Category Archives: Government and Religion

DoD Grants Spousal Benefits to Homosexuals

The Department of Defense announced it would grant homosexuals “spousal benefits” starting in September.

After a review of the department’s benefit policies following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Section Three of [DOMA] is unconstitutional…, the Defense Department will make spousal and family benefits available no later than Sept. 3, 2013, regardless of sexual orientation, as long as service member-sponsors provide a valid marriage certificate.

Because some homosexual troops might be in Read more

The Challenge of Shabbat in Baghdad

The Jewish Journal documents the story of US Army Captain Eric Goldie, a Jewish soldier deployed to Iraq and trying to remain faithful to his religious exercise in an article entitled “Shabbat in Iraq: Under the Gun“:

On Shabbat, Goldie and a small group of soldiers, embassy workers and contractors — and even one Iraqi-Jewish woman — would gather in the U.S. Embassy to daven. That woman, Halida, would sneak into the embassy to participate, a considerable risk in a city where Jews were hiding their true identities…

Goldie endured a gauntlet of barriers himself just to get to the embassy for services.   “I had to take an armored transport, wearing 60 pounds of body armor, with my weapon, to attend,” he said.

The article contains what may be a swipe at the military Read more

Air Force SNCO Claims Firing over Religion

Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland AFB, TX, says he was “relieved of his position” because he did not agree with his homosexual commander about “gay marriage.”

The Air Force disagrees, and says it was just his time to move on.

As depicted, there may be validity to both sides as to whether or not he was “fired,” but that discussion detracts from the actual issue.

Monk, an evangelical Christian, said the issue came up when he was advising his company commander about a situation involving a staff sergeant who had expressed opposition to homosexuality on religious grounds — an opinion shared with trainees that might be a violation of an Air Force policy barring the use of a position of authority to promote personal religious beliefs.

Monk had said the situation called for Read more

Air Force Chief Targets Bible in POW Memorial, IG Defends It

A long-running US military tradition is the POW/MIA table.  While often a discrete event at formal functions such as military dinings-in, many dining facilities maintain a continuous POW/MIA table within their facilities.  There are actually many variations on the display, though one of the more common ones follows:

The table is round – to show our everlasting concern for our missing men (and women).

The tablecloth is white – symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of Read more

Appeals Court Upholds Fort Hood Bomber Sentence

Former US Army PFC Naser Abdo appealed his conviction in the planned (and prepared) bombing attempt of his fellow US Army Soldiers near Fort Hood, Texas, in 2011.  The court denied his appeal.

The appeals court denied Abdo’s request to consider his initial police detention a full arrest instead of just an investigatory stop, which would have made it unlawful and rendered it and statements obtained at the time inadmissible as evidence…

The court also denied that Abdo’s trial was unfair…

Abdo was the famous Islamic conscientious objector who was later charged for having child pornography on his government computer, went AWOL, and Read more

Michael Weinstein Goes Defensive, Repeats the Crazy

In response to last week’s article highlighting his penchant for alliterative adjective abuse, Michael Weinstein posted a defensive 1,500 word diatribe saying people should cut him some slack.  He claims he rants like a foul-mouthed playground bully because he’s trying to save the world [emphasis added]:

What sane person can doubt that anything less than a tooth-and-nail, eye-gouging fight will protect the American people from those both in uniform and [in] the House and Senate who seek to plunge the United States into an end-times war of apocalyptic proportions? Such a worldwide conflagration of combat is precisely what fundamentalist Christian Dominionists see as necessary for ushering in the Second Coming of the Christ, or “Rapture.” They ruthlessly lust for their promised worldwide bloodbath…

The aircraft carriers, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Peacekeeper Missiles*, bunker-busters, nuclear ICBMs, and 2.35 million active duty and reserve personnel…comprise the jewel in the crown that the “Christian Taliban” aims to seize at any and all cost.

There you have it, folks.  Weinstein should be granted wide latitude because his noble goal is to save the American people from the crazy Christians in its own military and Congress.  (To be clear, this isn’t the first time he’s made this claim.)

And who are these crazy Christians?  Read more

Rep Excoriates Obama, Weinstein on Religious Freedom

Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) published a lengthy and very strongly worded column that summed up what he called “Obama’s War on Religion in the Ranks.”

If Army chaplain Emil Kapaun served in Afghanistan today rather than Korea six decades ago, President Obama would probably give the Catholic priest discharge papers instead of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Read here.

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Air Force Hosts “Offensive” Drag Queens

Los Angeles Air Force Base officially hosted three individuals dressed in drag during a “diversity day” musical performance.

The performance sparked outrage among some airmen who called the performance “totally offensive and inappropriate…”

The airman said it was ironic that the Air Force is cracking down on Christians being able to openly share their faith but they would allow individuals to dress in drag.

The Air Force defended the act as “historical:”

“Drag queen acts are historically one of the Read more

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