Category Archives: Government and Religion

President Proclaims Memorial Day of Prayer

Consistent with public law, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential proclamation announcing Memorial Day “as a day of prayer for permanent peace,” calling for unity in prayer on Monday, May 25th, at 1100hrs.

On Memorial Day, the United States pauses to honor the fallen heroes who died in service to our Nation. With heavy hearts and a sense of profound gratitude, we mourn these women and men — parents, children, loved ones, comrades-in-arms, friends, and all those known and unknown — who believed so deeply in what our country could be they were willing to give their lives to protect its promise.

Read more via the DoD.  Read more

Air Force Rebuffs Mikey Weinstein Demand for General Olson’s Court-Martial

The Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force has “rebuffed” the demand by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to court-martial Major General Craig Olson, who spoke at the National Day of Prayer earlier this month:

The Air Force has decided that Olson did not break Air Force Instruction 1-1 by speaking at the “congressionally-supported event,” said service spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Hughes.

“His remarks were his own personal opinions and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force,” Hughes said in an email Thursday to Air Force Times.

The article quotes both Weinstein and his assistant Chris Rodda as Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Court-Martial of General Craig Olson

Update: Franklin Graham came out in General Olson’s defense, while Weinstein doubled down, saying

Olson was “not simply a harmless howdy-doody/’Stepford Wife/Ned Flanders type of character delivering homilies and platitudes to his assembled flock of like-minded fools.” He was, instead, part of a “Christian triumphalist” plan to subdue America, Weinstein wrote.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein published a press release last week calling for the court-martial of Major General Craig Olson, who was the representative for the US military at the National Day of Prayer on May 7th.

You can watch the video of General Olson’s 20 minute talk at the National Day of Prayer courtesy of the MRFF, which recorded the broadcast and uploaded it here. In it, General Olson says:

I’ve been with fellow redeemed Christians who happen to be educators, who happen to be businessmen, who happen to be medical professionals, who happen to be public officers. I’m just a Christian who happens to be in the Air Force. So we all have things we do but we’re believers, when we love Christ and we love this nation. That’s the point of America. We get to be out and about in America as believers in the various places God appoints us.

Gen Olson spoke repeatedly of having experiences that reminded him of his reliance upon God. He spoke of the need for prayer for our military.

This is what Weinstein said in response:  Read more

Navy Boot Camp Reinstates Some Chapel Services

The Navy Recruit Training Command has reportedly allowed some civilians to return to the base to lead religious services for recruits. Not all of the previously banned leaders were allowed to return as religious leaders because, according to the Navy, uniformed leaders were found instead — which the Navy said met the priority guidance on who was supposed to help lead services:

Following the sudden dismissal of a half-dozen religious leaders last month, commanders at the Great Lakes naval training center began the process Thursday of inviting back civilian volunteers to serve recruits who are Unitarian Universalists, Baha’is, Buddhists and Christian Scientists.

In the meantime, a spokesman said, the Navy Read more

Military Freedoms and “Good Order and Discipline”

Tony Carr, a retired C-17 squadron commander, has begun to make a name for himself in his public commentary on Air Force issues on his John Q. Public blog. He speaks in terms other Airmen recognize — and often in a tone that others wish they were allowed to muster.

He recently took retired General Roger Brady to task for the General’s dressing-down of Airmen who dared to contact their congressmen about the future of the A-10. The General had written a letter that was published in the Air Force Times, and Carr highlights an interesting point. While criticizing the Airmen’s decision to talk to their congressmen — a point he says General Mark Welsh agreed is a right — General Brady explicitly said  Read more

Blog: Clergy Not Required to Perform Same-Sex Marriage, Except Chaplains

Much ado was recently made about Supreme Court justices questioning whether clergy would face sanction if they refused to perform same-sex marriages. In short, the concern was dismissed out of hand.

Interestingly, Jay Bookman, blogging at the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, said the same thing — but he made a significant footnote [formatting original]:

Under the First Amendment, no one, with the possible exception of military chaplains**, can ever be required by government to conduct religious services that are contrary to their faith. That’s just elementary, and while I’m no fan of Scalia, I’m still surprised to see him offering objections so ill-informed that would be better suited to an email-chain than to Supreme Court debate.

Bookman’s footnote:  Read more

MRFF: Military Required to Have Chaplains for Everyone

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was recently interviewed about the Navy’s decision to ban civilian volunteers from leading religious services during boot camp. In the course of the interview, he was asked:

Host: Is the military required to provide a leader of some sort, to make sure that whatever somebody’s faith is, there’s somebody there — a chaplain, a volunteer, there — is that something that’s required…?

Weinstein: Yes, yes. That is a requirement from the chaplain’s corps.

Weinstein’s response digressed into converting people from one faith to another, so the hosts asked the question again:  Read more

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