Tag Archives: Military

Atheist Chaplain Applicant Sues US Navy over Rejection

Jason Heap, a humanist who applied to become a US Navy Chaplain, has filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination over his rejection:

Religion scholar and former youth minister Jason Heap filed suit Wednesday along with the organization backing him, the Humanist Society, alleging that the military unfairly passed him over earlier this year not because he lacked qualifications, but because he doesn’t believe in a traditional religion.

There are a few high hurdles Heap has to overcome. First, he has to prove the Navy “passed him over…because he doesn’t believe…” Remember, the Navy previously said less than 50% of the Chaplain applicants were approved. Heap has to prove that he was rejected because of his non-theistic beliefs, and not for any reason similar to Read more

Air Force Updates Religious Guidance after Outcry

The Air Force announced it has updated AFI 1-1 — because of issues regarding religious liberty [emphasis added]:

Air Force officials approved Air Force Instruction 1-1, Air Force Standards, Nov. 7, to clarify guidance on Airmen’s religious rights and commanders’ authority and responsibility to protect those rights.

The announcement contained a summary of the changes. The changes [emphasis added]

clarify guidance for how commanders should handle religious accommodation requests or when Airmen’s rights to free exercise are questioned. Chaplain corps officials also clarified policy language to assist commanders in balancing the constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs with the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion.

Importantly, General Welsh is quoted as specifically Read more

F-16 Crashes in Gulf, Pilot Killed

An F-16 pilot from Tyndall AFB was killed last Thursday morning when his jet crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

The pilot was civilian Matthew LaCourse, a retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel and 1978 US Air Force Academy graduate. LaCourse was a part of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, which is the unit fielding the pilotless QF-16s as full-scale drones.  He had previously topped 2,000 hours in the F-4/QF-4, which preceded the QF-16.

As with all mishaps, Read more

Cam Ranh Bay: What the Captain Means

The following video captures the audio of a (genuine) 1966 spoof public affairs interview, in which a fighter pilot gives “real” answers to a reporter’s questions, and a Public Affairs officer then “translates,” with the repetitive lead-in, “what the Captain means…”

Some might say the “filter” from front line reality to the media portrayed in the piece is as true today as it was then.

Warning: The audio contains multiple profanities — in answer to every single question.

The video was reportedly created by two US Air Force PA officers.

Read more

Navy Chaplain Advances Pentagon’s Relationship with Faithful

Is it the role of a US military chaplain to advance the US military’s relationship with Christians around the world?

An article at the Quantico Sentry (and repeated at a US military site) highlights US Navy Chaplain (Cmdr) Abuhena Saifulislam, one of the more prominent faces of Islam in the US military over the past few years. The article notes

He’s served as the public face of an all-inclusive U.S. military and as a living example that the U.S. armed forces and Islam were not inherently incompatible.

About Islamic extremists, Chaplain Saifulislam said  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Threatens to Sue UNG

After previously belittling and then speaking at the University of North Georgia, multiple headlines now claim Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is going to file a lawsuit:

The University of North Georgia has come under fire in the ongoing war on Christianity.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is suing the school, accusing it of holding a 9/11 memorial service that invoked the “Christian God…”

The media articles (including one from the student paper) fail to note that Weinstein has threatened to sue many people for many reasons over the years — including even this website — and has almost never followed through. (The few he did file were quickly dismissed.)  Weinstein’s threats are empty, if they’re even threats at all. In this case, it wasn’t even Weinstein who made the threat: West Point dropout Blake Page Read more

US Military Censors Jesus, Applauds Achmed the Dead Terrorist

180th Fighter Wing Commander Col Craig Bluto Baker declared that an Air Force officer was prohibited from explaining the impact of Jesus Christ on his life, while a Navy Commander in San Diego lauded the performance of comedian Jeff Dunham, who voices, among others, Achmed the Dead Terrorist. From a prior performance:

Achmed the Dead Terrorist is a bundle of bones and bulging eyes and bushy eyebrows who delights with the crowd-pleasing line “I’ll keel you!”

“I’m a terrible father,” he said. “I took my son to take your kid to work day. Now he’s there, over there and over there. [Bomb noises] It’s not funny, kids blow up so fast.”

Achmed went on a rant about loving Ellen DeGeneres Read more

1 … 164 165 166 167 168 … 552