Category Archives: Government and Religion

Ohio State House Passes Military Religious Freedom Bill

The Ohio State House of Representatives passed “a resolution,” HR 283,

To urge the United States Congress and the United States Department of Defense to protect and uphold the religious and free speech rights of military service members.

The resolution cited several incidents of apparent religious hostility in the US military, but oddly missed one that was very close to home. The resolution noted that the Ohio National Guard had the same challenges Read more

Christmas Around the Military (Video)

US military leaders publicized their “holiday messages” in a series of videos just before Christmas. Outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his wife made a point of saying “Merry Christmas,” as well as including a still photo from a homosexual proposal during a homecoming ceremony.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Marty Dempsey and his family sang “Jingle Bells” and wished everyone a “Merry Christmas.”

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and her Read more

President Signs 2015 NDAA: Mt Soledad Addressed, No Religious Liberty Provisions

For the first time in several years, Congress passed and the President signed a National Defense Authorization Act with no sections directing the US military on issues of religious liberty. Over the prior few years, Congress has inserted legislation requiring protection of religious expression within the military, for example, which resulted in changes to DoDI 1300.17 and Air Force Instruction 1-1.

One thing the NDAA does include, however, is authorization to transfer the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross to a private organization:  Read more

Punished Chaplain Requests Accommodation, Gets Support

Below:

  • Jewish Endorser Backs Punished Christian Chaplain
  • Chaplain Lawhorn Requests Religious Accommodation
  • Commander Denies Request to Rescind Letter of Concern
  • Atheist Soldier Derides Christian Faith

Jewish Endorser Backs Punished Christian Chaplain

Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim, a Jewish endorsing agent for US military chaplains, has publicly backed US Army Chaplain (Capt) Joseph Lawhorn — a Christian chaplain punished for sharing his personal story of how faith enabled him to weather depression [emphasis added]:

[YPS] believe[s] the Letter of Concern is inappropriate and will have negative consequences on all military chaplains…

YPS supports the right Read more

Chris Rodda Criticizes USAF Band Because ISIS

It didn’t take too long for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant, Chris Rodda, to pen a diatribe criticizing the US Air Force Band’s “flash mob” kick-off to the Christmas season. As is her typical style, she wrote an 800 word passive-aggressive narrative without ever really saying why she was writing it, other than a vague objection to “religiosity” on the part of the Air Force.

Near the end, though, she finally cut to the chase:

I’ll bet there are some Islamic extremists out there who are also being quite “inspired” by these viral videos of mobs of uniformed U.S. military personnel belting out lines like “Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!,” “Joy to the world! the Savior reigns,” and “This, this is Christ the king!”

Way to go, U.S. Air Force Band!

Ah! So the MRFF thinks that if Islamic extremists will hate America Read more

Sailors in Bahrain Celebrate Christmas without Christ

While recent changes in Air Force regulations and a favorable congressional hearing have given some groups a positive perception of the direction of religious liberty in the US military, it is worth noting that even that trend isn’t universal, and it hasn’t reversed some of the damage done over the past few years.

Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain recently kicked off the holiday season with its traditional tree lighting — absent one of its longstanding traditions. In 2012, Jason Torpy — an atheist and former Army officer — single-handedly persuaded the US Navy to ban a children’s “live Nativity” from the tree lighting ceremony.

The reason? According to Torpy, the kids

threaten[ed] US security and violat[ed] the Constitution.

It was probably “easier” for the Navy to surrender to Torpy and remove the children’s event rather than try to defend it for its positive value. Thus, plastic baby Jesus Read more

Military Commander Sues after being Fired for Violating Post-DADT Repeal

In a scandal surprisingly little-reported by the mainstream press, a US Army aviator and commander was fired, reprimanded, forced to meet a retention board, and now faces a forced retirement — because he intervened when two uniformed officers participated in a “full blown make out session” on the dance floor during a unit formal ball.

The two officers were homosexual.

He has now filed a lawsuit saying but for that fact, the commander would not be facing the end of his career.

Two years ago, LtCol Christopher Downey intervened when he was notified that two female officers on the dance floor were acting inappropriately — and they were becoming the focus of an increasing number of cameras and cell phones.  (The behavior was described several ways, including “French kissing,” “grabbing each other’s butts,” and a “full-blown make out session.”)  Having just returned from commanding the unit in Afghanistan, where Read more

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