Sally Quinn Shills for Michael Weinstein

In case you were wondering why the Washington Post blog on Michael Weinstein’s visit to the Pentagon made him out to be so “heroic” — and never once raised a critical eye to his cause — it’s because the author, Sally Quinn, supports his cause.

In her recent commentary on the National Day of Prayer, Quinn calls the National Day of Prayer “unconstitutional”, and she spends most of her column lightly mocking Greg Laurie’s call for a national religious revival.  Tellingly, she never pauses to acknowledge Laurie’s liberty to make such statements.

Quinn also criticized the US Army at Fort Leonard Wood for Read more

MRFF Opposes “So-Called” Christians, Fears Christian Madrasas

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has a history of claiming only the “right kind” of Christians deserve religious liberty in the US military.  In 2011, the MRFF demanded the US Air Force Academy rescind a speaking invitation given to someone who “does not represent true Christianity” [emphasis added].  For that same event, Weinstein was personally outraged the invitation was given to the wrong kind of Christian.  In another scenario, Chris Rodda readily admitted the MRFF opposed the religious beliefs of Christians, not any action or conduct on their part.

The MRFF just recently refined their definition of “acceptable” religious Christian belief.

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired Army Colonel and recent addition to the MRFF.  He also joined Michael Weinstein at his much ballyhooed Pentagon meeting last month.  Wilkerson recently published a tirade against “so-called” Christians who are the target of the MRFF’s wrath:

Another perniciously destructive anomaly threatened good order and discipline in the ranks. And this one came from so-called Christians.

I write “so-called” simply because these people do not believe in the Christ of the Scriptures; they believe in some human-crafted, almost demonic Read more

WSJ Cites Chilling Effect of Air Force Meeting with Weinstein

The Wall Street Journal had a fairly balanced article on the recent dust up over Air Force leaders choosing to meet with religious freedom critic Michael Weinstein at the Pentagon in late April.  Author Mollie Ziegler Hemingway accurately notes that there’s been a bit of sensationalism in recent headlines:

Initial reports on these matters were exaggerated, taken out of context or simply false.

But she also acknowledges that, exaggerated or not, there are still some valid concerns:

For one thing, the Pentagon statement clarifying that military personnel would not be court-martialed if they “evangelize” also said that “proselytization” is considered a [UCMJ] offense. Yet the definitions of those two words are almost identical…

Further, the WSJ piece notes that regardless of any hyperbole in recent claims, there remains concern over the mere fact the Air Force met with Weinstein:  Read more

ACLJ Slams Weinstein as a “Nut,” Legal Hack

Jay Sekulow of The American Center for Law and Justice recently sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel calling on them to “repudiate” any relationship the US military had with Michael Weinstein.  Sekulow, who once debated Weinstein at the US Air Force Academy, previously called Weinstein a bigot.  In a new article, he’s called Weinstein a “nut” and legal hack who’s all bluster and no substance [emphasis added]:

“The rhetoric and language [Weinstein] uses is hateful; it is violent. He threatens physical violence on people. He’ll beat them up and he’ll fight to the death,” he tells American Family News. “[Weinstein] is a nut – and I don’t use that word lightly…”

“Look at [Weinstein’s] casework – oh wait, it’s very tough to find. You know why? He never won a case in court,” notes Read more

USCIRF: Afghans Need More Religious Freedom

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said Afghanistan has improved, but it still suffers from poor religious freedom:

Afghans still can’t debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday…

The environment for exercising religious freedom remains “exceedingly poor” for dissenting members of Afghanistan’s Sunni Muslim majority and for minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs Read more

US Military Clarifies Religious Freedom Policy. Again.

For the third time in a week, the US military released a statement attempting to articulate the DoD’s policy on religious freedom. In response to multiple media questions, LtCmdr Nathan Christensen issued the following statement [emphasis added]:

There is no DOD wide policy that directly addresses religious proselytizing. Furthermore, there is no effort within the department to make religious proselytizing a specific offense within the UCMJ, including under Article 134.

Service members may exercise their rights under the 1st Amendment regarding the free exercise of religion unless doing so adversely affects good order, discipline, or some other aspect of the military mission; even then, the Department seeks a reasonable religious accommodation for the service member. In general, service members may share their faith with other service members, but may not forcibly attempt to convert others of any faith or no faith to their own beliefs.

Concerns about these issues are handled on a case by case basis by the leaders of the unit involved.

In other words, the prior statement that did try to “directly address religious proselytizing” is…retracted?

The statement essentially reverts the DoD from the “new” (first, “uncomfortable,” then evangelism vs proselytizing) back to the “old” more Read more

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