Last September, the patriotic “God banners” in Poway teacher Brad Johnson’s classroom were ruled unconstitutional by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate decision reversed that of the district court, which had previously written a strong ruling finding in Johnson’s favor.
The Thomas More Law Center recently appealed to the Supreme Court, with TMLC president Richard Thompson saying Read more
The Kansas Congressional delegation continues the multi-year push to honor US Army Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun with the Medal of Honor.
Army Capt. Emil Kapaun of Pilsen was serving as a chaplain when he died in a prison camp in May 1951… Read more
Update: The Army defended its actions, with FoxNews saying it was a “cautionary move to preserve “military order and discipline,”” not censorship.
In a surprisingly underreported story, the US Army reportedly censored — and then admitted the wrong of censoring — US military Catholic chaplains during their performance of their Catholic Mass. Catholic priests were apparently given letters to read to their parishes explaining the Catholic opposition to the Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring insurance coverage for things that violate Catholic beliefs.
On Thursday, January 26, Archbishop Broglio emailed a pastoral letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit at Sunday Masses the following weekend in all military chapels. The letter calls on Catholics to resist the policy initiative, recently affirmed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for federally mandated health insurance covering sterilization, abortifacients and contraception, because it represents a violation of the freedom of religion recognized by the U.S. Constitution.
The US Army’s Chaplaincy office responded: Read more
According to articles on the event, the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, was unique this year:
In a town where just about everything is scripted, the sight of the President, Vice-President and members of Congress singing “Amazing Grace,” during the 60th Annual National Prayer breakfast was one of several off script moments that was almost refreshing today.
According to another source, the talk of the town was the speech delivered at the breakfast — but not President Obama’s speech: Read more
The US House of Representatives passed two separate bills (previously noted) related to religion at US military war memorials — a point of controversy for about the past two decades in southern California, at least. Though they’ve been inaccurately described as “promoting” religion, the first does little more than officially authorize longstanding tradition, and the second adds a Presidential statement to a war Read more
In a move that will likely cause Michael Weinstein, Richard Baker, Leah Burton and other conspiracy theorists to have heart palpitations, author Mark Andrews has released an eBook entitled Sword of the Covenant.
The premise: The US “lacks the political will” to help prevent the annihilation of Israel by Iran, so two top Pentagon officials try to convince USAF fighter pilots in Turkey and US Navy fighter pilots on a gulf-based aircraft carrier — all evangelical Christians — to launch Read more
The Air Force Times notes the US Air Force has yet to replace the introductory ethics course taught to ICBM officers that was pulled late last summer. The Air Force withdrew the course “for review” after the MRFF complained about content mentioning Christian beliefs. The Air Force had previously stated it could reinstate the course, replace it, or simply delete it.
On a related point, there has been no public release to Senator Cornyn’s request for the Air Force to explain its actions, either.
As noted previously, the MRFF’s Chris Rodda took issue with the Senator’s words defending the Constitution.
It was noted here once before that US military fighter pilots sanitize their uniforms prior to combat missions, so if they are captured they have little on their person to provide information to the enemy. However, intel officers occasionally encouraged pilots to carry family photos, thinking the “personalizing” aspect of the photo might positively influence their captors’ perspectives. Similarly, some encouraged carrying a religious item like a cross that would be found on them if they were captured.
Why carry an obviously Christian item on a combat sortie into a predominantly Islamic country?
Simple: Adversaries, primarily of the Islamic faith, respected Christians as “people of the book.” Many have misunderstood Muslims’ use of the term “infidels,” which refers to those “without faith.” In short, hostile Islamic adversaries viewed a Christian in the US military far more positively than an atheist in uniform.
The US Marines recently capitalized on that knowledge, using the faith of an American soldier as a positive message of religious respect to counter the Taliban propaganda of American “infidels” — militant atheists trying to get rid of religion in Afghanistan: Read more