Tag Archives: atheism

US Air Force Advocates for Transgender Lifestyle in Children

lauraperrytransMoody Air Force Base recently “celebrated” a “Diversity Day” that included a transgender veteran, retired USAF Major Leonard Perry, speaking about his lifestyle, as he now lives as a woman named Laura:

“[Gender dysphoria] is a medical condition. They’ve tried therapies and other treatments for it, but none of that has really worked. What they’ve found is transitioning to the identified gender is the only treatment that has consistently solved the dysphoria.”

(Perry was previously profiled by the Air Force for no reason other than his sexual lifestyle.)

Given that the US military supports free speech and permits its troops to express their freedoms within the constraints of military policy and the Constitution, Perry’s monologue supporting Read more

Author: Moral Injury in our Longest Wars

David Wood was interviewed by Alex Horton of the Stars and Stripes on his recently released book, “What Have We Done: The Moral Injury of our Longest Wars.” Wood is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and his take on morality, killing, and war could be interesting [emphasis added]:

I think everyone who goes to war comes back with some form of moral injury.

The simplest definition of moral injury is a violation of your sense of what’s right. We all walk around with a sense of what’s right…

The problem is, in war you can’t possibly live up to those ideals… In my experience, people we send to war struggle with what they see and do, what they have done to them. And that’s moral injury.

Wood essentially says the Read more

US Air Force Academy to Host Live Nativity

Four years after Jason Torpy’s third-party atheist complaint brought an end to a children’s live nativity in Bahrain, the US Air Force Academy continues the same tradition this week:

The Christmas tree and Hanukah Menorah lighting ceremony begins at 5 p.m. with a Hanukah [sic] and Nativity story performed by children.

In 2012 Jason Torpy, vicariously offended that a Naval base in Bahrain would allow its children to re-enact the nativity scene, filed an IG complaint alleging the kids were violating the US Constitution. The local Read more

Are Paganism, Atheism Growing in the US Military?

wiccantroopsA US Army Private recently related how the pagan community at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, helped him find his way:

I graduated [training] a few weeks ago and only got to attend one gathering, It was a great experience…I was raised in an environment always surrounded in crystals and meditation, energy and magics, Reiki and healing, spirits and the like, but no words to put to what I knew…

It wasn’t until I went to the circle at Fort Jackson that I could definitively say I’m a white magic practitioner and hold pagan beliefs as far as karmic law and universal ties and energy go…

HeatStreet recently published a blog on the Fort Jackson pagan circle, which it claims now 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

US Marines Emphasize Spiritual Fitness

From the US Marine Corps [emphasis added]:

Fitness is a vital part of being a United States Marine. Although we all understand the importance of being physically fit, it is also important to remember the other three aspects of overall fitness: spiritual, mental, and social. All of these aspects are essential to the well-being of each individual Marine and Sailor, and our Corps as a whole…

Research indicates that spiritual fitness plays a key role in resiliency, in our Read more

SPLC: And Then They Came for the Atheists

Hemant Mehta of the “Friendly Atheist” blog was recently aghast that Ayaan Hirsi Ali — a Somali born woman who grew up Muslim but is now an atheist and outspoken critic of Islam — was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of “anti-Muslim extremists.”

The SPLC, of course, is famous for its list of “hate groups.” They’ve affixed that label to certain conservative Christian organizations that say homosexuality is an evil that can and should be cured — but not churches that merely believe it’s a sin…

But now, a couple critics of Islam have joined the club, which makes me wonder why anyone should take the SPLC seriously at this point.

Mehta is blind to his own irony: He says it’s fine for the SPLC to designate “hate groups” who speak out about homosexuality, but he’s suddenly offended when those who speak out about Read more

Air Force Cop Now Serves God and Country

thornleyMajor Andrew Thornley spent four years as an Airman in the Security Forces — a beginning to a career in which he said he had difficulty finding a “spiritual mentor.” That challenge was something he would ultimately seek to help others overcome:

After completing his enlistment, Thornley began his theological studies, eventually becoming a pastor in the civilian world. After 10 years as a pastor, he began to feel that there might be more he could do with his newfound knowledge…

“I left the Air Force, but the Air Force never really left me,” Thornley said. “I’ve always had the blue blood running through my veins.”

Chaplain Thornley re-entered the Air Force in October 2001 and spent the next several years trying to help troops and their families cope with the hardships of war.

In 2003 he was featured on Good Morning America, where he Read more

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