Military Atheist Documents Counseling with Navy Chaplain

Petty Officer 3rd Class Eduardo Otero is a US Navy Sailor and an atheist, as he describes in a uniquely toned article entitled “Not Applicable: The Story of an Atheist, a Navy Chaplain and a Search for Hope.” Otero, a Navy “mass communication specialist” (essentially a public affairs officer), wrote the article in a staccato future perfect tense — making it seem at times like an odd trip down a future memory lane that is unsure of its own footing.

Ultimately, it boils down to PO3 Otero desiring counseling from a chaplain, and he met with a Catholic priest, Chaplain (LTjg) Jason Burchell.

And that’s really about it. The article eventually becomes a “chaplain 101” story in which Otero seems to have transitioned his counseling into interviews with his chaplain, both personally and professionally.

Some of what Otero cites might seem like fodder for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s crusade against Read more

Mikey Weinstein: Southern Baptists are Terrifying, Existential Danger

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF recently had a case of the vapors when they read the Southern Baptist Convention’s chaplaincy website, which includes the 1941 quote from Alfred Carpenter that

Every chaplain is a missionary in uniform, and an evangelist at large…

Weinstein’s group let loose the vitriol:

MRFF’s Constitutional [sic] civil-rights [sic] battle for separation of church and state in the U.S [sic] military faces vicious opposition from fundamentalist evangelical Christian dominionists hell-bent on ensuring military chaplains function as “government paid missionaries”…

As previously discussed, every Christian Read more

Fired Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran Wins Lawsuit Against Atlanta

Just before Christmas, a Federal district court ruled in the case of Cochran v City of Atlanta, in which Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran had claimed he was fired because he did nothing more than write a book — one that included a page with his Christian beliefs about homosexuality.

You’d be forgiven for not realizing that, given that the ruling on the three-year-old case seems to have garnered little to no press attention, despite its potentially significant impact on religious liberty.

Part of the reason for the seeming indifference may be the ruling itself. The court denied most of Cochran’s constitutional claims but found in his favor on the unconstitutionality of the City’s policies requiring “pre-clearance” before writing a book. (That apparent ambiguity may be why some outlets appear to have said the Court “sided with Atlanta,” which belies the fact Atlanta was defending and did not prevail in its defense — meaning the Court actually sided with Cochran.)

In its legal filings, the City claimed it fired Cochran Read more

Top Ten Military Christian Stories for 2017

The year 2017 was, once again, much lower on the scale with regard to headlining issues of religious liberty and the US military — to a degree.

Over at the left-leaning Baptist Joint Committee, the only military related story listed by Don Byrd was the Bladensburg cross.  However, several others deal with religious freedom that does still affect the military, like Masterpiece Cakeshop, and Senators “cross[ing] the line” in questioning political nominees about their religious beliefs.

Howard Friedman of the objective Religion Clause listed transgenders in the military as one of the top stories of the year, which many would (incorrectly) argue isn’t actually a “religious” issue. He also listed Masterpiece Cakeshop as a lead story.

As for ChristianFighterPilot.com, the following Read more

MRFF’s 2017 Achievements Highlight Mikey Weinstein’s Weakness

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, perennial critic of religious freedom in the US military, celebrated the close of 2017 by happily saying, essentially, he’d ‘transitioned’ into a well-paid blogger. Apparently stung by the revelation he was soliciting funds for lawsuits that weren’t actually happening, Weinstein now says his primary mission is to communicate, not litigate [emphasis added]:

MRFF’s mission to ensure military religious freedom scored big wins this year with battles achieving massive publicity…

We [need your money to] fuel MRFF’s campaign to illuminate federally funded fundamentalism. We must open the public’s eyes. The spread of knowledge is our arsenal’s most potent weapon.

In other words, whereas Mikey Weinstein once bragged of how much he accomplished, he now brags of how much he talks. Apropos.

More tellingly, Weinstein included a list of 14 “achievements” for 2017 that read like a list of non-events — and other people’s events.

Within that list of 14, Read more

Christmas Around the Military

In a summary of how Christmas was treated around the military this year:

Air Force leadership wished their Airmen “Happy Holidays“, without expressly saying to what holidays they were referring.

Fort Stewart had an actual Christmas tree with Christmas carols, though the quotation about the meaning of the season — “a time to grow and reflect” — was a bit off.

Schofield Barracks managed to only light a “Holiday Tree,” though seeming to tacitly acknowledge there was only one holiday that was celebrated with a lit tree in December.

The US Air Force continued its annual tradition of supporting Operation Christmas Drop.

Fairchild AFB managed to use the word “holiday” five times in a single caption — and didn’t use “Christmas” once, despite referring to songs, trees, and Santa Claus, all on Read more

A Bit of Hate Mail

It doesn’t take much to generate hate mail anymore. Thanks to the internet, merely stating an opinion means someone will see it who doesn’t like it. Statistically, it is likely one of those critics will be disagreeable enough to send you a note questioning your intellectual capacity or the legitimacy of your family lineage.

In that regard, receiving hate mail is almost as meaningless as getting credit card applications in the mail — despite Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s apparent belief that it means he’s “doing something right.” (Mikey probably thinks that bank junk mail is a testament to his financial status, too.)

That said, every now and then something gets said that’s just interesting or entertaining — or weird. In that latter category, Weinstein acolyte J. Chorazy has been sending novel-length emails to this site for years. They’ve long since been auto-deleted, but every now and then one sneaks through the filters. His persistence — particularly in the face of being completely ignored for years — is…interesting.

Then there’s this gem from another dear reader:  Read more

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