Tag Archives: Chaplain

Pence Swears in General Raymond on Space Force Bible

Yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence swore in Gen John “Jay” Raymond as the first Chief of Staff of the Space Force. As covered at SpaceNews, the event was notable because the United States has never had a Space Force before; in fact, the US hasn’t had a major Service added to the force since the Air Force became an independent Service in 1947. It was a historic event.

NPR, though, noted the other highlight of the event in a parenthetical aside [emphasis added]:

With one hand placed on a Bible whose “official” blessing on Sunday sparked sharp criticism, Raymond was sworn in by Vice President Pence at the vice president’s ceremonial office.

Clearly, the government was moved by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s complaint about the Bible yesterday — probably because it was “full-throated” — and completely ignored him.

Contrary to Weinstein’s all-caps claim that military officers are “NOT ever ‘sworn-in’ to their positions”, the narrator of the ceremony noted the oath was required under Article VI of the Constitution (as an “executive officer” of the United States) and is prescribed in Title V of the US Code:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Melts Down over Space Force Bible

The National Cathedral published a photograph of the “blessing of a Bible” to be used for swearing-in within the new Space Force. The ceremony was featured in the Washington Post. Pictured were Rev. Randolph Hollerith, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, the Rev. Carl Wright of the Episcopal Church, and US Air Force Chief of Chaplains Chaplain (MajGen) Steven Schaick:

The gift they gave Chaplain Schaick was a King James Bible donated by The Museum of the Bible, which is in Washington, D.C., a few miles from the National Cathedral.

“Accept this Bible which we dedicate here today for the United States Space Force,” intones the Rev. Randolph Hollerith, dean of the National Cathedral, “that all may so diligently search your holy word and find in it the wisdom that leads to peace and salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.”

This was all too much for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, who issued a “full-throated” response:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein, Chris Rodda Attack Church Services. Again.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and his research assistant, Christine “Chris” Rodda have long claimed they fight for “religious freedom” in the military.  The name of their charity, after all, is the Military “Religious Freedom” Foundation.  They’ve also said in the past that they’re not opposed to Christians’ free exercise. Weinstein himself even once said he’d “give [his] last drop of blood” to support Christians’ rights to their beliefs.

Except, it seems they’re not telling the truth.

Weinstein has repeatedly Read more

Activists use Uniformed US Troops for Political Agenda

Members of the US military aren’t permitted to engage in partisan politics in uniform, nor are they supposed to permit others use them for that purpose. They are also not permitted to “use contemptuous words” against the Commander-in-Chief — in or out of uniform.*

Unless, of course, they’re LGBTQ.

For years the American Military Partner Association blatantly paraded uniformed military members around in support of its political agenda, and it did so even while engaging in outright political lobbying. Its successor, the oddly named “Modern Military Association of America” (apparently “modern” now means non-heterosexual), now Read more

Anti-Trump Army Chaplain George Tyger Runs Secret Facebook Group

It would seem US Army Chaplain (Maj) George Tyger looks to play a continuing role in the intersection of sexuality, politics, and religious freedom in the US military. In 2014 he derided religious accommodations for beliefs he disliked as “separate but equal.” While demanding tolerance, he demonstrated none, an interestingly common trait among some Unitarian Universalists.

In 2016 he put an LGBT “safe zone” sign on his office — which clearly communicated his opposition to mainstream Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and marriage, making his office an “unsafe zone” for other troops he served.

Now, it seems, Tyger is leading a minor insurgency. On the Facebook page for the Modern Military Association of America — a group formed from a merger of multiple homosexual advocacy groups — Chaplain Tyger spoke up to announce he moderates a “secret” Facebook group of Read more

Doing the Lord’s Work in the Guard and Spiritual Toughness in the Marines

An article from the Nebraska National Guard details the story of US Army Chaplain (Maj) Tyler Wilterding:

Wilterding is a full-time Baptist pastor in Kearney, but in order to be effective in his mission of offering moral and spiritual support to Soldiers, he must be well versed in multiple religions and denominations including Catholicism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and more…

While the article on Wilterding emphasizes — to a fault — the “generally spiritual” mission of chaplains and the counseling they can provide, it is worth recognizing that Read more

Not-so-anonymous Chaplain Endorser Endorses Mikey Weinstein

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently hailed an email he said he received from [emphasis original]

a senior Chaplain official, a devout evangelical Christian by the way, who has direct control over the official licensure (“Endorsement”) of many active duty U.S. military chaplains sharing his denomination.

A person who controls endorsement is simply a chaplain endorser, so the typically-over-verbose Mikey is really saying he received email from

an evangelical Christian chaplain endorser

Could have just said that the first time.

Despite saying the chaplain had “come out” in support of him, Weinstein left the email anonymous (the opposite of coming out, no?), quoting it as saying

[Weinstein] is a staunch defender of religious freedom in the military and VA. He is a staunch believer in BOTH of the religion clauses of the First Amendment…One doesn’t want Read more

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