While saying the move was unrelated to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s complaint a few weeks ago, the US Army “removed all university preferences from [its] assignment postings.”
In other words, the text “must be of Christian faith” will no longer appear next to Army staff assignments to Wheaton College.
This was previously discussed at length. While Weinstein called it a “HUGE MRFF Victory” [emphasis original], it Read more
In November, former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt lost his Federal appeal (filed in 2011) of his discharge from the Navy, which had stemmed from his 2006 court-martial.
“I sued the domestic enemies of the Constitution in the DC Court of Claims to redeem my career [and] to redeem my pension after I was robbed by people who punished me for quoting the Bible in chapel,” he tells OneNewsNow. “[I was robbed] by people who punished me for praying in Jesus’ name in uniform outside of chapel.”
The ruling can be read here. Klingenschmitt has indicated he plans to appeal.
As a side note, Read more
A few months ago Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel encouraged US troops to vote, noting
For Americans serving in uniform, voting is more than a civic responsibility. It’s about exercising the rights you’ve sworn to defend.
It’s encouraging to see senior leaders call on troops to exercise the rights they’ve promised their very lives to defend. Notably, the right to free exercise of religion is Read more
The Ohio State House of Representatives passed “a resolution,” HR 283,
To urge the United States Congress and the United States Department of Defense to protect and uphold the religious and free speech rights of military service members.
The resolution cited several incidents of apparent religious hostility in the US military, but oddly missed one that was very close to home. The resolution noted that the Ohio National Guard had the same challenges Read more
US military leaders publicized their “holiday messages” in a series of videos just before Christmas. Outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his wife made a point of saying “Merry Christmas,” as well as including a still photo from a homosexual proposal during a homecoming ceremony.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Marty Dempsey and his family sang “Jingle Bells” and wished everyone a “Merry Christmas.”
Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and her Read more
Update: Franklin Graham describes the faith of Louis Zamperini here. Notably:
He found a Bible that had been issued by the air corps and began reading.
Seems some documented good came from the US military issuing Bibles during World War II.
Unbroken, the Laura Hillenbrand biography on Louis Zamperini (which made the 2012 CSAF Reading List), has been made into an Angelina Jolie-directed movie to be released on Christmas day.
A small controversy is brewing over the movie’s admitted generalization of “faith,” despite the importance of the Christian faith to Zamperini’s life story. Ultimately, this should be little surprise, given that the book Unbroken (reviewed here) similarly spent very little time on the topic — while Zamperini himself devoted a substantial portion of his autobiography, Devil at My Heels (reviewed here), to his conversion and faith experience.
Christianity Today columnist Alissa Wilkinson noted Unbroken seems to lack the “redemption” from its “Survival. Resilience. Redemption.” tagline (the same conclusion reached here about the book). Without knowing the actual story, one might think Zamperini’s inspiring story was one of self: Read more
For the first time in several years, Congress passed and the President signed a National Defense Authorization Act with no sections directing the US military on issues of religious liberty. Over the prior few years, Congress has inserted legislation requiring protection of religious expression within the military, for example, which resulted in changes to DoDI 1300.17 and Air Force Instruction 1-1.
One thing the NDAA does include, however, is authorization to transfer the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross to a private organization: Read more
