Tag Archives: aclj

Retired Chaplain Norris Burkes Wrong on Gen Costin, Religious Freedom

Retired US Air Force Chaplain Norris Burkes first came to the attention of this site in 2009, when the syndicated chaplain wrote a column about the burning of Afghan-language Bibles by American troops in Afghanistan (a controversy discussed here). In essence, Burkes approved, and noted:

The possession of such religious material violates something the military calls General Order No. 1.

Though he was dismissive of most input, he did finally concede that he was wrong — General Order Number One says no such thing.

Despite the admission, Burkes declined to change the article, and it can still be found on his website, with the unchanged statement that even Burkes admitted was wrong.

Chaplain Burkes recently popped up again, and for some reason he Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s John Compere Fails in Air Force Times Rebuttal

On 8 November, the Air Force Times published its letters to the editor online. Among them was one from retired US Navy Commander Wayne Johnson, who took Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to task for his attacks against US Air Force LtCol Michael Kersten.

Johnson had some advice for the Air Force. Rather than telling Weinstein to pound sand, Johnson suggested something simpler:

Nuts! [emphasis added]

‘NUTS’ TO DEMAND

In a recent interview with base public affairs for a Meet Your Leadership series at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Kersten, 39th Medical Support Squadron commander, mentioned his Christian faith and quoted the Bible.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its president, Mikey Weinstein, is demanding the Air Force rebuke what Kersten said as well as punish him. If the Air Force has real integrity, it should respond to this demand with the words of Army Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander Read more

ACLJ: VA Appeasing Mikey Weinstein, Discriminating Against Religion

In a well-written piece posted at the ACLJ, senior counsel Skip Ash (who recently disassembled an MRFF attack on religious liberty) wryly noted that Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is saving the world, one “New Testament Bible” at a time:

In fact, he has been on an anti-“New-Testament-Bible” (using Mr. Weinstein’s words) warpath of late, writing to various VA facilities demanding that any and all Bibles be removed forthwith. To make matters worse, some VA officials have actually caved to his demands.

Ash notes the same thing said here many times: When the government singles out one viewpoint or one religion for special treatment (that is, the Bible), it violates the very rules its claiming to defend [emphasis added]: Read more

The ACLJ Responds to Mikey Weinstein’s John Compere

The following is a very long but outstanding article from Senior Counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) Robert W. “Skip” Ash.  Ash, a retired US Army officer, delivers a point-by-point response to retired US Army BGen John Compere, a retired JAG who purports to defend the need to restrict military religious freedom.  Compere is an ally and vocal advocate of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, and he has occasionally commented on this site.

Within the analysis you’ll note some themes common among Compere, Weinstein, and his allies, from straw man arguments to misquoting the Constitution. Their position is impassioned but inconsistent with either basic religious liberty or the US Constitution.

Our thanks to Skip Ash for his tireless work in defense of military religious freedom. You can also read his article at its original ACLJ site.

Why the Angry Atheists are Wrong: A Reply to “Our Constitution, Any Religion & the Military”

By Skip Ash

Every so often, I visit the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) website to see what Mr. Weinstein and his fellow travelers have been up to. When I visited the website on October 31, 2016, I came across a short article entitled, “Our Constitution, Any Religion & the Military,” written by MRFF Advisory Board Member, retired Brigadier General John M. Compere, whose listed credentials read, “Brigadier General, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired); former Chief Judge, US Army Court of Military Review; disabled American veteran (Vietnam era); Military Religious Freedom Foundation Advisory Board Member; and Texas rancher.” As a partially disabled veteran myself, I appreciate and salute General Compere’s service to our Nation.

I began to read General Compere’s article with considerable interest. As a Constitutional law attorney, however, I was quickly disappointed in both what Read more

ACLJ Again Defends Military Religious Freedom from Mikey Weinstein

The ACLJ has again written a letter to the US military encouraging them not to allow the military to become

an unwitting tool to implement Mr. Weinstein’s agenda of eviscerating religious freedom in the Armed Forces of the United States.

The letter was directed to the (acting) DoD Inspector General, Mr. Glenn Fine, the most recent recipient of a Weinstein missive. Weinstein had written the DoD IG after Peterson AFB refused to crucify a US Air Force officer who had a Bible on his desk.

The ACLJ’s letter (PDF) is much like the last two — one of which also went to Mr. Fine. Besides Read more

ACLJ Rebuts Mikey Weinstein and the “Ignoramus’ Veto”

Update: Covered by the Christian Post.

costinSkip Ash and Wesley Smith of the ACLJ wrote two pieces over the past two days taking Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to task for his latest assault on Christians in the US military. Smith’s article, entitled “Military Religious Freedom Foundation: A Misnomer?“, noted that Weinstein’s charity seems to have a nobly stated purpose — though its actions are quite the opposite:

There has never been a more antagonistic and persistent adversary of religious freedom in the ranks of the United States Armed Forces…I witnessed the inordinate amount of time and energy spent responding to the numerous demand letters and threats of litigation from Weinstein and his organization.

Virtually every program designed to enhance the free exercise of religion, promote the spiritual well-being of Soldiers…, or to acknowledge that our inalienable human rights are given to us not by the government, but by our Creator, was met by the vitriol and threats of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Mikey Weinstein.

For those that have followed Mikey Weinstein’s antics and tantrums over Read more

ACLJ Defends Military Prayer from “Anti-Christian Zealots”

After Michael “Mikey” Weinstein wrote a letter calling the Marine Corps University’s National Day of Prayer event unconstitutional, the American Center for Law and Justice quietly sent a letter to BGen Helen Pratt defending her handling of the event.

The ACLJ letter (PDF) was “quiet” because, while it was sent at the end of April, the ACLJ didn’t publicize it until just prior to the prayer event.

When Weinstein saw it, he was apparently red-faced.

After a well-worded rebuttal of Weinstein’s errant legal analysis, the last few pages of the ACLJ letter “introduce” BGen Pratt to Mikey Weinstein — using his own ‘colorful’ words. And this was apparently a subject of great embarrassment for Weinstein, whose MRFF quickly fired off another letter defending Weinstein, a letter that could best be summarized as a two-year old saying “nuh-uh.”

As an example, given the singular opportunity to rebut Read more

USAF Enlisted POW Cites Need for Faith

robinsonIn a interesting case of coincidental timing, at the same time Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was demanding the removal of Bibles from POW/MIA displays — Bibles that represented “the strength gained through faith” in captivity — the longest-held enlisted POW, retired Capt. William A. Robinson, was telling Airmen at Lackland AFB about the faith he needed to survive [emphasis added]:

“I had faith in myself, faith in those around me, faith in my country and faith in my God,” said Robinson.

Capt Robinson’s story was mentioned here in 2013 — the first time a POW/MIA table was attacked.  (Notably, the IG and EO office defended the table then, and the story died.) Of course, it isn’t just him. Retired USAF Col Fred Cherry said the same thing, as have many other POWs.

Faith in God helped Read more

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