Tag Archives: Military

Former JAGs: MRFF Wrong Historically, Legally

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein relies heavily on his credentials as a “former Air Force JAG.” Presumably, people outside the military ascribe to a JAG a particular expertise on military regulations and the law, and Weinstein seeks to benefit from that connotation.

When Weinstein recently demanded that the US Air Force Academy prohibit cadets from praying, it was notable that not one but two former JAGs spoke up in defense of the military religious freedom Weinstein’s “Military Religious Freedom Foundation” sought to ban.

The Alliance Defending Freedom’s Daniel Briggs wrote a letter (PDF) that became the “opposing viewpoint” that required USAFA to be “prudent and deliberate” in its review of Weinstein’s complaint. Briggs said [emphasis added]

Cadet-led prayer does not violate any purported ‘separation of church and state.’ Courts have long recognized that this term is a misrepresented and tiresome platitude found nowhere Read more

USAFA Rejects Mikey Weinstein’s Demand to Ban Prayer

usafapray2The US Air Force Academy released a statement declaring that cadet football players would not be prohibited from taking a knee in the endzone prior to games. As reported at the Air Force Times, USAFA said [emphasis added]:

The United States Air Force Academy places a high value on the rights of its members to observe the tenets of their respective religion or to observe no religion at all.

Recently the United States Air Force Academy received a complaint about its football players kneeling in prayer. An inquiry was initiated, which found the football players’ actions to be consistent with Air Force Instruction 1-1 and its guidance on the free exercise of religion and religious accommodation…

The United States Air Force Academy will continue to reaffirm to cadets that all Airmen are free to practice the religion of their choice or subscribe to no religious belief at all. The players may confidently practice their own beliefs without pressure to participate in the practices of others.

Weinstein’s response was typical:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Aims for Christmas Villain Hat-Trick

In what is becoming an annual tradition, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and his self-founded “charity,” the oddly-named Military Religious Freedom Foundation, have been nominated for or have won recurring Christmas-villain awards for his attacks on military religious freedom.

Weinstein “won” the Liberty Institute’s Scrooge Award in 2014, after he was nominated for his infamous “cadet whiteboard” attack, in which he aimed his invective at a US Air Force Academy cadet who had the gall to write a Bible verse on a dry erase board. Weinstein has been nominated again this year for his attack on, again, US Air Force Academy cadets — this time, members of the football team who choose to take a knee prior to their games.

MRFF supporters are aware of the voting for Liberty Institute’s award and are trying to shoot the moon, apparently thinking that being viewed as a rich, crass, stone-hearted cynic is a good thing.

After missing out last year, Mikey Weinstein’s MRFF has been nominated for Read more

Christian Army Helo Pilot Killed in Training Accident

US Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin “Mose” Weiss was killed December 2nd when the two-seat AH-64 Apache helicopter he was flying crashed a few miles from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He is survived by his wife, Beth, and two young children, Lucas and Susie.

Beth wrote this letter about her fallen husband:

Written By Mrs. Bethany Weiss

God is my ultimate Provider, Jehovah-jireh is His name; one of the many ways He has provided for me was by giving me Kevin Mose Weiss.

At approximately the age of 12, I met Kevin Mose at AWANA Club. The mission of AWANA is to help “churches and parents worldwide raise children and youth to know, love, and serve God.” Kevin’s nickname at our AWANA Club was, “Monkey Boy”. A couple of my friends Read more

US Military Supports Heavens Reach Ministries

The US military recently delivered a variety of donations to Alcanzando Desde El Cielo (Reaching from Heaven) Ministries in Honduras:

Heavens Reach Ministries, a nongovernmental organization in the United States, donated essential items to include; furniture, medical equipment, school equipment, a tractor, and a 15-passenger van…

“We help people live a healthier, more sustainable life physically and spiritually,” said Dean Read more

The US Military, Leadership, and the Harder Right

chaplainAn institutional bias is often found in many large organizations, including the US military: The desire that employees simply do their jobs and bring no attention on themselves or the institution. In point of fact, this bias may actually be stronger in the US military by virtue of its strict reliance on uniformity — and its resulting institutional disdain for those who appear to break with such single-mindedness.

In some instances, this bias leads to an injustice: For example, when a subordinate or employee makes a special request for accommodation, it may be granted out of obligation, but that employee has, for better or worse, highlighted himself as someone requiring additional effort — something rarely viewed positively by such institutions. Or, if a subordinate or employee is criticized or attacked for permissible conduct that others might have found disagreeable, this bias may cause a superior to try to appease the critic to make the boat-rocking go away, rather than take the extra effort necessary to defend their subordinate.

Regardless, this bias represents a failure in leadership. It is Read more

In fit of Facebook Envy, Mikey Weinstein Attacks Franklin Graham

In a post thick with irony, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein took to the internet last week to decry the “extremist” Franklin Graham who “personally targeted” him. The context was Weinstein’s attack on the pre-game prayers by US Air Force Academy cadets, which Weinstein has called “putrid” and illegal. When Graham responded, Weinstein said [emphasis added]:

Well-funded Christian fundamentalist organizations are using social media to attack MRFF!…

Extremist Christian preacher Franklin Graham personally targeted me and our Military Religious Freedom Foundation, asking followers to support and encourage actions meant to undermine our Constitutional rights.

(Said the well-funded anti-Christian organization that uses social media to attack others…) What Read more

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