An official Department of Defense news release indicated the Pentagon has “halted discharges” under the US law declared unConstitutional.
According to Politico, a Sailor discharged under DADT was rebuffed when he tried to re-enlist, causing a lawyer for the Plaintiffs to say the government might be in contempt of the court’s ruling.
The LA Times reports that “legal scholars” are Read more
US District Court Judge Virginia Phillips has ruled the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution and has issued an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. According to reports, Judge Phillips made the following military analyses:
Phillips [said] the policy doesn’t help military readiness and instead has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services by hurting recruiting when the country is at war and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training.
Phillips’ ruling referred to both the US law banning Read more
The Colorado Springs Independent, which previously reported on both Michael Weinstein’s declaration of “war” on the Air Force Academy and his letter to the Secretary of Defense, apparently obtained access to three cadets to discuss the religious climate at USAFA.
The members of the Cadet Interfaith Council had little negative to say: speaking of religious mistreatment, a Jewish cadet says “not much of that goes on these days;” a Buddhist has “not experienced any discrimination due to his faith.” The Protestant of the three agrees.
All agree with a cadet’s statement that
Right now, I think it might be getting blown out of proportion.
(It is worth noting these cadets were likely provided by the Academy for the purpose of the interview. Given the opportunity, Weinstein could likely produce cadets supporting his point of view.)
Superintendent LtGen Michael Gould is also quoted, and the article offers an intriguing look at religious “complaints” over the past two years. Ironically, there Read more
This is an updated version of the annual discussion of the Combined Federal Campaign.
Whether or not you believe in the concept of the exact tithe, charitable giving remains one of the basic tenets of Christian living. Besides “passing the plate” on Sunday, the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is one of the more popular means through which members of the military have an opportunity to give.
What is the CFC?
The CFC, which has been announced through a variety of official releases, is a government-sanctioned means of collecting charitable contributions from federal employees. It runs every year from September to December (CFC-Overseas runs a slightly different schedule), during which volunteer representatives make “100% contact” with their fellow employees to inform them of the charitable giving campaign. Military members (and other government employees) are given the opportunity to make one-time contributions or give monthly deductions from their paychecks to any of thousands of approved charities.
Why should a Christian use the CFC? Read more
After the recent ADF publication of a letter from 66 former military Chaplains opposing the repeal of DADT on religous freedom grounds, Christianity Today printed a similarly themed article from civilian Chaplains and endorsing agencies.
The Southern Baptist Convention, which has the most chaplains of any denomination at nearly 450, passed a resolution in June against the repeal of DADT, claiming that a large percentage of currently serving military personnel said they would not reenlist or would end their careers early should the policy be repealed. Read more
The Alliance Defense Fund previously wrote a letter to President Obama in which 41 retired Chaplains, speaking freely since they are outside military service, opposed the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell” on religious freedom grounds.
Last Friday they added to that number, with 25 new signatories. As noted at the ADF,
The letter states, “By raising homosexual behavior to the same protected class as innate, innocuous characteristics like race and gender, the armed forces will cast the sincerely held religious beliefs of many chaplains and Service members as rank bigotry comparable to racism.”
The release of the letter nearly coincided with Read more
A firestorm erupted in the media last week when LtGen Thomas Bostick, a member of the “working group” on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal, was quoted in the Washington Times apparently equating religious opposition to homosexuality with bigotry and racism. From the Washington Times editorial “A New Gay Army:”
Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army’s deputy chief of staff in charge of personnel matters who spoke about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before several hundred troops at the European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. “Unfortunately, we have a minority of service members who are still racists and bigoted and you will never be able to get rid of all of them,” Lt. Gen. Bostick said. “But these people opposing this new policy will need to get with the program, and if they can’t, they need to get out. No matter how much training and education of those in opposition, you’re always going to have those that oppose this on moral and religious grounds just like you still have racists today.”
The Times provided no source for their information. The US military subsequently released a statement in which Bostick denied making the quotes: Read more
In a recent Pentagon briefing, outgoing US Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway repeated his earlier statement that logistic issues like billeting would immediately be a problem should the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” be repealed.
Based on his information from Marines, he said, “I can tell you that an overwhelming majority would like not to be roomed with a person who is openly homosexual.” But because some Marines do not object, he said, perhaps having those Marines share rooms voluntarily with openly gay service members “might be the best way to start, without violating anybody’s sense of moral concern or perception on the part of their mates.”
Asked what he meant by moral concern, General Conway said, “We have some people that are very religious.” He added: “I couldn’t begin to give you a percentage, but I think in some instances we will have people that say that homosexuality is wrong, and they simply do not want to room with a person of that persuasion because it would go against their religious beliefs.”
To date, the General is the only person who has voiced concern or seemed to validate the “moral concerns” of some servicemembers. In fact, some have Read more
