Tag Archives: Religion

Rep Forbes: Schwartz is “Bad” at “Defending Religious Liberty”

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) appears to be holding Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Norton Schwartz personally responsible for “bowing too far to appease” critics of religious freedom within the US Air Force:

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said the logo change is the latest in an Air Force pattern that is having a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of airmen. Forbes said he partly blames Schwartz, who he said “has been as bad as I have seen…in defending religious liberties.”

The article notes the incident to which Forbes is referring — first reported at ChristianFighterPilot.com — was the “last straw” in a year Read more

Air Force Lawyers Issued “Weinstein Guidance” in 2010

In its annual “The Military Commander and the Law,” the Air Force Judge Advocate General‘s School publishes guidance for commanders to help them understand some legal complexities related to their jobs.

For example, the nearly 700-page text contains explanations on issuing Articles 15, how to deal with FOIA, personnel issues, and sections on virtually every issue in which the law may impact a commander’s actions.

More interesting, however, was the new addition in 2010 of what could be best described as “Weinstein Guidance.”

The manual gives commanders new guidance on how to handle advocacy lawyers Read more

US Marines Honor Patron Saint of Artillery

The Quartermasters have Saint Martin, but Marine artillery has Saint Barbara, whom they honored in a ceremony in Afghanistan:

Marines…smiled as all in attendance lifted their cups in a toast to honor the patron saint of artillery, Saint Barbara.

According to legend, the tyrant Dioscorus, a pagan, kept his daughter Barbara secluded in a tower to shelter her from the world. In her solitude she gave herself to prayer and became a Christian. Her father, Read more

Deployed American Troops Produce Video for “It Gets Better”

The Stars and Stripes notes some deployed American troops filmed a short video under the auspices of OutServe, a homosexual advocacy group, for the “It Gets Better” project,

an initiative created to show young gay and transgender individuals the happiness and potential that awaits them if they can make it through their tumultuous teen years.

The Stripes article was written at the end of January, shortly after the video was posted to YouTube.  There has been little public reaction to the publication.  (As a point of clarification, “transgender” individuals are still banned from military service.)

The video begs an interesting question:  What would the reaction be if uniformed, deployed (and armed) servicemembers posted a YouTube video on behalf of their non-Federal entity extolling the religious Read more

Mount Soledad Memorial Ruling Appealed to Supreme Court

The Liberty Institute has petitioned the US Supreme Court to reverse the ruling of the 9th Circuit, which held the 43-foot cross on Mount Soledad near San Diego was unconstitutional.  The 9th Circuit denied an en banc review.

Last year’s ruling by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals capped two decades of legal challenges over the cross that was used for Easter celebrations in the early 1900s and later became a memorial to Korean War Read more

Rep Randy Forbes Calls on Air Force to Put God Back in Motto

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint.  The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.

As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:

It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more

Guilty Plea in Planned Recruiting Center Bombing

Antonio Martinez has pled guilty to attempting to blow up a Baltimore military recruiting center in 2010.  The FBI went as far as to provide Martinez a fake bomb which he tried to detonate.  He had originally pled not guilty, but reversed his plea and faces a 25-year sentence.

Though only vaguely referenced in the Associated Press article on the plea, Martinez was reportedly motivated by his “extremist” Islamic views.  He was one Read more

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