Tag Archives: religious freedom

Air Force Replaces POW Bible with “Book of Faith”

Update: Follow-ups by US Air Force Chaplain and Congressman Doug Collins, Christian Today, and the Christian News Network.

powtable1Last Thursday Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF trumpeted his influence in getting a VA clinic to remove a Bible and Bible verse from a POW/MIA table. The story was essentially ignored until FoxNews’ Todd Starnes reported on it yesterday [emphasis added]:

A Bible and Bible verse were removed from a POW/MIA display inside an Ohio Veteran’s Administration clinic after the notorious Military Religious Freedom Foundation complained.

The religious artifacts were part of a “Missing Man Table” recently erected by volunteers at an outpatient clinic in Akron.

Weinstein called the presence of Bible a “violation of the US Constitution.” While the VA didn’t necessarily agree, in an ill-fated attempt to avoid offending someone, they kowtowed.

Starnes accurately reported that official military and government Read more

Mikey Weinstein Demands Air Force Remove Chaplain Video. Because Jesus.

mikeywilliamsLast month, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein claimed he had made an “important achievement” in “rebuilding the shattered wall separating church and state!” because, according to him, the Commanding Officer of the Air Force Recruiting Service promised to remove a chaplain recruiting video Weinstein found “inappropriate.” According to Weinstein, MajGen Garrett Harencak

responded within a few hours that all Chaplain [sic] videos are being removed pursuant to an overhaul of ‘AirForce.com’ and that he would see to it that the removal of this particular video is accelerated.

A month later, not only is the video still up at AirForce.com — but, in unusually blunt words, the Air Force is actually defending it [emphasis added]:

Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon told Military.com it does not see a problem with [the video]…

“Chaplains being available to airmen for spiritual support, and sharing these experiences in their official capacity, does not violate the establishment clause or Air Force regulations.”

There are three important issues here:  Read more

Fort Hood Pagans Complain about Christian Privilege

One of the oldest and most well-known non-traditional religious groups in the US military is the pagan group on the US Army post at Fort Hood, Texas. In 1999, George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and soon to be US President, famously criticized the US military’s openness toward wiccan practices at Fort Hood.

The “Fort Hood Open Circle” entered the news again recently when Michele Morris, the group’s self-described clergy and Designated Faith Group Leader (DFGL), posted an “open letter” on Facebook decrying their mistreatment in the face of “privilege” (which she clarified as “Christian privilege” in another interview) [emphasis added]:

My congregation was locked out of their church last night. It wasn’t the first time, or the second, in fact – I’ve lost count of how many times this has happened over the last six years…Last night was three hours outside, an entire congregation milling around, angry, scared, frustrated, defeated, and discouraged…

The last six years…have been a dizzying roller coaster of harassment and neglect relieved by brief moments of support and underpinned by the soul killer that we proudly call “tolerance”.

Morris went on to list a veritable bevy of grievances. It was unclear at Read more

Did USAFA Christians Fund Witches Party?

denverwitchFor the past few years, a few US Air Force Academy cadets have been attending annual wiccan festivals and the “Denver Witches Ball” (shown above) — trips that were paid for by the USAFA Chapel Tithes and Offerings Fund.

In itself, that wouldn’t be too unusual. For several years there has been an “earth centered” pagan/witch group as part of the USAFA chapel community. It is not unusual for the chapel to fund retreats or similar trips for religious events through the congregants’ tithes. The CTOF is supposed to be funded by the donations of the participants of those religious services, which would mean the pagans were essentially paying their own way to the cauldron.

The unusual thing about these witch trips, though, is that the USAFA pagan chapel doesn’t appear to have any congregant “tithes.”

Documents obtained by Judicial Watch (PDF) show  Read more

Attempted Terrorist Attack in Kansas Goes Little Noticed

In April 2015, John Booker attempted to detonate what he believed was a 1,000 pound bomb outside the fence of Fort Riley, Kansas. It turns out the fake bomb had been coordinated with the FBI:

Booker acknowledged in court that he told one of the FBI informants that he wanted to kill Americans and engage in violent jihad on behalf of the Islamic State group. His plea agreement said he made a video in April 2015 telling Americans “today we will bring the Islamic State straight to your doorstep.”

In court, Redmond once referred to Booker as Muhammad. Booker had an alias, Muhammad Abdullah Hassan.

It turns out Booker actually enlisted in the US Army in 2014, but his enlistment was Read more

Paratroopers Take Epiphany Dip in Ukraine

ukraineA few US troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade deployed to the Ukraine joined in the local celebration of Epiphany in January. As the official US Army article explained:

Epiphany…marks the baptism of Jesus in the Orthodox Church. Believing that on this day water becomes holy and is imbued with special powers, Ukrainians cut holes in the ice of lakes and rivers, often in the shape of the cross, to bathe in the freezing water. Participants…symbolically wash away their sins from the past year, and to experience a sense of spiritual rebirth.

SFC Michael Taylor took a dip, but will probably demur next time:  Read more

Colonel Bob Starr: “Obligated” to Support LGBT in US Air Force

starrpride1A fascinating set of developments has occurred in a Texas GOP primary race for the US House of Representatives. Michael Bob Starr is a retired Colonel and was recently the Wing Commander at Dyess AFB, which is in the district for which he is running. Promoting himself as a conservative — his Twitter tag line says “Conservative. Christian. Husband. Father.” — one of his opponents is accusing him of participating in “social engineering” while in the Air Force:

The candidate, Colonel Bob Starr, can be seen in a number of photos wearing gay pride clothing, throwing his arms in the air as a champion in gay pride runs, and even wearing a rainbow painted gay pride shirt…

Col Starr eventually responded, saying [emphasis added]

“I believe and strongly support traditional marriage, but as commander of Dyess Air Force Base, my job was to enforce the law and not discriminate against anyone who made different lifestyle choices than the ones that I agreed with,” Col. Starr says. “All I had to do was make sure that homosexual airmen were not discriminated against. That’s what changed in the law in 2011…”

“As leader of the base, I participated in as many events as I could to support as many airmen as I could…”

“I created an atmosphere of acceptance,” Col. Starr claims. “I did it regardless of the group or organization.”

Critics pointed out that he seemed to go beyond “all [he] had to do” when he participated in the “gay pride” events.  In another article Col Starr is quoted as saying he was “obligated” to Read more

Mikey Weinstein Fears a God-Friendly US Military

In a somewhat meandering article entitled “Watchdog: Conservative President May Mean More God-Friendly Military,” Bryant Jordan of Military.com quoted Michael “Mikey” Weinstein as concerned that a Republican victory in November could lead to a US government “more friendly to Christianity:”

Weinstein said the contest to succeed President Barack Obama is giving fuel to his critics. “With Obama being gone, [some commanders] expect an administration to be more friendly to Christianity…”

To paraphrase Seinfeld… as if there’s something wrong with that? Why would a religious freedom advocate take issue with, in his intimation, progress in religious freedom?

It turns out Weinstein thinks subversion is already underway:  Read more

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