Category Archives: Government and Religion
The US Military Celebrates Christmas Around the World
Despite deployment and austere conditions at locations around the world, the US military tries to provide its troops the resources and opportunities they need to celebrate Christmas, as well as the freedom to interact with local communities to honor the Christmas season. In most, but not all, cases, the military isn’t afraid to say “Christmas” or “Hanukkah” or otherwise acknowledge the point of what’s being celebrated — despite the occasional criticism from Scut Farkus. Some recent examples, from Colorado Springs to Japan:
Sailors at Fleet Activities Sasebo (Japan) brought Christmas gifts to orphans through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program.
Led by their battalion commander, LtCol Lawson Bell, Soldiers out of Fort Carson, Colorado, participated in an all-night march to downtown Colorado Springs, where they teamed with Catholic Charities to support the Marian House Soup Kitchen.
The III MEF Band at Read more
Town of New Windsor Threatened over God and Country
The Town of New Windsor, New York, has been threatened over a war memorial which contains the words “To Those Who Served Both God and Country“:
Town Attorney Michael Blythe said the lawyer, Martin Karlinsky, sent the town two letters, suggesting that the wording on the memorial, invoking the word “God,” runs counter to the First Amendment clause that draws a strict separation between government and religion. Blythe said there was a “veiled threat” of a lawsuit.
Apparently unmoved, Town Supervisor George Green had a pithy response to the threat: Read more
Common Sense Prevails at Arkansas Supreme Court, for now
In a shocking development, the Arkansas Supreme Court recently ruled a birth certificate is supposed to have the names of the child’s biological mother and father.
In an era in which Americans suddenly require a law to state the millennia-long obvious about marriage — that it is supposed to be between a man and a woman — and a law to state the other obvious fact that the little boys room is supposed to be for little boys, it shouldn’t be a surprise a state’s highest court had to tell people Mom and Dad are supposed to be on little Johnny’s birth certificate:
Identifying biological parents is an “important governmental objective,” wrote Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Josephine Linker Hart in the majority opinion, explaining Read more
Military Atheist Chapel Bolstered by Christians
A recent commentary noted the apparent rise of atheism within the US military and highlighted the atheist “church” that occurs at Air Force Basic Training at Lackland AFB — where, at the time, atheists were claiming nearly 1,000 weekly attendees.
The group has been putting up weekly photos of a few of their attendees (though none of the events themselves):
(Here’s something interesting: When a group of Army trainees took a similar-themed photo after their Christian service, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein called them a “national security threat” and used the image as a fundraising prop in his fight against Christians. Think Weinstein will consider these atheists a national security threat, too?)
According to the Read more
ATTN Air Force Public Affairs: There is hope in Christ, as told by one of your own
by Sonny Hernandez
Over the course of the past year, I have been writing articles about the perception the military censors articles that reference Christian sentiments. This can be concurred since a simple internet search will unveil a fact that homosexual testimonials and diversity day celebratory events that promote sexual immorality (LGBT) are allowed to be published on official military publications, while references of Christian testimonials that articulate Christ as Lord appear to be obscured.
Over the past few years, a few articles with Christian references were published on Air Force publications but were later redacted as a result of anti-God complaints. I have personally been told by military officials that a reference to Jesus Christ will stir up issues, and I was even told to keep Christ out of any articles that I write! My response? I will never deny Christ!
When Air Force Public Affairs omits Christ out of fear that someone will Read more
Mikey Weinstein’s MRFF Admits Trolling for Offended Supporters
Without fail, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein will announce dramatic accusations of Christian malfeasance within the military by saying he has “34 aggrieved clients, 29 of whom are practicing Christians” or some such arbitrary numbers. This reliance on quantity goes against Weinstein’s own favored quote by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that we “do not count heads before enforcing the First Amendment,” but Weinstein is known for sacrificing principle for dramatic effect when it suits his needs.
The numbers, vague and unprovable though they are, help mitigate Read more
Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 5: You’ve Got (Lots of) eMail
While Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s lawyers weakly threatened this site with a lawsuit in 2009, the “conversation” with Mikey actually began more than two years earlier. It turns out, in fact, that Mikey Weinstein can actually come across as an OK kind of guy — so long as he agrees with your ideology.
In December 2007 — almost exactly 9 years ago — Mikey Weinstein responded to an email that rebutted a recent MRFF press release with the following missive:
The random capitalization and punctuation (as well as his inability to release the period key on the keyboard) often make Mikey Weinstein’s emails seem as though they belong in his wife’s book about poor grammar and hate mail. That aside, while he was being a bit arrogant and obnoxious, it was still relatively light-hearted.
That changed a few hours later.
In the email Read more