US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s trial over murder charges stemming from the 2009 Fort Hood massacre was delayed — again — when Hasan showed up to court with a beard. He is still considered a member of the military and is required to maintain military standards of uniform wear.
Judge Col. Gregory Gross ordered the motions delayed “until the near future,” when Hasan meets Army grooming standards or Read more
President Obama declared June to be “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month,” which purportedly takes the opportunity for the US government to “celebrate” sexual attraction to one’s own gender. Unlike some other proclamations called upon by Congress, the LGBT Pride proclamation was done independently by Obama as it was under Clinton, the last president to make such declarations.
And because we must treat others the way we want to be treated, I personally believe in marriage equality for same-sex couples…More remains to be done to ensure every single American is treated equally, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Moving forward, my Administration will continue its work to advance the rights of LGBT Americans.
Bob Stith, of the Southern Baptist’s Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals, said the Presidential proclamation continued a recent socially accepted theme: opposition to homosexuality is bigotry.
The fact that Obama is framing the legalization of gay marriage as one of ridding the country of prejudice does not bode well for traditional Christians, Stith said. Read more
Competing opinion pieces at the UT San Diego debate the appropriateness of the Camp Pendleton crosses, memorials that have stood on a remote hill on a US Marine base for years until an atheist found out they were there.
Ever-sensitive atheist Jason Torpy, the original complainant who found out about the crosses on the internet, reminds people the crosses “violate religious neutrality,” since the presence of religious symbols on government land is apparently totally forbidden:
Two 13-foot Christian crosses stand on restricted federal land as a result of unauthorized actions by private individuals…All of this speaks to a Marine-led Christianization of the military Read more
A chaplain at Fort Polk, Louisiana, has reportedly conducted a same-sex ceremony within the military chapel despite Louisiana’s ban on homosexual marriage:
U.S. Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said in a statement Wednesday that the “marriage-like” ceremony performed for two women by an Army chaplain shouldn’t have been allowed because Louisiana law doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage or civil union. U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., claims the ceremony violates Defense Department policy.
Congressman Todd Akin called it a clear violation of state law and military policies, while the participants (and the chaplain) got around that little problem Read more
Former US Army Chief of Chaplains, MajGen Douglas Carver, recently told a conference sponsored by the American Religious Freedom Program that the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has caused tension and questions over morality in the US military:
“I can assure you that a tension exists in this area,” Carver [said]. “For example, the Department of Defense no longer considers homosexuality a moral issue. [To the department,] it is an amoral issue. To them, it’s a concern of human dignity, respect, discipline and professionalism. However, a number of our chaplains and troops believe that homosexuality is a moral issue.”
Chaplain Carver also said there was an apparent increasing “intolerance Read more
The aptly named Freedom From Religion Foundation has demanded that the “Big Mountain Jesus” be torn down, because it resides on (leased) US government land. Interestingly, it has a military connection: It was raised by the local Knights of Columbus in honor of the 10th Mountain Division:
They call him Big Mountain Jesus: a six-foot statue of Christ, draped in a baby blue robe and gazing out over the majestic Flathead Valley from his perch along a ski run at the Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana.
He has been there for more than 50 years, erected by the local Knights of Columbus chapter in honor of the soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division who told of seeing similar shrines in the mountains of Italy during World War II.
The Knights of Columbus have asked, naturally, to intervene in the case between the FFRF and the Forest Service. Even the local resort manager saw the historical value of the statue beyond religion: Read more
Last year military atheist Justin Griffith created a fuss over a military chapel community’s Vacation Bible School — something virtually every military chapel community does, by the way. He claimed the chapel VBS was a US government-funded “religious summer camp.”
Naturally, he continued the militant atheist tradition of latching on to Christianity by demanding a “me, too” ability to have such an event. He failed to acknowledge military facilities already host non-religious events of a similar nature:
Approximately 40 Army Reserve children from all over the southeast region ranging from the ages of six to 14 attended Read more
Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture raises an interesting observation about the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the culture of freedom in our strongest “ally” in the region, Pakistan:
The US is committed to a foreign policy that defends human rights. Yet in the countries where our troops have been fighting during the past decade, one fundamental human right—the right to religious freedom—has been diminished rather than enhanced, particularly for Christians.
In Iraq the Christian minority is in flight, hounded and Read more