Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has reportedly ordered the entire Department of Defense to review its military education materials for content that might be offensive to Islam.
The order was precipitated by an elective course called “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism,” offered Read more
The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal association which “trains, funds, and litigates” on behalf of religious freedom, has offered to defend the Camp Pendleton cross free of charge.
The Alliance Defense Fund [is] offering our services free of charge to the Camp to defend the rights of its Marines to prepare themselves mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, as they prepare themselves to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Legal counsel Joel Oster notes the ‘clause of unlimited liability’ nature of military service encourages troops to “come to grips with their emotional and spiritual [selves].”
That is why militaries have chaplains. It is simply a Read more
A group of US Army Africa chaplains have been engaging with the Liberian Armed Forces to help their chaplaincy:
Chaplain (Maj.) Allen Staley, and Command Chap. (Col.) Gary Brown …worked with more than 20 Liberian Armed Forces chaplains during a Chaplain Professionalization Seminar in Monrovia, Liberia.
The US military is helping Liberia develop its own chaplaincy, and they’re Read more
Air Force Public Affairs took “strong exception” with the Warner-Robins Patriot’s characterization of the Air Force reaction to the atheist complaint about Bibles in lodging rooms.
Michael Dickerson, Air Force Services Agency spokesman, has taken strong exception to a Tuesday morning story [that] said “Air Force officials have agreed in principle to remove Bibles … following pressure from an atheist group.”
Dickerson emphasized that the Air Force had not Read more
He is surely alive…
When the Air Force directs its members to travel on official business, it attempts to provide them lodging facilities “similar to US mid-level, limited service commercial hotels” even on Air Force bases spread around the globe. As of October 1, 2012, those attempts will no longer include the traditional Bible in the nightstand.
According to atheist Jason Torpy, his demands have resulted in the Air Force changing its policies on the placement of Bibles in Air Force billeting facilities around the world.
After inquiries from the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers and a legal review, Air Force Services Operations [sic] has promised to end their Bible requirement…
Air Force counsel has recognized that…Air Force lodging managers are Constitutionally-bound to avoid entanglement with religion. Including a Bible in every room is a privilege for Christianity.
That isn’t exactly what the Air Force Services Agency said: Read more
An official DoD article highlights the “positive role” SPC Benjamin Reynolds has in his unit, the 82nd Airborne currently deployed to Afghanistan. Even those around him know what drives him:
Reynolds sites his faith as playing an important role in maintaining the positive attitude that so many in his unit admire. In the toughest of times, his beliefs seem to grow even stronger.
“I usually pray for my safety and those around me and use my faith as a motivator,” he said. “When God pulls you through something like that it’s an amazing feeling. It really reinforces your faith.”
Reynolds’ company commander literally couldn’t stop giving him praise: Read more
FoxNews recently updated the Camp Pendleton cross controversy with an interview of one of the widows whose husband helped raise the original cross.
“It’s not a religious spot at all, it’s a place for the Marines to grieve and to grow to let go of their burdens of what they had in their soul, so they can go back down that hill and back into battle and put their own lives on the line,” says Marine widow Karen Mendoza.
It also quotes Col Nicholas Marano, the Camp Pendleton commander who retired at the beginning of the month:
Retired Marine Colonel Nick Marano tells us, “This wasn’t intended to be a religious memorial, it was just intended to be able to provide a fitting and a dignified memorial to their fallen comrades and frankly controversy was the very last thing on their minds.”
Jason Torpy has decried the memorial, which is located on the internally named Camp Horno portion of Camp Pendleton, as an example of “Christian Read more