Tag Archives: Bible

Weinstein Goes After Military Christians for Being…Christian

Michael Weinstein recently gave an interview in which he said absolutely nothing new (a surprisingly common occurrence, given that his “war” on religious freedom in the military is several years old).  It remains amazing, however, that no one calls Weinstein out on his obvious disdain for Christians — for no other reason than expressing Christian beliefs.

The interviewer asked a simple question:  “What kind of complaints do you hear about?”

After his standard vagaries about assaults and ruined careers, he brought up Officers’ Christian Fellowship:  Read more

Political Platform Addresses Religion in the Military

While Clint Eastwood may have stolen the show at the Republican National Convention, the party did publish its Republican Platform for 2012, which is fairly blunt in its statement on religious freedom in the US military.  It specifically addresses the benefits of faith-based institutions to the military, religious freedom for chaplains and military members, and bans on Bibles and religious symbology on military facilities.

While the Democrat Platform doesn’t specifically mention religious freedom in the military, it does celebrate the repeal of DADT and the call to end DOMA, both of which affect military policies.

US Soldiers who Burned Korans Receive Punishment

The investigation into the burning of Islamic religious material confiscated from an Afghan prison was reportedly completed, with no one criminally charged or court-martialed.  (Recall that “religious freedom” advocate Michael Weinstein had demanded the court-martial of these Christians — without explaining how he knew what, if any, faith they held.)  Administrative “non-judicial punishments” were meted out for the error, which was determined not to be malicious:  Read more

Chris Rodda Shows MRFF Opposition to “Wrong Kind” of Christians

Chris Rodda, the researcher for Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation, recently answered an email from an MRFF critic who questioned their stance against the Holman Bibles.  Much of the reply was pedantic or boiler plate from their other replies (another MRFF employee, Andy Kasehagen, has also published identical thousand-word copy/paste replies to different critics’ emails).  The meat of her reply, though, was interesting:

The reason for MRFF’s actions to get the official military emblems removed from the Holman Bibles was much more than just the constitutional issue of a government entity endorsing religion.

The Holman Bibles also contain a large section of materials promoting an organization called the Officers’ Christian Fellowship (OCF)…The other issue with these Bibles is that they violate the JER and specific branch regulations that prohibit the endorsement of a non-federal entity. The OCF is a non-federal entity, so allowing an official military emblem on a book promoting the OCF, as these particular Bibles do, is in clear violation of these regulations.

While Rodda repeats the MRFF position, the military — which enforces its regulations — disagreed.  After all, if there was any such violation, it Read more

Chaplain Abandons Faith Group over Homosexuality

The Associated Press (reprinted in the Air Force Times) finally caught up to the story from last week over Chaplain (Col) Timothy Wagoner’s decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention.  He had been portrayed in a news article as supportive of a homosexual ceremony he attended at a military chapel.

There is a bit of new information, though, and it appears commenter DrewCollins+ was prescient:

The chaplain, Col. Timothy Wagoner, is remaining on active duty and has affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which holds more moderate views on homosexuality and some other issues than the Southern Baptists.

As an organization, the CBF holds almost no views, except to say Read more

Commander in Chief Commended Bible Reading to Military Members

Anyone care to guess who said this?

As Commander-in-Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength, and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.

An internet search will give it away, but it could make for an interesting exercise.  If you need a clue, he wasn’t a Republican, and he wasn’t Read more

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