Tag Archives: conspiracy

USAFA Releases Anti-Climactic Climate Survey Data

As previously noted, the US Air Force Academy responded to Freedom of Information Act requests by holding a press conference and releasing the previously withheld results of the 2009-2010 climate survey.

The release was part of an official Air Force announcement; the Academy announcement contains a link to the presentation made by USAFA Superintendent Lt Gen Michael Gould at the press conference (available here, 5.6MB pdf).

The Academy made a concerted effort to explain the results (or, more accurately, describe how the results couldn’t be explained).  It appears the Academy survey was “imperfect” in several respects:  Read more

USAFA Cadets Share Paganism, Atheism

As noted by an official Air Force Academy news release, cadet members of the USAFA “Freethinkers” group invited the cadet pagan SPIRE group to meet and discuss their beliefs and experiences.

SPIRE members set aside time each week for the religiously diverse cadet population that includes Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, atheists, agnostics and others to discuss religion, spirituality and philosophy.

While the groups are for the benefit of cadets, like groups of other ideologies, they appear to be facilitated by staff or volunteers.  Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier Read more

Warning: “Freedom” Group Says This Site Contains “Outright Lies”

Michael Weinstein, head of his own non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says ChristianFighterPilot.com is a “Christian supremacist” site containing “outright lies” and “falsehoods.”

This most recent attack finds its source in a letter written by Weinstein and addressed to the Secretary of Defense — and copied to everyone from the Joint Chiefs to President Obama.  In it, Weinstein says a “catalyst” to a complaint from an Air Force Academy cadet was:

The inclusion by the Air Force Academy Public Affairs Office in the daily Academy-wide “Falcon Clips” email of a sectarian Christian-themed blog post…

The “Falcon Clips” are a compilation of public references to goings-on at the Air Force Academy.  They are emailed out daily, and, according to these reports, included a reference to “Bat Signal Busted, Weinstein Declares War Back On.”  It would appear Weinstein Read more

“Freedom” Group Takes Threatening Stance Against Troops

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation publicly prides itself on its self-proclaimed “defense of the Constitution,” but its recent response to a critic defies its own description.

A detractor emailed the MRFF defending the “christian concert coming to FT Bragg [sic],” previously discussed here.  The MRFF published the message, as it frequently does, and its response was telling.

Rick Baker, an MRFF “regional coordinator,” said  Read more

Religious Faiths Coexist in US Military

In an apparent effort to thwart conspiracy theorists, the US military has occasionally taken to publicizing what is obvious to the casual observer within the military.  Over the past few years, for example, the military has posted a variety of news articles noting servicemembers of all faiths and no faith have the protected ability to exercise their ideologies even while serving.

Just this week, the Navy published an awkwardly-titled but sincerely-written piece from the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, “Members of Differing Faiths Peacefully Coexist on Navy Aircraft Carrier.”  Obviously, members of different faiths peacefully coexist throughout the military, though some might allege otherwise without substantiation.  The article offers a concise and fairly comprehensive coverage of the efforts by the US military to appropriately ensure the religious rights of its members:  Read more

Groups Use Threats of Others’ Violence to Achieve Ends?

In an interesting perspective, Eugene Volokh writes an article on the “conflict” between the Koran-burning church in Florida and Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  To the point, he quotes Hooper saying:

Can you imagine what this will do to our image around the world…And the additional danger it will add whenever there is an American presence in Iraq or Afghanistan?

After going through several explanatory examples and analogies, Volokh draws an interesting conclusion:

In those situations, the mainstream group representative seems to be consciously using the threat of [others’] extremist violence to achieve his own ideological goals. And he also seems to be trying to blame the people who are exercising their rights for the violence that would supposedly ensue. This sort of political tactic does not reflect well on the mainstream group.

Separate from Koran burning and CAIR, Volokh’s perspective has an interesting application to religious freedom in the military.  After all, Read more

“Demons” in US Military Cause Protest, Sort of

If you can get past the title, Dr. James White’s article “Strippers Going to War” has an interesting perspective on religion in the military.  Dr. White is Professor of Theology and Culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

White’s topic is the Christian reaction — or over-reaction — to perceptions of sin or evil in the culture.  In one example, he cites the case of Pastor Donald Crosby of the Kingdom Builders Church of Jesus Christ in Warner Robins, Georgia.  (The story was originally covered by USA Today via WMAZ in Macon, Ga.)  The pastor enrolled his son in the local high school, only to discover their mascot was…a demon:

He’s been collecting signatures of protest ever since, saying that a pitchfork-wielding mascot sends the wrong message to teens.  “Hundreds of children gather into one place at one time chanting ‘Go Demons.’  It’s the equivalent of us gathering into a church on Sunday morning and shouting ‘Go, Jesus’ or ‘Hallelujah Jesus,’ the pastor maintains.

Interesting thing is, that’s not at all the history behind the mascot:

School principal Steve Monday says that the origin of the mascot isn’t religious at all.  In fact, it started in World War II from the 7th fighter squadron at Robbins [sic] Air Force Base, Read more

Weinstein Fights Christians in Military

Michael Weinstein recently published a letter “about the importance of supporting” a left-leaning website that is apparently suffering a financial shortfall.  The letter was used in a fundraising push for the site, for which MRFF ally Jason Leopold is a “managing editor” and Weinstein himself is a board member.  The message included an allusion to his oft-repeated conspiracy theory that Christians are trying to take over the US military (and the world):  Read more

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