Just as in the past couple of\u00a0years, issues of military religious freedom have generally been incorporated in larger societal issues in\u00a0most groups’ “top ten” civil\/religious liberty issues for the year.<\/p>\n
For example, Howard Friedman at the Religion Clause<\/a> noted the “transgender rights” stories at #3 without specifically mentioning the (substantial) military side to that story.\u00a0 That said, at #6 he included the “battle over religious displays” and specifically included “Latin crosses as part of veterans’ memorials”.<\/p>\n The Baptist Joint Committee, a politically left-leaning group, included the controversy<\/a> over the Russell Amendment to the 2017 NDAA at #6.\u00a0 (The BJC opposed the proposed legislation.)<\/p>\n Some other notable but unmentioned events from the year include lawsuits filed and exemptions granted for Sikhs in the military<\/a>, the national discussion over Bible verses\u00a0posted by\u00a0court-martialed<\/a>\u00a0Marine\u00a0LCpl Monifa Sterling, or the Air Force reconsidering its policies after retired Air Force SMSgt Oscar Rodriguez was thrown out of a ceremony<\/a> while reciting a religiously-tinged flag-folding script.<\/p>\n With that in mind,\u00a0the most read articles from 2016 on ChristianFighterPilot.com were, in order:<\/p>\n That gives you an idea of the issues some people — including the Pentagon and both defenders and critics of military religious freedom — are interested in.<\/p>\n Notably, a few articles were very popular this year but weren’t from 2016.\u00a0 For example, the book review for Sullenberger’s autobiography was high on the list, likely due to the release of the movie this year:<\/p>\n That’s a reminder that not everyone who visits here is doing so for reasons of religious liberty.\u00a0 In fact, “fighter pilot speak<\/a>“, one of the first features created on this site in 2006, remains one of the most popular pages ever.<\/p>\n\n
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