Christianity Today recently had a piece on Justin Wren, one-time aspiring Olympic wrestler turned drug addict and eventual missionary to the Mbuti in Africa.
The story is interesting if you like the wrestling/MMA scene or bad-boy-turned-missionary stories. More relevant, though, was the picture Wren used at the top of his article:
For the uninitiated, that’s the interior of the US Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel in Colorado Springs, Read more
An anonymous US Air Force officer recently published an article on the Family Research Council’s blog entitled “Unmasking the DOD’s Endorsement of the Humanism Religion.”
When you hear the word “religion,” does Humanism immediately come to mind? Probably not. However, pragmatically and legally, Humanism is just as much of a religion as Christianity and Islam. This article articulates the claim that the DOD has endorsed the religion of Humanism by promoting the LGBT movement.
It’s a bold statement — and one that might make sense. In its basic form, humanism simply replaces the deity of religious mantra with humanity; that is, rather than believing God is the ultimate source of truth, humanists believe the source of truth is man. Thus, it is from man humanists derive their moral authority.
From this the author derives the position that the LGBT movement relies Read more
Just as in the past couple of years, issues of military religious freedom have generally been incorporated in larger societal issues in most groups’ “top ten” civil/religious liberty issues for the year.
For example, Howard Friedman at the Religion Clause noted the “transgender rights” stories at #3 without specifically mentioning the (substantial) military side to that story. That said, at #6 he included the “battle over religious displays” and specifically included “Latin crosses as part of veterans’ memorials”.
The Baptist Joint Committee, a politically left-leaning group, included the controversy over the Russell Amendment to the 2017 NDAA at #6. (The BJC opposed the proposed legislation.)
Some other notable but unmentioned events from the year include lawsuits filed and exemptions granted for Sikhs in the military, the national discussion over Bible verses posted by court-martialed Marine LCpl Monifa Sterling, or the Air Force reconsidering its policies after retired Air Force SMSgt Oscar Rodriguez was thrown out of a ceremony while reciting a religiously-tinged flag-folding script.
With that in mind, the most read articles from 2016 on ChristianFighterPilot.com Read more
High School football coach Joe Kennedy was fired for praying at the 50-yard line after his team’s games. He has since sued the Bremerton School District for illegally terminating him for his religious expression.
In November, Chad Hennings, a Christian and former Air Force A-10 pilot, filed an amicus brief (PDF) supporting the call for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the injunction requiring the school district to reinstate Coach Kennedy.
Mr. Hennings attributes much of his success to lessons imparted to him by the men who coached him throughout his scholastic and professional athletic endeavors, and who encouraged his dreams to serve his country and to play professional football. He thus shares [the] concern about judicial decisions that may impair a coach’s ability to speak freely and abide by his or her conscience and religious convictions.
It is admirable and noble that Read more
An official Air Force article describes how a US Air Force KC-135 crew celebrated Christmas day:
Holiday songs emitted from a Bluetooth speaker while the four aircrew members and two crew chiefs prepared for preflight inspections. A lieutenant cracked open a plastic container of care-package-cookies and passed them around…
Stereotypically, no commander wants to send his troops into combat on Christmas day. Besides the typical holiday traditions and emotions, no one wants a casualty that day of all days. However, one of the pilots explained the need for American airpower to be overhead all the time, even on Christmas: Read more
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
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
UPDATE: While Weinstein’s original complaint was almost completely ignored, a wide variety of sites has picked up on USAFA’s decision to ignore Weinstein. One site pointed out Weinstein was violating his own organization’s mission statement — leading one to wonder if his Board of Directors should sanction him.
For his part, Mikey Weinstein is now awkwardly spinning this incident to claim it is an MRFF “victory,” despite the fact he previously called the USAFA response “bulls–t” when it didn’t bow — and still hasn’t bowed — to his demands. It would seem not doing what Weinstein wants is also an MRFF “victory,” meaning Weinstein can never lose…
As discussed last week, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein demanded an investigation of Air Force tight ends football coach Steed Lobotzke because he “tweeted” Bible verses.
The Air Force responded with a collective yawn [emphasis added]:
Air Force finds nothing wrong with football assistant spreading Bible verses via Twitter https://t.co/7jV18Bpa8X
— Steed Lobotzke (@CoachLobotzke) December 11, 2016
All athletic coaches’ social media accounts are personal and not maintained by the Air Force Academy Athletic Department. The views and comments within these accounts are personal and not the views of the Air Force Academy or Air Force. However, we appreciate that the accounts could appear official and have advised that an appropriate disclaimer be included to avoid confusion in this regard.
The Academy remains Read more