Category Archives: Government and Religion

New Mikey Weinstein Billboard Backfires, Inspires Opponents

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein seems to be waging a war by billboard (and judging by his previous efforts, Lamar advertising seems to be the main benefactor).  This time, Weinstein publicized an email quote from a staff member of the US Air Force Academy Prep School:

The photo was provided by the MRFF, and faithful ally Pam Zubeck dutifully reprinted it at the CSIndy.

Unfortunately for the MRFF, a substantial majority of the people who saw and commented on it read only the quote from Willoughby — and then praised Willoughby’s sentiment.

A few did say Willoughby had “violated his oath as an officer” and Read more

LtGen Mixon: DADT Repeal Opened the Floodgates

LtGen Benjamin Mixon, now retired, was sanctioned by the Department of Defense when he publicly encouraged US military members to contact their congressmen if they opposed the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

In a late summer interview by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association for a longer article, Gen Mixon stood by his original comments and indicated DADT repeal would “open the floodgates” [emphasis added]:  Read more

David Barton, Kenneth Copeland on PTSD and the Bible

Last Monday was Veteran’s Day.  Pentacostal preacher Kenneth Copeland hosted David Barton, a self-described “expert in historical and constitutional issues,” and they lit the fires of controversy by addressing the issue of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the Bible.  Citing the King James Version of Numbers 32:20-22, Copeland says

…”If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterward ye shall return…and be guiltless before the Lord, and before the nation.”

Any of you suffering from PTSD right now, you listen to me. You get rid of that right now.

You don’t take drugs to get rid of it, it doesn’t take psychology; that promise right there will get rid of it.

Copeland continues, explaining, in essence, that PTSD is Read more

SecDef “Blasts” States Not Granting Homosexuals ID Cards

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel “blasted” nine states whose National Guard bureaus have refused to process requests for homosexual benefits at their state facilities.  In his Oct 31 speech to the Anti-Defamation League, Hagel said

several states today are refusing to issue these IDs to same-sex spouses at National Guard facilities.  Not only does this violate the states’ obligations under federal law, but their actions have created hardship and inequality by forcing couples to travel long distances to federal military bases to obtain the ID cards they’re entitled to.

This is wrong.  It causes division among our ranks, and it furthers prejudice, which DoD has fought to extinguish, as has the ADL.

The situation is intriguing, because by calling these states “wrong,” Secretary Hagel appears to be calling the citizens who voted state laws into place “wrong.”  If a state has a constitutional amendment that refuses to recognize a homosexual relationship — an amendment passed by the citizens of the state — it naturally follows that the offices of the state, including its National Guard, would adhere to those laws.

Secretary Hagel continued:  Read more

Moore: Preach Gospel, Promote Freedom, but Warns Chaplains

President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore recently spoke to the New Orleans Seminary and said Christians should advocate for the Gospel — and religious freedom:

The apostle Paul provides a model for how pastors and other Christians are to maintain “the centrality of the Gospel and the defense of religious liberty at the same time,” Moore told the seminarians.

Preaching from Acts 26:24-32, Moore said Paul both defended his religious freedom and proclaimed the Gospel…

“Paul here understands that freedom itself is not enough,” Moore said. The freedom Paul sought — and Christians today should seek — “is a freedom to do something … the pushing and the pressing and the pleading of the Gospel,” he said.

While some have advocated for Christians to abandon the political realm — an attitude of which Moore was even accused — Moore clearly says Christians have a duty to advocate for religious liberty.

Moore also had words of warning for military chaplains:  Read more

Chaplain: Christian Beliefs could be Considered Hate Speech

US Senate Chaplain Barry Black recently made waves for his daily prayers scolding the US Congress during the government “shutdown.”

Though it was just as newsworthy, another address by Chaplain Black — himself a former US Navy Chief of Chaplains — was lost in the simultaneous hubbub over Michael Weinstein and his meeting with the US Air Force.

In his address to the Heritage Foundation in April, Chaplain Black noted plainly that Christian doctrine might one day be considered “hate speech:”

Military chaplains…may have problems Read more

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