Tag Archives: religious freedom

Military Grants One Sikh Exemption, Three More File Lawsuit

singhThe US Army extended its religious accommodation of Capt Simratpal Singh, a Soldier who had decided to return to his Sikh practices and had sued after the Army tried to subject him to additional testing not required of other Soldiers.

The response from the Army (PDF) is intended to moot the suit. The accommodation allowing Singh to wear his religious accoutrements is open-ended, but it is heavily qualified with the Army’s caveats that it might remove the accommodation at any time. Perhaps more importantly:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Decapitation, Persecution of Christians

In an appropriately timed interview just prior to Easter, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was asked what would constitute “success” in his war against Christians in the US military. This was his response:

The Romans had it right. When you cut off somebody’s head and you stick it on a pole and show it to the masses, it changes behavior.

The interview was laced with a repugnant oblivious irony.  It was entitled “Do Christian Fanatics in the Military Endanger National Security?“, ignoring the fact no Christian “fanatic” has ever been identified in the US military, much less one who “endangers national security.”  By contrast, “fanatics” of other religions most certainly have been identified, repeatedly, yet Islamic extremism in the US military never once enters Mikey Weinstein’s lexicon of prejudice against Christians.

Further, Weinstein’s implications about cutting the heads off Read more

US Sailor Attacks North Carolina Bathroom Bill

willing2Last week the North Carolina legislature passed a fairly common sense bill (PDF) that, among other things, required municipalities and schools to designate bathrooms by gender — that is, a person’s biological gender, not the gender they may say they are.  The State also specifically limited protected class status to biological gender.

As with other efforts in this vein, a smattering of companies have implied they may take their business elsewhere in response to this “bathroom bill” that would segregate boys from girls during their private endeavors.  (The San Francisco mayor said the same, though why he in particular is notable is unclear.)

This law also generated an open letter on Facebook by US Navy LT(JG) Megan Joan Willingham, who describes herself as a Sailor stationed in Okinawa, Japan:  Read more

Boone County War Memorial with Hidden Ichthus Finally Moved

A war memorial dedicated to two Boone County Soldiers killed 25 years ago in Operation Desert Storm irked the American Atheists and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State because it originally had an ichthus at the base.

The monument was in a park with similar monuments dedicated to county residents who had died in previous wars.

The County eventually covered the ichthus with a plaque. The families of the two men ultimately agreed to leave the symbol covered, but even that wasn’t good enough for the atheist opposition.  After Read more

Aviano Hosts Mighty in the Land National Prayer Breakfast

On Monday the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy, hosted their National Prayer Breakfast. Their invited speaker was Robert Rogers of Mighty in the Land Ministry. Rogers’ story is at once tragic and inspiring:

In August 2003, Robert experienced a tragedy of Biblical proportions when his precious wife and all four children died in a flash flood in Kansas…Robert’s life completely changed on their way home from a wedding in Wichita when a six-foot wall of water inundated their van, sweeping them off the highway in the darkness and into the deluge.

Soon after, Robert resigned from his engineering career and answered the call to minister and share God’s amazing grace and faith that brought him through that horrific ordeal. Now he teaches others to KNOW GOD and Live a Life of No Regrets with his words and original music at the piano.

Read more

ADF, Chaplain Alliance, Ten States, More File Support for Court-Martialed Marine

The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty have filed an amicus brief on behalf of court-martialed Marine Monifa Sterling. Among other things, Sterling was convicted of disobeying orders for refusing to remove references to a Bible verse from her desk.

In short, the brief (PDF) calls on the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to overturn the lower court ruling that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not apply, which essentially negated Sterling’s defense on that point. The effect, said the ADF’s Daniel Briggs, could be a chilling of religious Read more

Sort-of Transgender Army Reservist Threatens Suit over Haircut

The Washington Post reported that Kendall Oliver, a US Army Reservist, was turned away from a barber because the barber wouldn’t cut women’s hair:

Oliver is transgender. And with that, the Army reservist in the Los Angeles area became the latest citizen at the center of a recurring American debate: Where does freedom of religion end and discrimination begin?

That sentence just about summarizes the twisted world this has become.

Oliver is a woman who has decided she identifies “mostly as a man.” According to the article, she uses the pronoun “they” rather than he/she.

“They” is plural, for those who are losing track.

Oliver watched the barber turn another woman Read more

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