Tag Archives: chapel

Navy Conducts Blessing of the Pilot Wings

The US Navy conducts an annual “blessing of the fleet,” a tradition intended to “safeguard crews and ships” from the hazards of the oceans through a religious blessing.

It turns out the Navy also conducts a “blessing of the wings” as part of new Naval Aviators’ winging ceremonies. An official Navy article recounts that the chapel at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi held its first services on the infamous December 7, 1941, and as the new aviators went off to war, chaplains began “blessing” their wings:

According to the chaplains, during World War II, many Catholic chaplains began blessing the wings of Catholic aviators. This tradition continued throughout the years and eventually became a “Blessing of the Wings” service in chapels around the world.

Eventually the service included Read more

Marines Rededicate Miramar Chapel

Miramar recently rededicated its renovated Airman Memorial Chapel, now called the Airman and Marine Memorial Chapel:

With the help of Col. John Farnam, commanding officer of MCAS Miramar, and donations from local businesses, the renovations began.

“There are places on the base that are centers of gravity and the chapel is one of them,” explained Farnam. “It’s got a long history here and it was something we needed to put a little time into so we could draw attention to it again.”

Some of the Read more

Mikey Weinstein Confuses, Contradicts Self in Debate with Ron Crews

Update: Chaplain Crews reports Mikey Weinstein plans to send “clients” into military chapel services to “monitor sermons.”  Crews also reports that groups are ready to defend chaplains subject to Weinstein’s attacks.

Last week TheBlaze posted a podcast from The Church Boys that included what they called a “heated” debate between Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and retired US Army Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews. The nearly 45-minute broadcast is largely Weinstein monologuing with his normal talking points to, or over, the hosts and Crews. (The audio is available below.)

For those that want the Bottom Line Up Front, the “debate” made clear that Mikey Weinstein doesn’t have a clear position, but he holds it very strongly and with great animus toward Christians.

“Perverts” and Marching Orders

For nearly half the show Weinstein railed against chaplains who would issue “anti-LGBT marching orders” and scream “perverts!” from the pulpit. No one seemed to really understand what he was talking about, and he never explained himself. It would seem he was attempting to set up a straw man that never really got going.

Strong Bonds and Marriage Retreats

Weinstein said it would be a “declaration of war” if a chaplain Read more

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson Equates American Christians with Taliban

Update: The Arizona Daily Independent published a letter from retired Command Chief Master Sergeant Chuck Wooten, in which he rebuts Weinstein, saying

To boil this entire issue down to its lowest form, [Wilkerson] and the MRFF are nothing more than predictable liberals. They make a living by fabricating controversy where none exists (think Al Sharpton). They hide behind massively loquacious pieces of hate-filled diatribe which ultimately means nothing. A by-product of their incessant squawking is a colossal waste of tax dollars when a branch of the military or court has to divert attention from its mission to swat these gnats aside.

It must be exhausting for [Wilkerson] and the MRFF to fight a fictitious foe only to have their butt handed to them in defeat.

Retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson is most famous for having been the Chief of Staff to retired General Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State from 2002 to 2005. Wilkerson’s most recent role has been as voice for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which has a long history of calling for restrictions on Christians in the US military.

After the recent hullabaloo over Mikey Weinstein’s demand for Major General Craig Olson’s court-martial, Wilkerson wrote a piece at the Huffington Post which was entitled “The ‘Taliban’ in Our Midst.”

The article began with a wide-ranging indictment of religion in the military:

Military officers who wear their religion on their sleeve are a danger to our country at any time, but especially after the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001.

Wilkerson probably doesn’t realize he just called every US military chaplain, many US military Jews, and even the rare US military Sikh a “danger” to the United States of America. The rest of his article focuses solely on Christians:  Read more

Navy Boot Camp Reinstates Some Chapel Services

The Navy Recruit Training Command has reportedly allowed some civilians to return to the base to lead religious services for recruits. Not all of the previously banned leaders were allowed to return as religious leaders because, according to the Navy, uniformed leaders were found instead — which the Navy said met the priority guidance on who was supposed to help lead services:

Following the sudden dismissal of a half-dozen religious leaders last month, commanders at the Great Lakes naval training center began the process Thursday of inviting back civilian volunteers to serve recruits who are Unitarian Universalists, Baha’is, Buddhists and Christian Scientists.

In the meantime, a spokesman said, the Navy Read more

Offutt Air Force Base Hosts Humanist Group

In February Offutt Air Force Base approved “Offutt Humanists” to operate as a private organization:

I’ve been attending the base chaplain’s Bible study for over a year,” says Offutt Humanist founder, Tom Gray, “and he agreed with me that the needs of the non-religious would be better met outside of a religious context.”

“I appreciated his support as I went through the process to create Offutt Humanists,” Gray added.

Some atheists have claimed for years that they are “denied” access to military base or post facilities. As has Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s Lawyer Botches Complaint

A week ago, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein complained to US Navy CAPT Douglas Pfeifle that he was “essentially spiritually raping” his recruits after civilian chapel volunteers were summarily banned from the base earlier this month. CAPT Pfeifle replied to Weinstein the next day, saying he’d get back to him. A week later, with no response, Weinstein attempted to up the ante by having an actual lawyer write a letter to CAPT Pfeifle, claiming there was a “constitutional question” with the Recruit Training Command’s action [emphasis added]:

There is a constitutional question whether denying similarly situated individuals under your command substantially similar rights to exercise religious freedoms violates the right to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

You don’t even have to crack out your high school American government books to see the error from Weinstein’s presumably high-brow lawyer. The Fifth Amendment contains important protections of citizens’ rights, but it has nothing to do with “equal protection.” That’s the Fourteenth Amendment.

The writer is Mr. Robert Eye of Kauffman-Eye, who Read more

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