Category Archives: Government and Religion

Report Again Highlights Moral Injury

As has been highlighted here before, troops may come home from war with many types of wounds — physical, mental, and even spiritual. Much of the non-physical wound care has focused on PTSD, but for a few years advocates have been trying to raise the importance of the moral injuries that troops may bring home:

Moral injury is when veterans feel extreme guilt and shame from something they did or witnessed in conflict that goes against their values…The term was introduced in the 1990s by a now-retired Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Shay, who diagnosed Read more

FRC Releases Latest Religious Liberty Report

The Family Research Council released an updated version of its “Clear and Present Danger” (PDF) (previously discussed in January). There are a variety of new issues added, including the removal of the POW table at Patrick AFB over the presence of a Bible, the Navy Gideon Bible kerfuffle, Col Marquinez’s banned article, Chaplain Joe Lawhorn’s punishment, Mikey Weinstein’s “Blessed Day,” Chaplain Wes Modder, Maj Gen Craig Olson, and court-martialed US Marine Monifa Sterling.

One of the more interesting ones was actually an “old” case recently added [emphasis added]:

Soon after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy was repealed, an Army chaplain of Lieutenant Colonel rank received an e-mail copy of a published article presenting some thoughtful points about the whole DADT debate, from a senior chaplain who was a Colonel. The Lieutenant Colonel chaplain thought it was a good article and sent it to his subordinate chaplains.

It was intercepted by his chaplain Colonel supervisor who indicated she was very angry Read more

Mikey Weinstein Fails to Intimidate Air Force Chaplain (Video)

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein continues his self-declared “war” on Christians in the US military, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to coerce US troops to accept his demands.  Much of the military has discovered the best response is simply to stand up to him. Weinstein’s only tool is intimidation, and when it fails, he is toothless.

In an apparent effort to play to the July US Supreme Court decision on homosexuality, Weinstein recently claimed in a blog and subsequent interview that he would “prosecute” chaplains if they preached something that did not pass his muster [formatting original]:

If chaplains believe that they MUST publicly and visibly preach to their troops a message that their LGB comrades are sexual-deviant “sinners” because of their “choice” to be gay, then these views are fatally noxious and totally destructive to unit cohesion, good order, morale, and discipline in the armed forces.

Despite Weinstein’s attempts to restrict the free exercise of US troops, chaplains are free to preach the tenets of their faith — and they have continued to do so.

In fact, just a few days prior to Weinstein’s ultimatum, Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez spoke eloquently and forcefully on the Gospel during Read more

Big Mountain Jesus Survives Lawsuit. Again.

Update: As of November 2015, the full Ninth Circuit refused to re-hear the FFRF appeal, effectively ending the case.

The Montana ski resort statue known as “Big Mountain Jesus” has survived the most recent challenge to have it torn down (from the appeal argued in July). The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a small atheist group that scours the country for signs of religion over which to be offended, sued because the statue is technically on federal land, though the land is perpetually leased to a ski resort. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty defended the statue.

The statue was built in the style of European shrines by the Knights of Columbus to honor the 10th Mountain Division.  The Division’s soldiers fondly recalled the many shrines they saw during their combat in World War II. In that regard, it was not raised as a religious shrine itself, as the FFRF claims, but as a memorial that invokes those shrines as an homage to the 10th Mountain Division.

The Appeals Court panel found, in a 2-1 ruling, the statue was essentially secular in purpose — including as justification its “irreverent” use:  Read more

Demons Rule at US Air Force Academy

The Air Force recently announced the victory of the Demons over their adversaries during US Air Force Academy basic training, which ends as the new cadets begin their academic year.

Much has been made of the apparently “supernatural” terminology sometimes invoked during Basic Cadet Training (BCT) at the US Air Force Academy. For example, each of the squadrons of cadets is known by a letter, from A to as high as J, depending on the size of the incoming class. They are:  Read more

Homosexual Air Force Officer Criticizes Former Christian Subordinate

As previously noted, retired SMSgt Phillip Monk recently appeared at a religious freedom forum for GOP presidential candidate and US Senator Ted Cruz (video here).  SMSgt Monk spoke briefly about his experience of discrimination in the military as a result of the conflict between homosexuality and religious faith.

SMSgt Monk’s story was criticized on a Facebook page called “Team Perry,” which cited an official military investigation to claim his allegations were “nonsense.”  The raison d’être of the “Team Perry” page is to defend former Lackland AFB squadron commander LtCol Craig Perry: Perry was fired under controversial circumstances last year, and the posts on the page claim to reveal details proving the Air Force treated him unjustly (despite military investigations and reports to the contrary). It took a surprising degree of intellectual inconsistency (or simple hypocrisy), then, for Team Perry to cite an Air Force investigation to criticize Monk while simultaneously claiming similar investigations were unjust when they dealt with Perry.

That Monk’s story would be criticized on the Team Perry page may seem odd until you realize Perry and Monk were stationed at Lackland AFB together. Further, it turns out LtCol Craig Perry was fast friends with then-fellow squadron commander then-Maj Elisa “Liz” Valenzuela, SMSgt Monk’s commander and the target of his complaints.

There’s nothing wrong with them being friends. But clearly Team Perry is judging SMSgt Monk not just on public reports or even insider information, but also from the viewpoint of a close family friend of his ‘antagonist.’

As if to prove the point, now-LtCol Valenzuela is Read more

Chris Rodda Denigrates Beliefs of Chaplain Endorser

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant Chris Rodda has taken the MRFF attacks on military Christians to a new level. Weinstein and company have previously railed against Christians who expressed their religious beliefs, even if they did so in a church service. They’ve also blasted Christians for nothing more than having certain beliefs.

Mikey Weinstein’s research assistant, Chris Rodda.

Now, Chris Rodda has gone a step further, holding up for derision not expressed beliefs or even the beliefs of any particular service member. Instead, Rodda attacked cherry-picked (and misrepresented) policy statements from a chaplain’s endorsing agency, as if that implicated either a service member or religious freedom in general. Rodda’s characteristically rambling article at the Huffington Post is entitled “Ranger Chaplain’s Endorsing Agency: Women in Combat ‘Contrary to Nature,’ ‘Biblical Duty of Man to Defend Woman’.”

It’s worth noting that Rodda’s headline isn’t even true. Her quotes on nature and the duty of man came from the assemblies of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) in 2001 and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in 2002. The OPC and PCA are two of seven member denominations of the endorsing agency known as the Presbyterian and Reformed Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel. Those assemblies are not any chaplain’s endorsing agency. Rodda appears to have chosen sensationalism over integrity, which is ironic for someone who focuses so much on debunking “liars.”

Regardless, Rodda writes as the representative of Read more

Military Religious Freedom at Ted Cruz Rally

A religious freedom rally hosted by GOP Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz last week in Iowa was focused largely on businesses who were sued or driven out of business by homosexual activists intent on forcing others to support their lifestyle choices.

However, there were two notable inclusions whose antagonist was actually the US government:

Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who was fired for his views in what Dr. Al Mohler said was evidence of “erotic liberty” superseding religious liberty; and  Read more

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