Category Archives: Government and Religion

US Military Chaplain Joins Others on the Supreme Court and DOMA

A US Army Chaplain’s comments on the upcoming Supreme Court hearings on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), regarding his faith and religious liberty:

“If DOMA is declared unconstitutional, then it will initiate the assured drive in our society and government to give warrant and support to numerous other unspeakable sexual acts as normative. In the past two years since DADT was repealed, (which was the vehicle by which homosexuals gained official government recognition and approval of their immoral lifestyle), we have seen appeals by those who advocate for the public acceptance of polygamy, pedophilia and even bestiality in our educational institutions and government, using the very same fallacious arguments the homosexual movement has used over the last several decades to gain public acceptance. And just last week there was a public call in the national media for the US military to now allow those given to transvestism (cross dressing) to also have the freedom to openly serve in our ranks. The repeal to DADT certainly opened Pandora’s Box. But striking down DOMA would pry it open.

“If DOMA is repealed, it will hit the military first. And no one will face the pressure, persecution and disfavor more than the military chaplains. Why? Because we are the Read more

MRFF Allies Target Troops’ Religious Freedoms — Out of Spite

It’s one thing to disagree with another person’s ideology.  It is quite another to participate in an event for the sole purpose of denying others access to that same support and religious liberty.

Advocates for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation recently bantered about attending a Strong Bonds marriage enrichment seminar not to strengthen their marriages, but solely to take surreptitious video of the illegal “indoctrination.”  It seems they are openly attempting to gather “physical evidence” for Michael Weinstein’s “war” on religious liberty in the US military:

According to his Facebook account that’s US Soldier Daron Williams telling Army spouse Katie Aerumnous to ‘record the prayer so you can file a complaint’ — about a voluntary event she would be choosing to attend — with the sole goal of denying future Read more

Weinstein USAFA Protest Attracts Dozens, Multiple Bodyguards

Last Friday Michael Weinstein sponsored a protest/picketing a few miles from one of the US Air Force Academy entrance gates.  Ostensibly, the objective was to make USAFA pull down a link to a website Weinstein had called “homophobic” and “misogynistic.”  This protest and the accompanying billboard (now a trend) were apparently the “action” he had ominously threatened.

The protest misfired on several counts, though the most entertaining by far was Read more

Even in a Down Economy, Michael Weinstein Gets a Pay Raise

In 2010, Michael Weinstein took a small hit to the salary he pays himself from “charitable donations” to his Military Religious Freedom Foundation.  He appears to have made up for that in 2011, the most recent year for which his financial data has become available.  (Weinstein, who keeps the books himself, didn’t report his 2011 finances until November 2012.)

In 2011, the MRFF increased its income by more than $150,000 (which included a $15,800 grant from the United Way of New Mexico, $110,000 in cash from the Rockefeller Family Fund, and $20,000 from the Aspen Community Foundation).  Weinstein’s compensation increased by just under $35,000, or about a quarter of the new donations, to just over $250,000 after taxes.  That brings Weinstein’s pay to just over 36% of everything donated to his “charity.”  Despite forlorn (and misleading) cries by his “research director,” Chris Rodda, that Read more

Christian Fighter Pilot Speaks at US Air Force Academy

Retired Col Lee Ellis, whose outstanding book Leading with Honor made the Recommended list here as well as General Mark Welsh’s professional reading list, recently addressed cadets at the US Air Force Academy as part of the 2013 National Character and Leadership Symposium.

A prisoner of war held in the “Hanoi Hilton” for five and a half years shared his compelling story of imprisonment and success with cadets…
 
Retired Col. Lee Ellis was held captive along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others after his plane was shot down Nov. 7, 1967.

Col Ellis shared his perspective on purpose, passion, Read more

Michael Weinstein Says Christians Worse than Neo-Nazis

If you’re not the “right kind” of Christian while you serve in the US military, it seems Michael Weinstein — frequent critic of religious freedom in the US military — really doesn’t like you so much — and he apparently wants the government to come after you [formatting original]:

The forced imposition of fundamentalist Christianity throughout our American armed forces is the perpetual “flavor of the day,” and has been for decades [sic]…

[There is] continual, systemic proselytizing among United States military personnel. This brainwashing results in widespread, brutal stigmatizing of those opposed or indifferent to fundamentalist Christian doctrine–a savage trampling of their Constitutional rights!…

How…does allowing this utterly reprehensible nonsense to continue not produce a greater threat than the handful of neo-Nazis still Read more

Military Holds National Prayer Events Around Globe

The US military held National Prayer events at bases around the world, demonstrating the value it places on troops’ practice of faith and encouraging their free exercise:

At an “undisclosed location:”

More than 200 service members deployed to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing came together for a barbecue and fellowship sponsored by the chapel community in observance of the National Prayer Breakfast…

In Georgia:

Hundreds of Fort Stewart soldiers and Family Members gathered…for the annual National Day of Prayer Breakfast…

The word servant comes from the Greek word Diakonos Read more

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