Tag Archives: Church and State

Happy New Year from ChristianFighterPilot.com

Have a productive and joyful 2011.

The Top 10 articles from God and Country in 2010:

  1.  Christian Fighter Pilot Takes Command of US Marine Corps
  2.  Weinstein Threatens to Sue ChristianFighterPilot.com
  3.  Chaplain Dale Goetz Killed in Combat
  4.  Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: The Military Christian’s Perspective
  5.  Academy Official Fears “Brainwashed” Christians
  6.  Weinstein Loses Bat-Signal, Declares War ‘back on’
  7.  Weinstein Defines Religions, Assigns Followers
  8.  There are No Atheists in Foxholes
  9.  Trijicon Gun Sights and “Secret Bible Codes”
10.  USAFA Pagan Circle has Christian History

Conscientious Objector Describes Faith and War

Most media stories on military conscientious objection revolve around those who are in trouble for missing movement or suing over their denial.  (Approved CO applications hover around 50%.)  On Slate, Kathryn Schulz interviews a young man named Josh Stieber who was recently discharged as a CO.

His logic is sometimes strained and much is based on personal perception rather than fact, but that is often the case in situations like this.  Ultimately, too, it is difficult to tell Read more

Study: Those Who Wait For Marriage Have Better Relationships

A recent study in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Family Psychology “revealed” that those who waited until they were married before having sexual relations had higher relationship stability, among other factors.

This study is completely unrelated to the military, but there’s an important detail:  The behavior in this study had nothing to do with religion.  (In fact, it was “controlled” out of the study.)

While some are quick to dismiss calls for supporting “moral” conduct as so much bad couscous, there can be (and are, according to this study) secular “benefits” to conduct or characteristics often attributed to a “religious” origin.

Bishop: Church Won’t “Evaluate” Military Homosexual Policy

In an interesting dance of politics and semantics, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, reportedly said

the Catholic church is not in a position to evaluate the impact of openly gay service members on military readiness directly…

but

“That is a question that has to be worked out politically. And there isn’t a specific Catholic Church position,” he said, “but whatever happens, it has to be seen in terms of the church’s teaching position. And that is, Read more

USAFA, Cadets for Christ Victims of Weinstein’s Hypocrisy

Chris Rodda, research assistant for Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation, recently guest-posted the MRFF’s latest salvo against “Cadets for Christ,” an Air Force Academy Christian cadet group Weinstein wants banned.  The self-described Research Director can’t even get basic facts correct.

The MRFF apparently has copies of emails sent from Don and Anna Warrick asking the recipients to send letters of support for Cadets for Christ to the Chaplains at USAFA.  The USAFA Chaplains had indicated they had received letters both supporting and criticizing the group.  Rodda summarizes:  Read more

American Pilot, Soldiers Pray with Locals in Afghanistan

A British news report tells the story of a British military Imam who led a 600+ member congregation — including locals, American servicemembers, and others — in the celebration of Eid ul Adha while in Afghanistan.

This service provided an opportunity for ISAF to demonstrate respect for the Muslim faith by providing a service for all Muslims on the base. One young American pilot told me of the Read more

Christian Faces Trial in Afghanistan

Charisma magazine reports Afghan Christian Said Musa was to face a judge this past Sunday, though he had yet to be told what charges he faced after six months in jail.  He was imprisoned in May, after a local Afghan station broadcast pictures of Afghan Christians being baptized.

The article notes that Musa has been a Christian for 8 years, and it is a capital crime in Afghanistan to leave Islam.

Government officials reportedly called for the execution of the filmed Christians in June.

Yes, this is the same Afghan nation Read more

Chuck Colson on Engaging the Culture

Chuck Colson has an interesting article on the culture in America, in both its changes and the Christian interaction with it (a topic he has covered before).  He notes the statement by then-Supreme Court Justice William Douglas:

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being…When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities…it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs.

This case was followed Read more

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