Category Archives: Government and Religion

President Trump Proclaimed Day of Prayer after Harvey Devastation

From the President of the United States, for Sunday, September 3rd:

From the beginning of our Nation, Americans have joined together in prayer during times of great need, to ask for God’s blessings and guidance. This tradition dates to June 12, 1775, when the Continental Congress proclaimed a day of prayer following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and April 30, 1789, when President George Washington, during the Nation’s first Presidential inauguration, asked Americans to pray for God’s protection and favor…

As response and recovery efforts continue, and as Americans provide much needed relief to the people of Texas and Louisiana, we are reminded of Scripture’s promise that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Melania and I are grateful to everyone devoting time, effort, and resources to the ongoing response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. We invite all Americans to join us as we continue to pray for Read more

SecDef Mattis: Stop Pretending I’m Resisting Trump

Secretary of Defense and former US Marine Corps General James Mattis has been characterized recently as taking efforts to resist or otherwise slow-roll President Trump and his agenda. In one case, he was caught on camera telling US troops they were a model of unity for the country:

“You’re a great example for our country right now that’s got some problems – you know it and I know it…It’s got problems that we don’t have in the military, and you just hold the line my fine young soldiers, sailors, airmen [and] Marines. Just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.”

The media portrayed that as a rebuke of President Trump. More recently, multiple media outlets and organizations have said Secretary Mattis “froze” President Trump’s planned ban on transgenders, an apparent rebuke of his boss. But that isn’t what happened at all.

President Trump ordered Read more

President Gives US Military Transgender Directive

Last Friday President Trump issued a formal directive for the Department of Defense to reverse the decision by former President Obama to allow transgenders to serve in the US military. Noting that transgenders had been banned from serving up until just last summer, the reasoning was fairly benign:

The previous Administration failed to identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the Departments’ longstanding policy and practice would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year’s policy change would not have those negative effects.

The outcry from sexual activists was swift, with Ashley Broadway-Mack — the activist “devout Christian” homosexual milspouse — calling on “Congress or the courts” or just about anybody to “take action to reverse Trump’s policy.”

Of course, it isn’t “Trump’s policy”, as the President’s memorandum notes, and gender-based activists are flailing for a course of action because they likely realize there isn’t really anything they can do. President Obama Read more

Adm Stavridis Errs: The US Military’s Purpose Isn’t to Defend Our Values

Retired Admiral James Stavridis — now dean of the Fletcher School of Law — took to the Boston Globe yesterday in an opinion piece excoriating President Trump for his handling of the Charlottesville, Va, riots. In so doing, however, the normally well-spoken retired flag officer demonstrated an outstanding (or selective) ignorance of the purpose of the US military: Adm Stavridis claimed the US military exists to “defend our values” [emphasis added]:

Our military exists to protect our nation and our allies from those forces who threaten our values: democracy, liberty, freedom of speech and religion, racial and gender equality…

The current [chiefs of staff] have all squarely and unequivocally shown us they know why we have a military — to defend our values, not tear them down…[They] publish[ed] clear, decisive statements disavowing racism and reaffirming the fundamental values they are sworn to defend.

These statements are unequivocally incorrect. As Read more

Military Service: Patriotism Does Not Cover a Multitude of Sins

Writing at the Washington Post, columnist Philip Bump called out what he believed was a contradiction between President Trump’s praise for military unity and his prior decision to renew the ban on transgender service:

“We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence,” [Trump] said then. “We must discover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.”

Standing in front of an audience of members of the military, he cited their service as exemplary in that regard.

It was hard, though, to ignore an asterisk that seemed to be lingering over Trump’s words: His tweets last month about his plan to ban transgender troops from serving.

From President Trump’s statement, Bump draws an incorrect conclusion [emphasis added]:  Read more

Trump Administration is Too Christian and Not Christian Enough

In an OpEd at the Los Angeles Times, Phil Zuckerman (a professor of “secular studies”) bemoaned the fact President Donald Trump’s administration is overrun by Christians — while simultaneously accusing them of being bad Christians.

First, the list — with his continuous parentheticals mocking their beliefs:

Betsy DeVos, who leads the Department of Education, has stated that her goal as a public servant is to “advance God’s kingdom.” Secretary of Energy Rick Perry employed mass prayer as a means of addressing social problems when he was governor of Texas. Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, believes that the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil…

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has said Read more

Local Pastor Opposes Trump’s Military Transgender Ban

Kevin Johnson is the pastor of Bloom in the Desert Ministries United Church of Christ, a small congregation that meets in the local community center in Palm Springs, CA. Johnson is an “out gay man” who, though admitting no connection with the military, took religious issue with President Trump’s tweeted ban on transgenders in the US military:

The trans ban rewards religious prejudice. It does not enhance military readiness. The skills and success of trans military personnel currently serving prove the ban will squander investments in training and cumulative years of service…

Arguably, a ban on a group of individuals does have the potential to “enhance military readiness” if, by Read more

Sikh Cadets Sue West Point over Turban, Uniform Hat

In an interesting deviation from its prior statements on accommodating religion, the US Military Academy at West Point has apparently required two observant Sikh cadets to wear their ceremonial uniform cover — known as the “tar bucket” — “over or in place of” their turban. The cadets, Gurijuwan Singh Chahal and Arjan Singh Ghotra, maintain this “would desecrate their religious values” and have filed a lawsuit in response:

“Forcing New Cadet Chahal and New Cadet Ghotra to choose between their country and their God in this manner violates the Army’s own regulations, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, and the First and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” the complaint states.

(Arjan Singh Ghotra previously enlisted Read more

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