Campus Crusade Hosts MRFF’s Atheist Paul Loebe (Video)

Paul Loebe, the former active duty Marine who is now Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s newest “special assistant,” was recently one of two atheists invited to The Epicenter Experience, a college ministry event put on by Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ, a frequent MRFF target). The “conversation” was led by Doug Pollock, and Loebe was (invited and) accompanied by fellow atheist Adam Hann (also a military veteran).

Doug Pollock’s “specialty” is helping Christians “increase the quality and the quantity of their spiritual conversations.”  In other words, how to talk to non-Christians well, which is a natural first step toward evangelism.  Pollock’s conversation with Loebe and Hann was, in essence, a demonstration.

The video of the “conversation” (below), provided by Cru, is actually fairly interesting (and its a fair bit better quality than the ‘pirated audio‘ the MRFF published). Much of the discussion was how Christians had caused the two atheists to feel, from experiences Read more

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Attacks Atheism, Immorality, not Christianity

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has frequently claimed that the public acknowledgement of Christians in the US military — as when a group of US Marines was baptized on a California beach — has provided propaganda and motivation for America’s extremist Islamic adversaries. As has been noted before, Weinstein’s claim has no basis in fact; Osama bin Laden railed against America’s support for Israel far more than he did any presence of Christianity in the US military.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, was recently able to release a “rambling manifesto” (available here) that mentions many things, which might have given him the opportunity to indicate the motivation behind his alleged personal planning of the attack on 9/11. While the document is addressed to the “crusaders of the military commissions” and Mohammed once refers to “crusader Soldiers,” as before, this word does not seem to be a religious attribution. In fact, Mohammed seems to claim the opposite: The evil of the Western world is its atheism and immorality:  Read more

US Military Publishes New Religious Freedom Guidance

A host of websites have reported the US Department of Defense has “relaxed” its rules regarding religious accommodation. More accurately, the military has updated its policies on requesting such accommodations in a manner that does seem to imply they will be more amenable to such requests.  Department of Defense Instruction 1300.17 (DoDI 1300.17) now has “Change 1”, which can be found here (PDF).

“The new policy states that military departments will accommodate religious requests of service members,” [Pentagon spokesman Navy LtCmdr Nathan Christensen] said, “unless a request would have an adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion and good order and discipline.”

When a service member requests such an accommodation, he added, department officials balance the need of the service member against the need to accomplish the military mission. Such a request is denied only if an official determines that mission accomplishment needs outweigh the need of the service member, Christensen said.

The key word in the quote and the instruction itself — the DoD will accommodate.

These changes include an apparent allowance of religious facial hair and “body art,” as well as direct responses to the 2013 and 2014 National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) requiring the US military to accommodate religious expression: Read more

Huckabee, Potential 2016 Presidential Candidate, on Military Religious Freedom

During a lengthy interview with the Baptist Press, former (and potentially future) Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee talked about religious freedom — and the military:

The American people must be willing to stand up for religious liberty, Huckabee said.

“The government’s job is not to say you can’t have a nativity scene, you can’t sing a Christmas carol, you can’t wear colors of red and green at Christmastime,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite. The government is prohibited from getting involved at all, making any decisions. It’s the role of citizens to express themselves if their expression infringed upon someone else.”

Those appear to be references to recent issues in the US military and the Veteran’s Administration. Huckabee later specifically mentioned the military:

The military is another battleground for religious freedom, Read more

General Welsh on Integrity

there is nothing more important to the nation than the integrity and the trustworthiness of the people who defend it. r/mark

  • Integrity: The quality or state of being of sound moral principle…

The question: How can leaders inspire integrity in the US military?

Via General Mark Welsh.

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Air Force Investigates Nuke Cheating Scandal

The US military has revealed that 34 nuclear missile officers are being investigated for their roles in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. Worse, the scandal came to light as the result of an illegal drug investigation of Air Force officers:

Air Force Office of Special Investigations officials were examining allegations of illegal drug possession when evidence surfaced that a missile launch officer at the 341st Missile Wing electronically shared the answers to monthly missile launch officer proficiency tests with 16 other officers. Air Force officials subsequently approached the entire missile crew force at Malmstrom, and 17 other officers admitted to at least being aware of material that had been shared.

USAF Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh indicated it wasn’t just the act of “cheating,” but the failure to act by those who knew the cheating was occurring:  Read more

Military Chaplain Reports Retaliation over Lawsuit

Chaplain Ray Leonard, the civilian contract Catholic Priest now famous for suing the US government after he was banned from his congregation during the government shutdown, has now said he has experienced official retaliation as a result of his suit:

A Catholic priest has been the target of government retaliation…

The government’s alleged retaliation against Father Ray Leonard began with depriving the civilian priest of two months of his salary, even after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had allowed him to continue his ministry…

Chaplain Leonard’s attorney from Read more

Military Religious Freedom Group Petitions Congress

The group Military-Veterans Advocacy, represented by J.B. Wells, has written a letter to Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL), the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, stating that the Veterans Administration is preventing “chaplains and patients…from exercising their rights to religious expression.”

Wells indicated he was aiming for the same protections for religious expression the active US military recently received:

“We wrote the letter to provide support and also to suggest hearings on the situation. My goal is to see similar provisions enacted for veterans and VA employees as were included in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.”

Wells is currently suing the VA over discrimination Read more

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