Tag Archives: Constitution

US Army Grants More Exceptions for Sikhs

Update: Follow up on Harpal Singh and the status of Capt Singh’s case here.

The US Army has decided to permit three more Sikh adherents to attend Basic Training while maintaining the articles of their faith:

“After months of waiting, I’m ecstatic that I can finally serve both God and country,” Private Arjan Singh Ghotra, one of the plaintiffs, said…

Religious accommodations were also granted to Specialist Kanwar Singh [and]Specialist Harpal Singh.

While the exceptions are notable, they are still precisely that: exceptions. Thus, the US Army is still not officially more “friendly” to service by Sikhs, a point Read more

Military Grants One Sikh Exemption, Three More File Lawsuit

singhThe US Army extended its religious accommodation of Capt Simratpal Singh, a Soldier who had decided to return to his Sikh practices and had sued after the Army tried to subject him to additional testing not required of other Soldiers.

The response from the Army (PDF) is intended to moot the suit. The accommodation allowing Singh to wear his religious accoutrements is open-ended, but it is heavily qualified with the Army’s caveats that it might remove the accommodation at any time. Perhaps more importantly:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Decapitation, Persecution of Christians

In an appropriately timed interview just prior to Easter, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was asked what would constitute “success” in his war against Christians in the US military. This was his response:

The Romans had it right. When you cut off somebody’s head and you stick it on a pole and show it to the masses, it changes behavior.

The interview was laced with a repugnant oblivious irony.  It was entitled “Do Christian Fanatics in the Military Endanger National Security?“, ignoring the fact no Christian “fanatic” has ever been identified in the US military, much less one who “endangers national security.”  By contrast, “fanatics” of other religions most certainly have been identified, repeatedly, yet Islamic extremism in the US military never once enters Mikey Weinstein’s lexicon of prejudice against Christians.

Further, Weinstein’s implications about cutting the heads off Read more

Sort-of Transgender Army Reservist Threatens Suit over Haircut

The Washington Post reported that Kendall Oliver, a US Army Reservist, was turned away from a barber because the barber wouldn’t cut women’s hair:

Oliver is transgender. And with that, the Army reservist in the Los Angeles area became the latest citizen at the center of a recurring American debate: Where does freedom of religion end and discrimination begin?

That sentence just about summarizes the twisted world this has become.

Oliver is a woman who has decided she identifies “mostly as a man.” According to the article, she uses the pronoun “they” rather than he/she.

“They” is plural, for those who are losing track.

Oliver watched the barber turn another woman Read more

Chaplains, the Constitution, and Spiritual Backgrounds

An Air Force article about a shortage of chaplains at Creech Air Force base opened with an important statement:

With every airman having a different faith, each has something unique to add to the mission.

Implicit in that statement is something often forgotten:  The Air Force recognizes (or should recognize) virtue in the fact its Airmen have religious beliefs.

Another interesting Air Force article about military chaplains from Ramstein, Germany, explained what chaplains do and where they come from:  Read more

Air Force Replaces POW Bible with “Book of Faith”

Update: Follow-ups by US Air Force Chaplain and Congressman Doug Collins, Christian Today, and the Christian News Network.

powtable1Last Thursday Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF trumpeted his influence in getting a VA clinic to remove a Bible and Bible verse from a POW/MIA table. The story was essentially ignored until FoxNews’ Todd Starnes reported on it yesterday [emphasis added]:

A Bible and Bible verse were removed from a POW/MIA display inside an Ohio Veteran’s Administration clinic after the notorious Military Religious Freedom Foundation complained.

The religious artifacts were part of a “Missing Man Table” recently erected by volunteers at an outpatient clinic in Akron.

Weinstein called the presence of Bible a “violation of the US Constitution.” While the VA didn’t necessarily agree, in an ill-fated attempt to avoid offending someone, they kowtowed.

Starnes accurately reported that official military and government Read more

Mikey Weinstein Demands Air Force Remove Chaplain Video. Because Jesus.

mikeywilliamsLast month, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein claimed he had made an “important achievement” in “rebuilding the shattered wall separating church and state!” because, according to him, the Commanding Officer of the Air Force Recruiting Service promised to remove a chaplain recruiting video Weinstein found “inappropriate.” According to Weinstein, MajGen Garrett Harencak

responded within a few hours that all Chaplain [sic] videos are being removed pursuant to an overhaul of ‘AirForce.com’ and that he would see to it that the removal of this particular video is accelerated.

A month later, not only is the video still up at AirForce.com — but, in unusually blunt words, the Air Force is actually defending it [emphasis added]:

Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon told Military.com it does not see a problem with [the video]…

“Chaplains being available to airmen for spiritual support, and sharing these experiences in their official capacity, does not violate the establishment clause or Air Force regulations.”

There are three important issues here:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Fears a God-Friendly US Military

In a somewhat meandering article entitled “Watchdog: Conservative President May Mean More God-Friendly Military,” Bryant Jordan of Military.com quoted Michael “Mikey” Weinstein as concerned that a Republican victory in November could lead to a US government “more friendly to Christianity:”

Weinstein said the contest to succeed President Barack Obama is giving fuel to his critics. “With Obama being gone, [some commanders] expect an administration to be more friendly to Christianity…”

To paraphrase Seinfeld… as if there’s something wrong with that? Why would a religious freedom advocate take issue with, in his intimation, progress in religious freedom?

It turns out Weinstein thinks subversion is already underway:  Read more

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