Tag Archives: Religion

Are Paganism, Atheism Growing in the US Military?

wiccantroopsA US Army Private recently related how the pagan community at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, helped him find his way:

I graduated [training] a few weeks ago and only got to attend one gathering, It was a great experience…I was raised in an environment always surrounded in crystals and meditation, energy and magics, Reiki and healing, spirits and the like, but no words to put to what I knew…

It wasn’t until I went to the circle at Fort Jackson that I could definitively say I’m a white magic practitioner and hold pagan beliefs as far as karmic law and universal ties and energy go…

HeatStreet recently published a blog on the Fort Jackson pagan circle, which it claims now Read more

Air Force Lauds Benefits of Yoga

Noting the US Department of Health and Human Services had designated September National Yoga Month, the Air Force published an article in which paid fitness instructors sang the praises if yoga for members of the US military:

Harold Cherry, [Joint Base San Antonio] yoga instructor [said] “They’ll [trainees] do a lot better job after that morning class,” Cherry, who retired after working 22 years in the Air Force and 18 years in civil service, said. “Everything about you will feel good. You’ll feel good about being around people, so the mission is going to come easier.”

Yoga remains the odd standout in the debates over church-state separation, as “liberals” tend to Read more

US Military Declines to Support Radio Christmas Show

sixstringsoldiersTodd Starnes made news last week when he announced he’d invited the US Army’s Six-String Soldiers to perform at his annual Fox Radio Christmas Show — and the Army denied his request because it determined the event was “religious.”

Starnes didn’t dispute the characterization:

I’ve been busted, folks. What the Army alleged is the gospel truth.

My Fox Christmas show unashamedly proclaims that Jesus is the reason for the season. We are loud and proud.

In my defense, though, the reason my Christmas show is religious is because Christmas is in fact a religious holiday.

Former Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, though, rejected the Read more

Election Suddenly Reveals Half of the Country Disagrees

Hidden in the message of many of the lamentations regarding the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is the shocking revelation that one half of America thinks differently than the other half — and they have a voice.

Gregg Popovich — coach of the San Antonio Spurs and a 1970 graduate of the US Air Force Academy — recently bemoaned this disparity in values, though he was blind to his own hypocrisy [emphasis added]:

I’m just sick to my stomach. Not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenor and tone and all of the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic.

I live in that country where half of the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part of the whole thing to me. It’s got nothing Read more

President Obama on Religious Freedom

I think that we should foster a culture in which people’s private religious beliefs, including atheists and agnostics, are respected and that’s the kind of culture that I think allows all of us then to believe what we want. That’s freedom of conscience. That’s what the Constitution guarantees.

And where we get into problems typically is when our personal religious faith or the community of faith that we participate in tips into a sort of fundamentalist extremism in which it’s Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 2: The Motivation for His Crusade

The recent demand letter sent to ChristianFighterPilot.com by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s lawyers wasn’t the first. In fact, seven years ago this coming week, Randal “Randy” Mathis first introduced himself here:

mathisweinstein4The reason for this first letter was an article entitled “MRFF: Chaplain’s Sermons Permissible, Sort of,” which pointed out the flagrant inconsistency between Chris Rodda and Read more

US Marine Trades M-16 for Helping Hand in Iraq

calebdrownCaleb Drown was a sergeant in the US Marine Corps when he deployed to Iraq in 2006, believing he could “save the world with an M-16.” Instead, the saw the needs of the people there.

He’s now traded his former military role for one at Samaritan’s Purse, which is providing humanitarian assistance along with other groups at near Mosul, Iraq.

Giving up his uniform, though, didn’t mean giving up his Read more

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