{"id":9251,"date":"2011-02-07T00:50:19","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T05:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=9251"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:15:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:15:32","slug":"mrff-allies-within-usafa-continue-pr-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/07\/mrff-allies-within-usafa-continue-pr-push\/","title":{"rendered":"MRFF Allies Within USAFA Continue PR Push"},"content":{"rendered":"

As previously noted, Michael Weinstein’s MRFF seems to boast “insiders” at the US Air Force Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most recent is Barry Fagin, who writes a\u00a0column at the Colorado Springs Gazette <\/em>— and also serves on the faculty at the US Air Force Academy.\u00a0 Fagin is a member of the Rocky Mountain “Skeptics<\/a>” and a recipient of the Michael Weinstein’s\u00a02009 MRFF Thomas Jefferson “award.”\u00a0 He recently wrote an\u00a0article defending Michael Weinstein<\/a> from public criticisms over\u00a0his lawsuit against the US Air Force Academy’s<\/a>\u00a0upcoming National Prayer Luncheon.\u00a0 (Weinstein described\u00a0the article as “perfect.”)\u00a0 Fagin described Weinstein as\u00a0“not anti-Christian,” and said<\/p>\n

The vast majority of people who illegally cross the border separating church and state are Christians. So they are the majority of those caught and punished by the courts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, he failed to cite any factual cases of military Christians “caught and punished” by any court.\u00a0 Still, it appears he would like to see Christians court-martialed for expressing beliefs consistent with mainstream Christianity.\u00a0 In replying to the comments on his article, he said\u00a0 <\/p>\n

[Nidal Malik Hasan] should have been court martialed for insubordination, forced out of the Army, or simply have had the courage of his convictions to leave. Exactly the same thing that should happen to Christians who claim their Commission from God is greater than their Commission from the US Government.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Evidently, Fagin shares Weinstein’s fears:<\/p>\n

Certain offshoots of Protestant fundamentalism are very interested in strengthening the connection between Christianity and government. They would, I believe, establish Christianity as the national religion of America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last fall Fagin wrote an article entitled “Belief in obvious nonsense is not a harmless indulgence<\/a>.”\u00a0 As a “skeptic,” he included demons, angels, and prayer in “nonsense.”\u00a0 (He previously said<\/a>\u00a0hell can’t exist because our “innate moral sense” finds it “repugnant.”)<\/p>\n

He might also have included conspiracy theories about government takeovers by secret societies as “obvious nonsense,” but then he would have been not only self-contradicting, but he would have indicted Weinstein, as well.\u00a0\u00a0The MRFF’s claims that Christians are trying to take over the world and institute a second Holocaust are certainly\u00a0“obvious nonsense,”\u00a0and they are by no means a “harmless indulgence.”\u00a0 For his part, Fagin\u00a0specifially said he “agree[s] with the cause that MRFF is fighting for, so [he] support[s] them.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MRFF’s cause?\u00a0\u00a0To<\/p>\n

battle the far-right militant radical evangelical religious fundamentalists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Supporting religious freedom might be a more noble goal.<\/p>\n

According to his biography<\/a>, Fagin has been a civilian member of the Academy’s Department of Computer Science for 17 years.\u00a0 Weinstein repeatedly asserts USAFA is overrun by Evangelicals; yet while Fagin makes, at a minimum, the fifth current or former USAFA faculty member to publicly align<\/em> with Weinstein, how many have publicly\u00a0opposed<\/em> him?\u00a0 Where are all the faculty he claims are advancing some conspiratorial Evangelical agenda?<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of opposition, Weinstein seems to have his own personal cabal in the\u00a0USAFA faculty who are publicly supporting an organization maligning their\u00a0own Academy.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely it will stop.\u00a0\u00a0Barry Fagin, an MRFF ally who\u00a0supports their cause,\u00a0indicated he\u00a0plans to attend the luncheon, despite his\u00a0apparent opposition to the event.\u00a0 He is the second MRFF affiliated faculty member to announce his intent.<\/p>\n

Think there will be complaints afterward?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As previously noted, Michael Weinstein’s MRFF seems to boast “insiders” at the US Air Force Academy. The most recent is Barry Fagin, who writes a\u00a0column at the Colorado Springs Gazette — and also serves on the faculty at the US Air Force Academy.\u00a0 Fagin is a member of the Rocky Mountain “Skeptics” and a recipient of the Michael Weinstein’s\u00a02009 MRFF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1445,5284,4,1424,82,85,2,5218,7,11,17,10,171,65],"class_list":["post-9251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-barry-fagin","tag-chaplain","tag-churchandstate","tag-conspiracy","tag-constitution","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-prayer","tag-religious-expression","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-usafa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}