Category Archives: Government and Religion

Concerned US Troops on Transgender Policy and Children

On military moves to a state that would allow a boy to use a girl’s locker room:

[Military families with children] are being asked to choose between our country and keeping our kids safe. Being military, we don’t have a say which state we move to next. We don’t know if it will be a state that protects our civil rights or one that won’t.

On policies that would create a “right” to choose which bathroom, shower, or other traditionally private facilities they want to use:  Read more

Tom Carpenter, Forum on the Military Chaplaincy Blind to own Bigotry

Tom Carpenter of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy was called out several months ago for his hypocrisy: Carpenter had joined Michael “Mikey” Weinstein in criticizing Air Force Chaplain Dondi Costin for attending an event in uniform, while Tom Carpenter had shared a stage with a uniformed chaplain under similar circumstances just a couple of months prior.

Hypocrisy, though, is often understood to be ‘holding others to a standard to which one does not hold himself.’

A more accurate word for what Tom Carpenter and his FOMC have displayed would be “bigotry” — or “intolerant devotion to one’s own opinions and prejudices,” in one definition.

You see, it wasn’t merely that Carpenter hosted one uniformed chaplain while criticizing another. His actual issue was the religious ideologies of the chaplains and the events they attended. Carpenter and the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy support tolerance for everyone — except those who do not hold the same religious beliefs they do.

And they recently made it quite clear.

Last weekend a pastor asked Read more

Air Force Censors “Gendered Language” — Declaration, Constitution Next

The Virginian-Pilot reports the US Air Force has taken down posters hung at Langley Air Force Base because they contained “gendered language.” The Air Force had previously defended the posters against accusations by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein that they violated regulations on religion. With that avenue closed, the National Organization for Women rolled in and declared the posters “sexist” because they referred to “men” and “gentlemen”. The Air Force now says [emphasis added]

With additional time to review all seven posters outside the narrower, primarily religious context of the original complaint about two of them, we concluded the gendered language used in the display interfered with intended messages about personal integrity.

We’ve chosen to update the display with something that reflects the diverse and inclusive force we are today.

How the Air Force believes “gendered language” “interfere[s]” with “personal integrity” might make a fascinating discussion.

For his part, Mikey Weinstein — ignored by the Air Force, again — appeared Read more

On Christianity, Children, Transgenders, and President Trump

“Children should not be turned into pawns of culture war experimentation…

“There are good reasons to put boys and girls in different bathrooms and locker rooms and sometimes sports teams, reasons that don’t impugn the dignity of people but uphold it… Every human being knows that there are important, and necessary, differences between men and women. Without such recognition, women are harmed and men are coarsened…

“If anything, there’s much more of a case to be made that one can feel to be a different age than one’s doctor’s exam or birth certificate would show…It’s something else entirely if chronological self-identity is Read more

US Air Force Academy Hosts Annual Prayer Luncheon

Quietly and without controversy, the US Air Force Academy hosted its annual prayer luncheon last week.

The keynote address came from motivational speaker DJ “Eagle Bear” Vanas, a 1993 USAFA graduate and “enrolled member” of the Odawa Nation, a Native American tribe:

“Our spirituality makes us strong from the inside-out,” he said. “It strengthens and sustains us…

When we practice our spiritual faith, we make better decisions.”

The USAFA article references only Read more

Chaplain Strengthens Marriage as Army Ends Strong Bonds

US Army Chaplain (LtCol) Kevin Leideritz is the first permanently assigned chaplain to US Special Operations Command-Europe. A recent article describes his hosting of a marriage retreat at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany, at the end of January.

Leideritz…seized the opportunity to work with couples to better understand their individual personality traits, their partner’s love languages and ways to enhance a more healthy relationship during the three-day retreat.

In an interesting twist, the article made a couple of references to “strengthening bonds” without using the actual name “Strong Bonds,” the Army’s long-running program of marriage enrichment retreats. It may be an early indicator of what inside sources have already revealed: Strong Bonds is ending.

It seems the chaplaincy resiliency program is falling victim to Read more

Retired Chaplain Calls for Defense of Military Religious Freedom

Governmental discrimination against people of faith in the armed forces is unacceptable and will impact the morale of any unit…

It has been the norm for these last eight years for service members to be pressured to renounce their religious views on topics like sexuality — or be punished for not doing so — as well as other attacks on religious freedom in the military. This “religious cleansing” has national security implications.

Mr. Trump should quickly change Read more

Atheists Demand End to Prayers at Pease Air National Guard Base

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has demanded that New Hampshire’s Pease Air National Guard (Facebook) base stop including prayer in association with official events:

A concerned guardsman informed FFRF that ceremonies at the Pease Air National Guard Base regularly have chaplains delivering invocations. These include readings from the bible and references to a Christian god. Attendance at these ceremonies is mandatory for all guardsmen.

The FFRF’s legal analysis was short and to the point:  Read more

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