Tag Archives: Religion

Senators Introduce Military Religious Freedom Act

Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) have introduced the “Military Religious Freedom Act” (PDF) which would impact the issue of homosexual marriage and chaplains within the US military:

Specifically, the bill would (1) prevent military chaplains from being forced to perform a marriage ceremony if the chaplain objects for reasons of conscience and (2) prohibit marriage or marriage-like ceremonies at military facilities that are not a union between one man and one woman.

This is the Senate version of the House companion act that was referred to committee in January of this year.

Critics will rightly point out Read more

US Military Fighting Insurgents on Social Media

A USA Today article (reprinted at Stars and Stripes) takes an interesting look at the US military’s war “front” on social media.  The topic is obviously how it deals with the enemy who attempts to use social media to its advantage; the application to the military’s “domestic” issues, however, is intriguing [emphasis added]:

Websites associated with militant groups typically take responsibility for attacks whether or not they had anything to do with them.

But most of the information they provide is either exaggerated or false…

“Insurgents have always wanted to make themselves look like winners,” [RAND analyst Christopher] Paul said. “The Internet Read more

Report Details Afghan Threats to US Military

The recent remarks by Gen John Allen that Ramadan contributed to the rise in attacks by Afghan Soldiers on allied troops — despite the fact Ramadan has occurred yearly in the decade long war — inspired Andrew Boston, author of The Legacy of Jihad, to look a little deeper.  Boston cited an unclassified report dated 12 May 2011 by a “red team” of American analysts.

In an odd twist, just yesterday the Stars and Stripes noted this very report was rejected by the military and its author, Jeffrey Bordin, was blacklisted — yet it is now being used to guide some parts of the American conduct in Afghanistan.

The report goes into a long investigation of the tension between US and Afghan military members, including multiple references to “near-fratricides” — in which Afghans (most often) or US troops (occasionally) threatened each other with loaded weapons:  Read more

Weinstein on Accused Fort Hood Shooter Will Shave, or Be Shaved

Col Gregory Gross, the judge presiding over the murder trial of US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan for the Fort Hood massacre, followed through on his threat and issued an order that Hasan must shave — or he will be shaved.

Gross…issued his order Thursday after a hearing to determine whether a federal religious freedom law applied to Hasan’s case.  Soldiers may be granted permission to grow beards for religious reasons, and six soldiers have been allowed to do so: a rabbi, two Muslim doctors and three Sikhs, according to Army records.

Hasan said he is violating regulations not out of disrespect, but of religious requirement:

Hasan told the judge last week that he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it, not as a show of disrespect. Gross ruled Thursday that the defense didn’t prove Hasan is growing a beard for sincere religious reasons.

While the whole concept might sound a bit odd to outsiders, forced Read more

Rush Limbaugh and the Petition of American Military Atheists

The Air Force Times recently admitted to letting the “news” slip by without reporting it.  After checking the White House “We the People” petition website (to view the White House beer recipe), an astute reporter noticed that the White House had responded to a petition to pull Rush Limbaugh off AFN, the worldwide DoD radio and TV broadcast system.  That is, the White House responded in July.  From the AFTimes:

[The petition] threshold for a reply was 25,000 people — a level reached in April — but the reply wasn’t posted until July and got scant Read more

Political Platform Addresses Religion in the Military

While Clint Eastwood may have stolen the show at the Republican National Convention, the party did publish its Republican Platform for 2012, which is fairly blunt in its statement on religious freedom in the US military.  It specifically addresses the benefits of faith-based institutions to the military, religious freedom for chaplains and military members, and bans on Bibles and religious symbology on military facilities.

While the Democrat Platform doesn’t specifically mention religious freedom in the military, it does celebrate the repeal of DADT and the call to end DOMA, both of which affect military policies.

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