Though atheists had previously called on Jesus to come down from a Montana mountain ski slope, a Federal district court has said he can stay.
As previously discussed, the Freedom From Religion Foundation had sued because the US Forest Service renewed a special use permit that has allowed the statue to stand for more than 50 years. The Knights of Columbus put it up in 1954 in honor of Read more
As noted at the Religion News Service, South Fork Industries is hawking ammunition tipped in “paint infused with pork” for defense against jihadists. “Jihawg” ammo is:
The only ammunition in the world that provides a peaceful and natural deterrent to radical Islam.
The article’s only real point was to quote an “assistant professor of religious studies” saying the company had an “inaccurate understanding of the Quran.”
It would seem their understanding of the Koran is irrelevant. Their understanding of capitalism seems to be stellar.
The RNS makes a point of referring to a Facebook comment saying Read more
In a May 26 letter to the editor at the Marine Corps Times, Navy Commander Robert Spencer replied to an April 15 letter from US Air Force Capt Matthew Phelps, an outspoken military homosexual who had complained of the lack of recognition for his marriage.
Cmdr Spencer calls out Capt Phelps for his sense of “entitlement:”
I fail to see where he is a victim. Homosexual marriages are not true marriages as presently defined.
The homosexual agenda is an attempt to redefine traditional marriage, defined as between a man and a woman.
This traditional definition of marriage has Read more
Most popular press covered the religious freedom portions of the controversies surrounding the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. Another interesting conversation, though, occurred with an official attempt by Congress to mandate atheist chaplains.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) offered the amendment to the [NDAA]. The amendment would have allowed humanists and other nonbelievers join the Chaplain Corps.
(The topic of atheist chaplains has come up many times before.) Polis said atheists were “denied” a “right” because they could not “confide in an adviser who is not a mental health professional.” The amendment was defeated, according to some reports, because it was “absurd.” (This was actually the second Read more
Eric Metaxas
Thomas Nelson, 2010
Dietrich Bonhoeffer holds a place in Christian history not unlike William Wilberforce — a man that modern Christians should know, but one most are only vaguely aware of and can’t speak intelligently about. Eric Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, though hefty at more than 500 pages, does an admirable job of communicating the story of Bonhoeffer’s life to modern audiences.
Bonhoeffer is well-written and is fascinating as a narrative that parallels, rather than focuses on, many of the stereotypical storylines of World War II. While some of the details of Bonhoeffer’s life are interesting, such as his well-to-do upbringing in an essentially agnostic family, the theme most interesting and relevant to modern Christians is Bonhoeffer’s attempts to align his life with his faith. Though Metaxas received some criticism, he did a generally admirable job of using Bonhoeffer’s own words to explain his faith-based reasoning.
Bonhoeffer is portrayed as a man who grows gradually in his faith as it relates to his life; he did not start out as an ardent political activist and wrap his Read more
Update: Weinstein responded:
Weinstein is the kind of guy who revels in the dislike of his adversaries.
“How terrified are these little pu***es in Congress that they have to pass an amendment about me?” he shouted in a phone interview from the foundation’s headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., using a putdown associated with a woman’s genitalia.
Always classy.
In the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, US Rep John Fleming successfully changed the 2013 NDAA wording after the US Air Force appeared to be acting as a part of Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s self-described “war” on Christians.
Weinstein also inspired US Rep Tim Huelskamp (R-Ks) to add an amendment of his own which would require the Department of Defense to report to Congress every time it met with an outside group for the purpose of
writing, revising, issuing, implementing, enforcing, or seeking advice, input, or counsel regarding military policy related to religious liberty.
This was clearly in response to Weinstein’s 23 April meeting with the JAG of the US Air Force, among others, which Weinstein bragged about to his like-minded media arm, Sally Quinn. Rep Huelskamp even called it a “rebuke” of “anti-Christian zealot Michael Weinstein.”
The MRFF has sarcastically embraced this amendment, because it would “force” the DoD to report on its meetings with groups like Chaplain endorsers: Read more
Despite “protesting” for weeks that his relationship with the US Air Force has been mischaracterized, Michael Weinstein of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation recently touted his inimitable influence over the US military.
At Breitbart.com, Ken Klukowski of the Family Research Council notes that Weinstein’s recent bragging seemingly contradicts the Pentagon’s efforts to downplay their relationship.
One month ago the Pentagon assured the public it was not being advised by anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein. Yet two days ago Weinstein called the Pentagon demanding that a Christian painting be removed from a dining hall in an Idaho Air Force base, and the Pentagon complied with his demand–in less than one hour.
Klukowski notes that Weinstein brags he got action in less than an hour, while US Congressmen haven’t gotten a response to their queries in weeks.
The “Christian painting” was described by the publisher Read more
In the face of the “sexual assault” scandal in the US military, Department of Defense leaders fanned out across graduation ceremonies to call on new and graduating officers to live out moral courage. From Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, speaking to the graduating class of 2013 at West Point [ellipses original]:
When you are faced with difficult decisions, you will always know that the right thing to do…is the right thing to do. Do it. Listen to yourself and be guided by what you believe is right.
Standing against the crowd and choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong, as the Cadet Prayer prescribes, can be very lonely and frightening at times. And it requires immense moral courage.
It is an interesting position to assert that every officer knows the right thing to do — meaning many in the current controversies have been knowingly choosing to do the “wrong thing.” Of course, the “moral courage” to which Secretary Hagel refers presupposes a knowledge of right and wrong; normally, that is defined outside of “listening to yourself,” unless one includes a moral and religious upbringing in one’s character.
Secretary Hagel is Read more