Senior Airman John Harris is a Messianic Jew who was deployed to the Middle East, but he still wanted to celebrate Sukkot. With the help of the deployed chaplains, including a Rabbi at a completely different base, he was able to get the support he needed.
“I spoke with the Chapel staff here and they put me in contact with a rabbi at (Joint Base Balad),” said Harris…
“It has been an unexpected joy for me to be able to Read more
As noted here last year, Georgia Pastor Donald Crosby protested the Warner Robins High School “Demons,” saying the mascot “sent the wrong message” to the teen students.
In a federal lawsuit, Crosby now claims his arrest for picketing without a permit violated his First Amendment rights.
After discovering that his freshman son would be a future “demon” at the school, [Crosby] began collecting signatures of protest and picketed along with more than 20 members of his congregation on the first day of school.
Officers arrested the pastor, however, Read more
US Army BrigGen Rhonda Cornum is the director of the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program. She also embodies the values of her own program:
The CSF program focuses on the ability to bounce back from stress or trauma, something she utilized after her experience in the Gulf War…
Cornum flew over the Iraqi desert with her crew in a Black Hawk helicopter Feb. 27, during the fourth day of the U.S. ground assault…
Her crew was responding to the downing of F-16 pilot Capt Bill Andrews, who was shot down over Iraq. Their helicopter took fire before getting there and crashed. Five of her crewmates were killed; she was wounded and taken Read more
The Associated Press notes the Blue Alliance, a “gay and lesbian alumni group” of “almost 100” US Air Force Academy graduates, will host a tailgate party at the Air Force-Army football game next month. They will also have their annual dinner on the USAFA campus. Despite their small size, they will have some interesting guests: Read more
Michael Weinstein recently highlighted an article by ally Bruce Wilson entitled “Rick Perry Event Pastor Predicts Coming “Prison Camps” For Jews.” Weinstein prefaced it with (emphasis original)
This is the level of religious fundamentalism that threatens our country’s future, and I will NEVER stop fighting it!
The tone was somewhat unusual, given the topic had nothing to do with the military, which is Weinstein’s self-proclaimed forte. In fact, there’s no public connection to the MRFF at all, save the personal association between the author and Weinstein’s group. Weinstein’s critical sensationalism on the topic was a display of rank hypocrisy as well, for Weinstein has similarly predicted a dire future for Jews at the hands of American Christians:
In Plan A, evangelical Christians with a smile on their face will ask you to please, please, please accept their biblical worldview of Jesus. The problem with that is, inevitably, Plan A morphs into Plan B. They stop asking so nicely, and then you have the Holocaust, the pogroms, the Inquisition… Read more
The US Air Force Academy explains in a lengthy article discussions from earlier this month on the effects of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, on Academy policies.
On the panel were Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Adis Vila, Academy Chaplain (Col.) Robert Bruno, judge advocate officer Lt. Col. Karen Rhone and Col. Gary Packard, who led the team that drafted the Defense Department’s plan to implement the repeal of DADT.
The discussion lasted for more than an hour and covered a wide swath of topics, ranging from who could be married at the Cadet Chapel and who could conduct the ceremony to the courses of action available to those who had a deep-seated moral objection to serving alongside gays or lesbians.
The summary hits on several topics, including marriage in military chapels. As predicted, Col Packard highlights the ability of homosexuals to be “married” Read more
As predictable as the sun rising in the East, the US Air Force Academy sent out an announcement that had a topic related to religion, and Michael Weinstein complained.
In fact, he’s “livid.”
The situation: Apparently, Air Force Academy Chaplain (Col) Robert Bruno distributed a mass email about an upcoming ‘marriage and family seminar.’ The email was approved by the Vice Superintendent, and represented the “regularly” advertised chaplaincy programs occurring daily at USAFA. Michael Weinstein said:
It could not possibly be clearer that the academy deserves its terrible reputation for fundamentalist Christian bias.
To be clear, even the publicized article notes the USAFA email explicitly followed (and even referenced) the Air Force Chief of Staff’s Read more
The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said US Army JROTC uniform policies are discriminatory after Demin Zawity, a freshman at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, TN, was told she could not wear her Islamic headscarf while in the Army uniform.
There’s no reason for them to have a policy that excludes people such as Zawity, said Gadeir Abbas, a CAIR staff attorney. It paves the way to encourage all faiths to participate, he added.
While noble-sounding, Abbas’ statement was ignorant. JROTC programs are designed to be nearly identical to their ROTC and operational military equivalents — including following generally the same uniform rules. In this case, the JROTC rule accurately reflects US military policy (to which there have been some notable exceptions).
Abbas also made a misleading and potentially incendiary statement: Read more