Category Archives: Government and Religion

MRFF Makes Veiled Threat Against Critics

Joan Slish has long been a source of fascinating inside information at Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF.  She sometimes seems to tell it like it is, even to the MRFF’s detriment (see here, here, and here, for example).

Slish is one of several people who “corresponds” with those who write hate mail to the MRFF — even if it comes from a supposedly fake email address. (Her 1500-word responses are almost precisely the same copy/paste text every time.) Why bother “writing” to a junk address? Apparently, the correspondence is distributed among the MRFF faithful as some sort of mark of pride. Fair enough, if that’s really where you want to exert your energy.

But what if the email address is legitimate?

That’s what makes this thinly veiled threat from Slish concerning:  Read more

Tony Perkins Appointed to Religious Freedom Commission

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins has been appointed to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) via Senator Mitch McConnell:

I am grateful to Majority Leader McConnell for appointing me to this prestigious position. From my post at USCIRF, I look forward to doing all that I can to ensure that our government is the single biggest defender of religious freedom internationally…

Tony Perkins and Read more

Air Force Chaplain Montanari Converts to Judaism, Claims Discrimination

In an unusual case that will probably generate support and criticism from all sides, former Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Jeffrey Montanari has alleged that after he converted from Christianity to Judaism (as a chaplain) he faced discrimination and mistreatment, and that he was ultimately denied a position as a Jewish chaplain as a result.

Chaplain Montanari is now represented by First Liberty in a scenario likely making critics of “fundamentalist Christianity” heads explode. As reported in the Air Force Times [emphasis added]:

Montanari…became an officer and a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve in 2010, endorsed by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel…

In 2012, he transferred to a position in the California Air National Guard…

[His experiences with the local Jewish community], coupled with his discovery of his own Jewish lineage, led Montanari to begin seriously considering a conversion to Orthodox Judaism.

But that decision allegedly came at a high cost.

Superiors allegedly demeaned his character, refused to grant him a religious accommodation, segregated him from the rest of the chaplain staff, and excluded him from chaplain meetings, according to a statement from his lawyers. They effectively drove him out of the Air Force because of his change in religious affiliation, his lawyers argue.

At this point, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein would Read more

In Odd Move, Mikey Weinstein Defends ADF Christian Legal Group

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently publicized a letter (PDF) he wrote to Jeff Bezos, CEO of online shopping giant Amazon, to protest the removal of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) from the company’s charity program AmazonSmile. Weinstein titled his letter a “principled DEFENSE of RIVAL organization” (emphasis original) and said:

Frankly, we disagree with ADF’s positions on almost everything in law and policy. For years we’ve crossed swords and fought for our respective opposing views. But it is one thing to fight for ideals, and it’s another to marginalize and suppress others — even those you vehemently disagree with. And that is what’s happening when ADF is branded a “hate” group and thrown out of the Amazon Smile program.

It sounds noble, but it is very unusual for Weinstein — and wholly inconsistent Read more

Navy Covers Sailor Who Stays True to His Faith

In an article entitled “I hope God understands why,” the US Navy tells the story of US Navy Personnel Specialist 3rd Class Mamadou Mbengue, a native of Senegal — and a Muslim:

Mbengue found himself in Recruit Training Command spending each morning and evening donning and doffing a uniform and learning to conform to a military lifestyle, while still upholding the values and principles of his faith.

“I hope God understands why,” said Mbengue. “I took every Read more

Faith to the Fight: Gen Costin Visits Korea

Official releases documented the trip of US Air Force Chief of Chaplains (MajGen) Dondi Costin to South Korea last month:

Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Dondi Costin, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, and more than a dozen Air Force chaplains and chaplain assistants from U.S. Pacific Air Forces spent time with U.S. Airmen and their South Korean counterparts in a weeklong long visit to Daegu Korea.

The chaplains and their assistants worked Read more

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