Tag Archives: Religion

Colorado Candidate Pens Letter on Religious Freedom

Retired USAF MajGen Bentley Rayburn, potential competition for sitting US Rep Doug Lamborn, recently said Congressman Lamborn wasn’t doing enough for religious freedom in the Air Force. He wrote a guest column in the Colorado Springs Gazette, local to USAFA, giving his take on recent controversies:

Nobody can state with a straight face that the act of posting a Bible verse on a white board infringes or damages anyone else’s constitutionally protected individual rights…

Air Force Instruction 1-1 para 2-12 is without equivocation in stating that Airmen “should confidently practice [their] own beliefs while respecting others whose viewpoints differ from your own…”

To walk away from creating a culture at the Air Force Academy where ideas are expressed, debated, defended and strengthened is to make it a third-rate school, hardly deserving to be called a real university.

And what kind of men and women Read more

Boykin: Pray For Mikey Weinstein

In an interesting commentary during the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch, retired LtGen Jerry Boykin and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention spoke on recent issues of religious freedom in the military. Boykin reminded Christians there’s a correct response to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, one of the loudest (and most vitriolic) critics of Christianity: Read more

Army Chaplain: Government Trying to Silence Military Christians

Retired US Army Chaplain (Col) Ronald W. Benzing, now an endorser for the Associated Gospel Churches, addressed a local men’s group in North Carolina, describing how the US military has been trying to “silence” Christians. He cited what he described as a fairly recent incident:

“Two months ago we had an Army chaplain in Alaska who was told by an Air Force chaplain who was a senior chaplain, ‘You can’t preach that sermon Read more

Lecture: Religious Liberty and the Chaplain

Update: The lecture was postponed to next semester due to a “scheduling conflict.”

On May 1st, which was also the National Day of Prayer, Chaplain (Col) William Lee of the Maryland National Guard gave a talk on “Religious Liberty and the Military Chaplain: Current Challenges to Religious Liberty in the U.S. Armed Services.” The event was hosted by the Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture at Washington College. Read more

Nidal Hasan Denied Grooming Waiver

Much has been made of the January changes to the US military religious accommodation policy — changes presumably made in light of the 2013 and 2014 NDAAs passed by Congress that required the US military to promulgate policies protecting religious expression.

The changes have been criticized by almost everyone, including Congress, religious liberty advocates, and even religious groups who might benefit from grooming or uniform wear waivers. The policies do not expressly address religious expression, and the waivers they allow are temporary and subject to the whim of local commanders, according to some sources.

The US military recently revealed that two applicants have been denied waivers under the new policy.

In addition, it said since 2012 it has approved six and denied Read more

Army Adds Humanist Religious Preference

The US Army recently decided to add “humanist” to the list of options that Soldiers could declare as their religious preference. From the LA Times (also repeated in the Stars and Stripes):

There may be no atheists in foxholes, but there soon will be a few humanists. The U.S. Army has heeded the plea of Maj. Ray Bradley that he (and others of his kind) receive a “preference code” similar to those accorded to members of traditional religions.

Much has been made of the change and, granted, humanist “adherents” have been calling for the change for some time. In the end, though, even advocates admit the addition really does little other than changing a moniker in a file, despite other declarations:

In practical terms, the change means Read more

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