Tag Archives: Religion

MRFF, Atheists, Commissary Manager Grumble over Bibles

Jason Torpy, a former Army Captain and current atheist, previously claimed to have influenced the Air Force to remove Gideon Bibles from hotel room checklists for Air Force lodging facilities.

Critics had claimed this would end the presence of the Bibles altogether; the Air Force disagreed, but Torpy agreed — and that is what he wanted, as he called the Bibles Christian “privilege.”

It seems the original complaint came not from a member of the military but from civilian Daniel Smith, the Store Director for the Navy Commissary in Yokosuka, Japan.  He recently complained — again — because there were shockingly still Bibles available to Air Force lodging patrons:

The Air Force never publicly said it would remove Bibles Read more

US Military Christian Preschool Moves Off Post

The Mustard Seed preschool program had been run at the US Army garrison at Yongsan, South Korea, for more than 30 years.  Apparently, someone applied to become director of the preschool but was rejected — so they filed an anonymous complaint that triggered an investigation of the entire program.

Initially, the Army was simply going to shut it down, but it relented when parents voiced their concerns over the hardship a sudden closure would cause.  The Mustard Seed school has now moved off post to Seoul International Baptist Church, where it can still serve US troops and civilians without military involvement.

“We decided to see if it would work, and it worked beautifully,” said Jon Goldsmith, executive director of the Seoul International Baptist Church, which now operates the Mustard Seed Preschool. “It’s not really out of context for us because we have a large military presence at our church, and we were the closest church to the base, with a sizeable representation from the base.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Air Force Issues Guidance on Chaplains, Homosexuals

The Air Force Chaplaincy recently issued guidance (PDF) on how chaplains should handle a variety of situations regarding homosexuals and chaplains whose theologies do not allow them to support that lifestyle:

Wing Chaplains, talk with the chaplains under your supervision so that you are clear on what each chaplain’s endorser’s expectations are regarding ministry to same-gender couples.  Honor those expectations and do not ask a chaplain to do anything contrary to his or her endorsement.

The Air Force appears to be the first service to explain how to handle marriage retreats where a homosexual couple may attend.  Speaking to the Air Force “MarriageCare” retreats:

When you advertise a MC retreat, announce the chaplain who will be leading the event and the chaplain’s endorser.  If the chaplain Read more

Michael Weinstein as Subject Matter in AF EO Course

It was noted once here before that Michael Weinstein met a newspaper’s definition for “conspiracy theorist”, though it wasn’t trying to talk about Weinstein at the time.  In that vein, Judicial Watch recently obtained training materials from an Air Force Equal Opportunity course, which had a similar unintended subject matter — listing character traits for Michael Weinstein without meaning to.

What was it the AF training was trying to describe?

An extremist.

The following text describes how the EO course inadvertenty describes many character traits that Weinstein displays.  While most won’t be interested in such a character analysis, the reason for noting this is to highlight the fact that Michael Weinstein is no run-of-the-mill “religious freedom” advocate, despite his claims.  He is, as the course material shows, a religious “extremist” intent on bending the US military to his will — even if it contradicts human liberty and the protections of the US Constitution…and an Air Force training course actually helps explain that.

Quoting from Nazis, communists, Klansmen, and others on the fringe: Political extremism in America by George and Wilcox (1992), the Air Force Equal Opportunity Read more

Group Claims Responsibility for Memorial Cross Bombing

The World, a local Oregon paper, reported that the previously unknown Veterans United for Non-religious Memorials claimed responsibility for the “bombing” of the Coos Bay veteran’s memorial:

“Apparently you are not receiving our message about the Mingus Park Veterans Memorial,” the letter reads. “We gave you warnings with the minor explosive devices at the memorial and at the Bay Area House of Prayer.”

“From now forward, we hold each of you personally responsible for causing deeper grief and insult to the families and friends of non-Christian Veterans.”

The FBI is investigating.

ADVERTISEMENT

Airmen Serve on Mission Trip to Honduras

Two Security Forces Airmen, Senior Airmen Joe Potalivo and Nicholas Gahm, recently volunteered to go on a mission trip to Honduras with their church, Radiant Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Their main objective…was to help build three, large, brick buildings, that once completed, would house more than 100 orphans. They did a little of everything, from erecting insulation to constructing a perimeter security.

While work was the order of the day, there was another component they may not have anticipated:

“Every day we would come to work, many of the village children would be there waiting on us, greeting us with smiles and Read more

Canada Installs First Openly Homosexual Chaplain General

Even as the US military tries to figure out how to balance the human liberty of religious freedom with demands for sexual liberty — and how that impacts the military chaplaincy — Canada has just appointed an openly homosexual Brigadier General to its head of all Chaplains:

Newly-appointed Brigadier General the Venerable John Fletcher was installed as the new Chaplain General during a change of appointment ceremony and service of installation for the Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday, September 4, 2013. The newly appointed Chaplain General John Fletcher is Canada’s first openly gay chaplain to hold the position of Chaplain General.

Fletcher is an Anglican, a denomination that has a divided opinion on the acceptability of homosexuality.

ADVERTISEMENT

1 … 185 186 187 188 189 … 378