Category Archives: Government and Religion

LtGen Caslen: West Point Prayer ‘Crossed the Line’

The video below is a Washington Post interview in which LtGen Robert Caslen, US Military Academy Superintendent, addressed his response to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s complaint about the team prayer requested by West Point football Coach Jeff Monken. The 4 minute response is worth watching, as he speaks with nuance that is often lost when he is subsequently quoted.

That said, nuance isn’t everything:

LtGen Caslen said they removed the original video that included the prayer because it was “offensive” — a seemingly illogical explanation. PETA finds the use of live mules as Army mascots offensive, but the Army continues to do it. The practice of liberty ensures that someone will be offended, and since Read more

FRC: Protect Your Military Chaplains from a Bully

Chris Gacek of the Family Research Council recently urged readers to voice their support for military chaplains in a blog entitled “Protect Your Military Chaplains from a Bully.” The context of his call was the most recent “histrionics” of a bully — Michael “Mikey” Weinstein — as he attacked Chaplain (MajGen) Dondi Costin and others for attending the CALL awards event:

What is of particular note is Weinstein’s complete and utter lack of perspective. Does he honestly believe that a retirement-type event honoring a member of Congress who has supported the needs of chaplains would not be attended by appreciative members of the military chaplaincy? Is he really so misguided as to think that the DOD IG is going to state that military chaplains attending a retirement event for a member of the House in the company of other House members and a U.S. Senator is a punishable offense? Sadly, he appears to be.

That’s true, with nuance. Weinstein wouldn’t have Read more

Mikey Weinstein: A Bitter, Harsh, Left-Wing Version of Donald Trump

Believe it or not, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has been immortalized in theatre. In 2008, Steve Cosson wrote “This Beautiful City,” a play about Colorado Springs and the Evangelical community. Mikey Weinstein is portrayed in that play, and he’s touted it whenever its been in production.

The American Theater Company’s Youth Ensemble put it on this summer in Chicago. As part of their experience, they visited Colorado Springs and saw New Life Church, which also plays a prominent role in the play, and they met Mikey Weinstein.

While Weinstein was probably holding out for Bruce Willis, he was played instead by ATC actor Max Dizon:

dizon1In an August interview with the cast, Dizon explained what it was like to meet the man he was portraying [emphasis added]:  Read more

Fort Lee General Williams Notes Decline in Spiritual Fitness

williams2US Army MajGen Darrell Williams, Fort Lee commanding general and also commander for Combined Arms Support Command, recently signed a suicide prevention/awareness pledge and noted the dramatic decline in Soldier spiritual fitness over his career:

“We need to look at the physical, social and spiritual well-being of ourselves and one another,” Williams continued. “I noticed in my 33 years of service the decline on emphasis of spiritual fitness. I remember as a second lieutenant having a prayer breakfast, the place would be overflowing. Today, when you hold a prayer breakfast, it is much more difficult to fill the seats.

Most of you who have been to combat know Read more

Forum on the Military Chaplaincy: Christians Seek Violence, Domination

Over the weekend, Tom Carpenter’s Forum on the Military Chaplaincy jumped the shark when he said the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty was a “Christian Supremacist Endorser” whose ideology was like ISIS.

Carpenter linked to a pay-per-click article with the grammatically awkward title “10 Ways The Ideology of ISIS And Franklin Graham Is Near-Identical,” written by “progressive” Christian Benjamin Corey.  Carpenter then said [emphasis added]:

Could not much of the same criticisms be made of the Christian Supremacist Endorsers (ie the oxymoron Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty) and some of the chaplains they endorse?

forumisis2(Hypocritical, don’t you think, that Read more

Group Criticizes “Debunked” Attacks on Military Religious Freedom

People for the American Way, a politically left-wing/liberal organization, recently criticized a Family Research Council email that cited attacks on military religious freedom. PFAW’s complaint was that the stories FRC’s President Tony Perkins cited were, in their words, “easily debunked.”

As evidence, they linked to other online articles that did not debunk FRC’s stories.

For example, PFAW linked to an Americans United article that claimed Army Chaplain (Capt) Joe Lawhorn was not, in fact, sanctioned for discussion of his faith. But he indisputably was given paperwork for mentioning his faith, and the AU article doesn’t actually “debunk” the claim — it only criticizes the claim, without detracting from those facts.

PFAW similarly linked to another left-wing site that criticized Navy Chaplain Wes Modder, who was nearly run out of the Navy. The linked article cited the Navy commander’s initial accusations as fact — and neither that site nor PFAW bothered to mention that the Navy ultimately denied the attempt to kick Chaplain Modder out. In oversimplified terms, the complaint was invalidated. The linked article also quoted Read more

First Liberty: Supreme Court Must Review Sterling Bible Case

Kelly Shackelford of the First Liberty Institute wrote at the National Review that the US Supreme Court needs to review the case of court-martialed former US Marine Monifa Sterling:

Americans serving in the military lost some of their rights earlier this month when the military’s highest court ruled that a Marine has no rights under an important religious freedom law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

Shackelford explained where he believed the appeals court improperly diverged from the appropriate application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act:  Read more

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