Tag Archives: arlington

Military Chaplains Serve, Suffer, Innovate

A few recent articles highlight the service of US military chaplains around the globe, doing far more than the stereotypical Sunday morning chapel service:

As the Army begins to open certain career fields to women, chaplains are affected:  The 101st Airborne just received its first female chaplain in Chaplain (Capt) Delana Small.  In so doing, she became a part of the “legendary Band of Brothers.”  Her assignment was a result of the Department of Defense “Women in the Service Review.”  The DoD article is full of praise for the new chaplain.

In Africa, US chaplains met with their military counterparts from nine East African nations for the “third annual…African Military Chaplain Conference” in Djibouti.

While Africa isn’t in the news too much, save a few isolated mentions, it is noteworthy that US military chaplains are engaging at the rate they have.

Another article covers the touching, yet surprising, story of the service of military chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery:

Led by senior chaplains Read more

US Military Valor Site Now includes Crosses

The website created by the Defense Department to document recipients of military medals (an attempt at deterring “stolen valor”), now includes the nation’s second highest military honor:

The site launched with the names of Medal of Honor recipients for actions since 9/11, and now lists recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Cross and Navy Cross. The services are continuing to compile the lists of Silver Star recipients to add to the site, officials said.

Atheists within the culture (and even “military atheists”) are actively trying to tear down military memorial crosses around the United States — from San Diego to Arlington National Cemetery.

When do you think atheists will go after the service crosses given to America’s “heroes,” second only to the Medal of Honor?  Is that as much an offense as a memorial cross in a cemetery?

Atheist Wants Cross Removed from Arlington, a Sacred Shrine

Atheist Jason Torpy tilted the irony meter recently when he touted his recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery. 

The event provided the opportunity to remember the service of all those hundreds of thousands at Arlington Cemetery, our nation’s most sacred shrine.

The atheist considers Arlington so “sacred,” in fact, he thinks the government should yank the crosses out of it — something even the ACLU doesn’t advocate.

Atheist Jason Torpy Equates Himself with Abolitionists

Jason Torpy, the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, is an atheist and former Army officer.  While his MAAF is ostensibly a “community support network,” he recently revealed the true motivation behind his ideology.

In a recent display of internet frustration, Torpy took fellow atheists to task for not banding together and being “anti-” enough.  The context was a comment that people don’t join groups for things they don’t believe in, spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a self-described agnostic (who says he is “often claimed by atheists”):

Do non-golf players gather and strategize? Do non-skiers…come together and talk about the fact that they don’t ski? I can’t do that. I can’t gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn’t believe in God.

This is the same point raised by many people  Read more

Atheists Demand Removal of Cross from War Memorial. Again.

Update: Liberty Counsel has agreed to defend the town of Woonsocket for free.

The awkwardly named Freedom From Religion Foundation has apparently demanded that a war memorial in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, be removed because it has a cross on it.  The memorial

was erected nearly a century ago to honor the city’s war dead, including three brothers killed in World War I.

The town’s mayor had an interesting response to the call to tear down the 91-year old memorial:

Mayor Leo Fontaine told the Woonsocket Call he will not remove the cross “under any circumstances.”

However, the town is reportedly strapped for cash and may not be able to afford a legal defense.

Atheists and critics of various stripes — including Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and Jason Torpy — have Read more

Memorial Crosses as US Military Tradition

Some in American society today seem to think resurgent zealots are trying to push Christianity on society through their use of crosses, even within the US military.

Facts, however, show the long tradition of use of crosses as military memorials.

THIS SIMPLE CROSS WAS ERECTED at the western tip of Betio as a monument in memory of the 2nd Division Marines who were killed in the battle for Tarawa.

Crosses have been raised on Read more

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