Suit over God-talk

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is the sole paid employee of a self-founded “charity” that claims to protect religious freedom in the US military. In fact, though, Weinstein pays himself more than a quarter million dollars per year while doing nothing more than attacking anything remotely approaching an expression of or an association with Christianity.

One of his most recent targets was sentries at Robins AFB who dared to say “have a blessed day” to those entering the base.

Because we can’t have people wishing others well, apparently. (Weinstein laughably asserted this was an attempt by the gate guards to convert people to Christianity.)

Then, Weinstein targeted a Wing Commander who Read more

Report: Military Atheists Outnumber Southern Baptists

Christianity Today recently cited December 2014 DoD statistics to state that atheists outnumber Southern Baptists in the US military:

According the latest Department of Defense statistics on religion, there were 12,360 Southern Baptists among the US military’s 1.3 million members on active duty as of December 2014. There were also 12,764 atheists—an advantage of 404 over Southern Baptists.

By contrast, Southern Baptists outnumbered atheists by about 10,000 in 2009, with 16,975 Southern Baptists and only 6,702 atheists on active duty.

In contrast with prior stories on “religious hostility” in the military, using historical data columnist Bob Smietana also said there was no evidence of a “mass exodus” of Christians from the military:   Read more

Navy Cancels Some Boot Camp Chapel Services

In early April, the Navy commander of Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes — the basic training site for all incoming Sailors — told civilian volunteers they were no longer permitted to conduct religious services for recruits.

On the orders of Capt. Doug Pfeifle, the commanding officer of RTC, civilian volunteers for seven minority religious communities have been asked to stop conducting services.

An RTC official who spoke on background said the volunteers were asked to leave in accordance with Navy guidance, which stipulates that a uniformed chaplain or a religiously accredited military member should conduct the service before the service pursues other avenues.

Viewed optimistically, it appears to be a sincere action poorly executed or communicated. It seems the volunteer system had “gotten away from” the RTC leadership, and they found themselves unable to justify the program under Navy guidelines. It seems the RTC program was suffering from some logistical issues, including a formal way to control who could and could not conduct recruit services.

To be clear, the US military is not Read more

Chaplain Serves at the Bottom of the World

An interesting article highlights Air Force Chaplain (Maj) Pete Drury as he served at McMurdo, Antarctica. Chaplain Drury had an interesting statement on his ability to serve all of the 850 residents of the remote outpost:

“One of the cool things that an ANG chaplain can provide is that we understand and can accommodate the secular person and the person who has a non-religious spirituality,” Drury said, with a characteristically broad smile. “Because a non-religious person still has spiritual needs. We have a unique capacity to provide that.”

Other stories have covered the chaplains who have deployed there previously.  It was also interesting to note the “deliveries” the Air Force made Read more

Air Force Selects Only 87 Officers for Flight Training

In March, the Air Force announced it had selected 87 company grade officers for Undergraduate Flying Training (UFT). UFT in Air Force parlance includes training for pilots, UAV operators, systems operators, and Air Battle Managers.

The Air Force does not release the numbers of total applicants, though it seems reasonable to conclude a few hundred applied. As the selectees were divided into a further four groups, only one of which was pilots, it seems the pilot track in the Air Force remains quite difficult to enter from active duty.

It can be done, as Read more

Religious Hostility toward Christians Hurting US Military

It started with a statement by Michael Berry, a former Marine JAG and now counsel with the Liberty Institute, cited in the Washington Times regarding the prosecution of US Navy Chaplain Wes Modder:

Michael Berry…said recent high-profile cases of military chaplains facing punishment for private counseling sessions that reflected the teachings of their religion could cause devout Americans who are qualified for military service to think twice about joining the military.

That statement has now been paraphrased across the internet to say “Christians are leaving the military” or there is “an exodus of Christians from the military.” The Washington Times article itself says US military “morale [and] retention [have been] devastated.”

To be accurate, that isn’t exactly what Berry said. Further, while the current perception of the US military’s attitude toward religious freedom has certainly impacted both recruitment and retention, support for that conclusion is entirely anecdotal. As has been said here before, the plural of anecdote is not “data.”

Still, Berry’s original statement is not unreasonable. His assessment even found its way into an interview with potential Presidential Read more

1 … 162 163 164 165 166 … 608