Category Archives: Government and Religion

Ashley Broadway: Knowing Commanders are Christians is Failure of Leadership

There was surprisingly little media coverage of the wailing and gnashing of teeth from LGBT activists over the decision by the Air Force to reverse the punishment of Col Leland Bohannon. Last October Col Bohannon had a superior officer sign a spouse appreciation certificate for a homosexual subordinate, rather than affront his religious beliefs by signing it himself.  The Air Force fired him but now admits it was wrong to do so.

It seems even the general public thought getting a two-star General to sign the certificate was a fair compromise that should have made everybody happy. Showing homosexual activists in a frenzy over this reasonable accommodation might have made them look foolish.

Enter Ashley Broadway-Mack.

Now heading the homosexual activist American Military Partner Association, Broadway — a self-described “devout Christian” — said the Air Force’s decision to defend Col Bohannon’s constitutionally-protected religious liberty, rather than promote her preferred sexual behavior, was “alarming” [emphasis added]:

“This colonel’s action sent a dangerous message to the entire command that he disapproves of every same-sex spouse that supports their service member throughout their military career. That’s a severe failure of leadership.”

Read that again carefully, and consider the ramifications.

“This colonel’s action” resulted Read more

Civilian Marine Serves God, Country, Corps

The Marine Corps published an interesting article about José Rodriguez, a civilian who works for the Marine Corps Systems Command — and who is also an Episcopal Priest:

With encouragement and support from the command, Rodriguez brings that same passion to the Orlando community where he serves as an Episcopal priest at Iglesia Episcopal Jesús de Nazaret.

Although it is rare in the Episcopal Church for a priest to have two careers, Rodríguez chose to work at TRASYS because his job goes hand-in-hand with his mission as a priest.

It’s an interesting example of a man integrating Read more

Mikey Weinstein Goes after Okinawa POW Bible. Again.

By now you’ve probably seen the reports saying Michael “Mikey” Weinstein filed a complaint (PDF, through his lawyer) about a Bible at a POW/MIA display at Okinawa, Japan. What these reports don’t seem to convey is this is just Mikey being Mikey. Every couple of months he makes these kinds of complaints; they hit a high point every now and then, fade into the background later, and maybe catch peoples’ attention again.

The POW/MIA display is a piggy bank for Weinstein. If his coffers get low, he can pull one of these from his files and try to get attention.

To prove the point, consider that the subject of this latest complaint at US Naval Hospital Okinawa is a POW/MIA table that is on permanent display. It’s been there for years. Nothing Read more

Air Force Exonerates Col Leland Bohannon over Faith, Homosexuality

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson has announced that Col Leland Bohannon was wrongly punished last October after he expressed religious objections to affirming homosexuality. Explaining the results of the Air Force Review Board, which had received Col Bohannon’s appeal, Secretary Wilson said (PDF) [emphasis added]

The Director concluded that Colonel Bohannon had the right to exercise his sincerely held religious beliefs and did not unlawfully discriminate when he declined to sign the certificate of appreciation for the same sex spouse of an Airman in his command.

The Air Force has a duty to treat people fairly and without discrimination… and met that duty by having a more senior officer sign the certificate.

That’s a clear win for religious liberty. The Air Force has proactively Read more

Marine Corps Article Talks of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace

A “Did you know?” article out of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow retells the fascinating history of John Newton and William Wilberforce — as well as the commonly known hymn “Amazing Grace.”

When you hear the iconic song, Amazing Grace, what do you think of? Church choirs? Funerals? Perhaps bagpipes belting out the haunting tune? Did you know that the author of Amazing Grace was once a slave ship master who saw the light, reformed his ways and became one of the most influential people in history for the abolition of slave trade? His influence, particularly on William Wilberforce, helped to push the British Parliament to abolish slavery in 1807.

The article is somewhat unique in Read more

Military Chapels Winning Souls through Financial Peace

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University has found a unique — and large — following within the military chapel community. While not a “Christian” financial program per se, Ramsey is a Christian and ultimately bases his ideas on his faith. (He even connects financial “peace” to the “Prince of Peace” every day on his radio show.) This — and its success — has made the program popular among churches — and the US military.

In just one example, the chapel Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s John Compere Schooled by ACLJ. Again.

John Compere is a bit of an oddity at Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF. Like many in Weinstein’s circle, he flaunts his credentials, choosing to anoint himself with this byline:

Brigadier General John Compere, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired), former Chief Judge, US Army Court of Military Review, disabled American veteran (Vietnam), MRFF Advisory Board Member & Texas rancher

(Run by a man whose ego knows no bounds, humility seems to run deep at Mikey Weinstein’s MRFF. In another example, Weinstein disciple Greg Petrequin frequently, and humbly, introduces himself as a “retired senior military officer.”)

Compere — who is otherwise unknown to anyone — never really gives anyone a reason to understand why they should listen to him, and his writings certainly don’t help. While Compere beats out compatriot Chris Rodda’s writings by actually having a point, he appears to borrow from both Rodda and Weinstein as he lets obtuse wording, word count, and pithy quotations pass for supporting a thesis.

And, of course, Compere believes he cannot be wrong.

Thus, when the ACLJ’s Skip Ash wrote a lengthy and thorough rebuttal to a Compere piece in 2016, Compere responded by saying the very fact anyone would dare to critique his position confirmed the piece’s “accuracy”:  Read more

OCF, First Liberty Team Up on Military Religious Freedom

Officers’ Christian Fellowship and First Liberty Institute recently participated in an episode of OCF’s fledgling Crosspoint podcast in which retired Navy JAG CAPT Chris Blake and First Liberty lawyer (and Reserve Marine JAG) Mike Berry discussed the “religious rights of those in uniform.”

At one point, CAPT Blake asks “what has changed” over the past few decades that makes it seem the support for religious freedom has waned since the unashamed exercise of faith years ago. To that, Mike Berry had a witty reply:

The opponents of religious freedom have become louder…but that doesn’t make them more correct.

That was an observation Read more

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