Tag Archives: Religion

Mikey Weinstein’s Lawyer Botches Complaint

A week ago, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein complained to US Navy CAPT Douglas Pfeifle that he was “essentially spiritually raping” his recruits after civilian chapel volunteers were summarily banned from the base earlier this month. CAPT Pfeifle replied to Weinstein the next day, saying he’d get back to him. A week later, with no response, Weinstein attempted to up the ante by having an actual lawyer write a letter to CAPT Pfeifle, claiming there was a “constitutional question” with the Recruit Training Command’s action [emphasis added]:

There is a constitutional question whether denying similarly situated individuals under your command substantially similar rights to exercise religious freedoms violates the right to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

You don’t even have to crack out your high school American government books to see the error from Weinstein’s presumably high-brow lawyer. The Fifth Amendment contains important protections of citizens’ rights, but it has nothing to do with “equal protection.” That’s the Fourteenth Amendment.

The writer is Mr. Robert Eye of Kauffman-Eye, who Read more

DoD Teaches “May I Kiss You?”

The Air Force has become the most recent branch of the Department of Defense to hire the services of Mike Domitrz, whose “Date Safe Project” company is based on his “May I Kiss You?” book and speaking.

Each “May I Kiss You?” session covers three major areas: asking before a person engages in intimacy with their partner, how to intervene if they see alcohol used to facilitate sexual assault, and how to support a survivor should they confide in the audience member that they have been affected by a sexual assault…

He gives the “Can I Kiss You?” talk at an average of 50 military bases a year, including recent sessions at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Fort Bragg, Fort Meade, Fort Belvoir, and the Navy Fleet Forces stationed in Bahrain. An upcoming event is scheduled at the Atlantic Fleet Forces in Naples, Italy

He was recently at Pensacola NAS.

Most will miss the irony that Read more

Senate Confirms Army Chief of Chaplains

In March the Senate confirmed Chaplain (COL) Paul Hurley for the position of Army Chief of Chaplains.

Hurley was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1995. He will replace Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Donald Rutherford, who plans to retire.

Chaplain Hurley will skip BG and be promoted to Major General.  He recently spoke at the Fort Hood prayer breakfast, in which he quoted General George C. Marshall:

Hurley continued with a quote from former General of the Army George C. Marshall, commenting on the importance of the spirit.

“The Soldier’s heart, the Soldier’s spirit, the Soldier’s soul, are everything. Unless the Soldier’s soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his commander and his country in the end,” quoted Hurley.

Also at BostonCatholic.org.  Read more

Lord Knows: Mikey Weinstein Threatens Suit over God-talk

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is the sole paid employee of a self-founded “charity” that claims to protect religious freedom in the US military. In fact, though, Weinstein pays himself more than a quarter million dollars per year while doing nothing more than attacking anything remotely approaching an expression of or an association with Christianity.

One of his most recent targets was sentries at Robins AFB who dared to say “have a blessed day” to those entering the base.

Because we can’t have people wishing others well, apparently. (Weinstein laughably asserted this was an attempt by the gate guards to convert people to Christianity.)

Then, Weinstein targeted a Wing Commander who Read more

Report: Military Atheists Outnumber Southern Baptists

Christianity Today recently cited December 2014 DoD statistics to state that atheists outnumber Southern Baptists in the US military:

According the latest Department of Defense statistics on religion, there were 12,360 Southern Baptists among the US military’s 1.3 million members on active duty as of December 2014. There were also 12,764 atheists—an advantage of 404 over Southern Baptists.

By contrast, Southern Baptists outnumbered atheists by about 10,000 in 2009, with 16,975 Southern Baptists and only 6,702 atheists on active duty.

In contrast with prior stories on “religious hostility” in the military, using historical data columnist Bob Smietana also said there was no evidence of a “mass exodus” of Christians from the military:   Read more

Navy Cancels Some Boot Camp Chapel Services

In early April, the Navy commander of Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes — the basic training site for all incoming Sailors — told civilian volunteers they were no longer permitted to conduct religious services for recruits.

On the orders of Capt. Doug Pfeifle, the commanding officer of RTC, civilian volunteers for seven minority religious communities have been asked to stop conducting services.

An RTC official who spoke on background said the volunteers were asked to leave in accordance with Navy guidance, which stipulates that a uniformed chaplain or a religiously accredited military member should conduct the service before the service pursues other avenues.

Viewed optimistically, it appears to be a sincere action poorly executed or communicated. It seems the volunteer system had “gotten away from” the RTC leadership, and they found themselves unable to justify the program under Navy guidelines. It seems the RTC program was suffering from some logistical issues, including a formal way to control who could and could not conduct recruit services.

To be clear, the US military is not Read more

Chaplain Serves at the Bottom of the World

An interesting article highlights Air Force Chaplain (Maj) Pete Drury as he served at McMurdo, Antarctica. Chaplain Drury had an interesting statement on his ability to serve all of the 850 residents of the remote outpost:

“One of the cool things that an ANG chaplain can provide is that we understand and can accommodate the secular person and the person who has a non-religious spirituality,” Drury said, with a characteristically broad smile. “Because a non-religious person still has spiritual needs. We have a unique capacity to provide that.”

Other stories have covered the chaplains who have deployed there previously.  It was also interesting to note the “deliveries” the Air Force made Read more

1 … 130 131 132 133 134 … 378