Tag Archives: Chaplain

Yes, You Are a Government-Paid Missionary in Uniform

David Plummer, a chaplain-endorser with the liberal leaning Coalition of Spirit-Filled Churches, responded to the DoD’s decision to publish a new “Faith and Belief” list by making an aside that the

military chaplaincy is NOT about being a “government-paid pastor or missionary in uniform.”

Plummer is making a reference to a phrase made famous by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF, which copied (and slightly edited) a video from a 2004 chapel assembly at Dallas Theological Seminary by US Army Chaplain (Maj) Douglas Duerksen*. Chaplain Duerksen described the military society as “amoral” and “unchurched” — making it a “magnificent mission field.” He followed Read more

US Military Updates Recognized Faith Groups, with Some Controversy

In 2012, then-US Army Major Ray Bradley complained that he was a humanist but was unable to put “humanist” in his military records as his “religion” in his military records (and reflected on his dog tags).

In 2014, the US Army added “humanist” to the list of faith codes.

In a new memo dated 27 March 2017 (PDF), the DoD Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs published a change that established standardized DoD-wide faith codes across the force — including “Humanist.”

For his part, Bradley had originally envisioned the recognition as the first step to achieving “lay leader” status as a humanist (with humanist “chaplain” to follow). That’s the same conclusion for which Jason Torpy pined when his MAAF reported on this new memo.

Kimberly Winston of the Religion News Service — sitting Read more

Navy School Changes Command Under Divine Authority

As reported by the Navy, aptly named US Navy CAPT Steve Moses took over the Naval Chaplaincy School and Center at the end of March.  (Last year, it was CAPT Moses who said requiring US Sailors and their families to mirror Islamic customs during Ramadan “support[s] religious freedom.”)

The Navy Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (RAdm) Margaret Kibben, was the guest speaker, and she had the notable quote for the day [emphasis added]:

She challenged Capt. Moses to, “Wear the mantle, and do so with authority, with the responsibility that has been granted to you by the One who is the author of all these things.”

Had Chaplain Kibben been a white male Southern Baptist (as Read more

Chris Rodda: That Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

Chris Rodda, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant, recently took to the internet to make the calm, reasoned statement that Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez hates women.

She began by claiming ChristianFighterPilot.com has posted a “steady stream of misogynistic” articles for years — which should have made it easy to provide a clear example. Rodda attempted to do so, saying that an article on this site

expressed [the] opinion that female chaplains are not acceptable…

and then quoting this article, which says  Read more

Military Chaplains Exist to Protect Religious Rights

In a fairly bluntly worded official Air Force article, SSgt Shelton Sherrill provided a decent explanation for the sometimes misunderstood role of a military chaplain:

According to the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. For military members, chaplains are one of main advocates to help them protect this right.

Chaplains…provide religious accommodations to ensure everyone is free to exercise their beliefs, provide ethical advice to leadership, unit visitations and confidential counseling.

Edit: Actually, commanders are the ones who provide religious accommodations, not chaplains, as chaplains have no authority to authorize anything. (Chaplains famously have “rank without command.”) However, Read more

Congress Lauds Air Force over Military Religious Freedom

Many have grown accustomed to Congress taking the military to task for what it considers breaches of the religious freedom of US troops. Sometimes those congressional reprimands seem to have “fixed” issues. Other times they haven’t — and Congress has decided to pass a law to fix it instead.

It was an interesting turn, then, to see Congress go out of its way not to chide once more, but to laud the Air Force for defending religious liberty:

Congressman Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) led a bicameral letter of support to Pease Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in response to a complaint that the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) lodged against the base…

As you’ll recall, the FFRF lodged vague, vicarious complaints about chaplains’ prayers during official events. Pease AFB was so unmoved it didn’t even bother to respond to the FFRF.

Congressman Collins, who is also an Air Force Reserve Chaplain, led Read more

Column: Military Chapels Not Barred from Evangelism

Nathan Newman, an Air Force Reserve Officer and George C. Marshall Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, responded to an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette by Tom Roeder discussing the (previously discussed) 4-year closure of the US Air Force Academy Chapel.

In it, Roeder had said:

Religion is a big deal at the academy and other military bases but not for the reasons one might suspect. The services are barred from evangelism, and promotion of faith is restricted, but the academy like the rest of the military must care for the religious needs of troops under federal law.

In the guest column, Newman responded:  Read more

Chris Rodda’s Desperate Strawman

by Sonny Hernandez

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) are historically known for their loathsome philosophy against the Christian worldview and the US Constitution. Albeit the MRFF’s practices are incongruent with the recurrent constitutional polices, they will imperiously demand the omission of anything that does not comport with their God-hating, Muslim-supporting, and homosexual-affirming foundation—even if it requires a false witness.

The MRFF’s Chris Rodda just published a desperate article on the Huffington Post calling for punishment after alleging this site accused a senior officer of “being a liar.”

Who is this senior Air Force officer? Brigadier General (BGen) select Kristin Goodwin will soon be the incoming Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy.  Ironically, Weinstein wondered why the USAFA leadership did not publicly acknowledge what he called a “groundbreaking selection of a gay, female new Commandant.”

Rodda’s article is far from being pedantic—it is frivolous, and a classic example of yellow journalism to incite Air Force leadership to react to the article titled, “BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code.”

Instead of interacting with the article, Rodda desperately relies on a strawman to devalue the writer’s character. Rodda unintelligibly makes several ad hominem allegations [emphasis added]:  Read more

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