Tag Archives: Chaplain

Retired Chaplain Norris Burkes Wrong on Gen Costin, Religious Freedom

Retired US Air Force Chaplain Norris Burkes first came to the attention of this site in 2009, when the syndicated chaplain wrote a column about the burning of Afghan-language Bibles by American troops in Afghanistan (a controversy discussed here). In essence, Burkes approved, and noted:

The possession of such religious material violates something the military calls General Order No. 1.

Though he was dismissive of most input, he did finally concede that he was wrong — General Order Number One says no such thing.

Despite the admission, Burkes declined to change the article, and it can still be found on his website, with the unchanged statement that even Burkes admitted was wrong.

Chaplain Burkes recently popped up again, and for some reason he Read more

SecDef Nominee Gen James Mattis Reassures and Worries LGBT Advocates

Retired US Marine General James Mattis sat through hearings with the US Senate yesterday on the path to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense. Gen Mattis is hailed as a no-nonsense, non-political straight-talker, yet his answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee managed to create opposite reactions from allies in the homosexual movement.

Josh Israel at the left-leaning ThinkProgress declared “Defense nominee Mattis won’t say if women and LGBT people should be able to serve,” while the infamous Ashley Read more

Air Force Chief of Chaplains Preaches Resilience

The Air Force Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (MajGen) Dondi Costin, recently visited Osan Air Base, Korea, and spoke on resilience — via the pillar of spiritual fitness:

“Spiritual fitness is you deciding and determining what your purpose and your meaning is in life; what values you have and then living by those values,” said Costin. “All resilience is, is you having the attitudes and behaviors and beliefs and the community around you to make sure you can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.”

Though he has been criticized by some activists, Chaplain Read more

STRATCOM Revokes Christian Pastor’s Invitation over Religious Beliefs

Retired US Army LtCol Tom Gray, now a contractor at the global nuclear US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, recently issued a press release (PDF) celebrating his “vigilance” over the “separation of church and state.”  Gray announced he’d had Dr. Philip Kayser of the Dominion Covenant Church in nearby Omaha disinvited from speaking at the Offutt Chapel. According to Gray, Kayser had planned on giving “a class on leadership from a Christian perspective.” Gray objected:

Dr. Kayser’s beliefs…can be found online. I brought my concerns to Captain Yi, the USSTRATCOM chaplain, and the invitation was revoked.

The STRATCOM decision to disinvited the local pastor is problematic — and disturbing.

First, it’s worth noting even Gray — despite Read more

US Air Force Officer Criticizes DoD Advocacy of Humanism, Sexuality

An anonymous US Air Force officer recently published an article on the Family Research Council’s blog entitled “Unmasking the DOD’s Endorsement of the Humanism Religion.”

When you hear the word “religion,” does Humanism immediately come to mind? Probably not. However, pragmatically and legally, Humanism is just as much of a religion as Christianity and Islam. This article articulates the claim that the DOD has endorsed the religion of Humanism by promoting the LGBT movement.

It’s a bold statement — and one that might make sense. In its basic form, humanism simply replaces the deity of religious mantra with humanity; that is, rather than believing God is the ultimate source of truth, humanists believe the source of truth is man. Thus, it is from man humanists derive their moral authority.

From this the author derives the position that the LGBT movement relies Read more

MASH’s Father Mulcahy Dies at 84

William Christopher, who played Catholic Priest and US Army Chaplain (Capt) Francis Mulcahy on “M.A.S.H.,” the Korean War military/medical black comedy TV show in the 1970s and early 1980s, died on New Years Eve. He was 84. While the show’s irreverence, humor, and social commentary made it a bit of a cultural icon well into the 1980s, it is less well known today. Still, “Father Mulcahy” has managed to live on in the American lexicon.

Regrettably, one place Christopher’s character has lived on is Read more

Atheist Jason Torpy Misrepresents Military Demographics. Again.

In 2010 Jason Torpy, a former US Army Captain and current atheist, essentially lied to White House staff when he told them in an official briefing that approximately 23% of the US military was non-theistic. The briefing was one part of his crusade to justify the oxymoronic “atheist chaplain.”

The problem, as previously discussed, was that his own data didn’t support his claim — and he knew it. When presenting his data, Torpy had included as “non-theists” those who indicated “no religious preference” in their military personnel records. Of course, no one has any idea whether those who selected NRP for their records are theists or not. You would think one who represented an ideology that self-righteously proclaimed its reliance on skepticism and evidence wouldn’t rely on “myth” to promote his cause, but that’s precisely what Torpy did. He cast his net so wide, in fact, that his list of non-theists included at least one Muslim terrorist.

Torpy’s fib was outed, and the knowledge of his use of fictional data made Read more

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