Tag Archives: Constitution

Gettysburg Re-enactment Includes Chapel Services

An interesting article from the local Hanover newspaper covers the present-day re-enactment of Civil War military church services:

When a Civil War regiment marched into battle, it usually had more chaplains than surgeons backing it up.

Battlefield medicine may have been in its infancy, but religion was central to most of the men, and soldiers relied on faith to heal the spirit from the horrors of war.

“If you were in a potential battle area, you definitely wanted to make sure you went to church and didn’t want to go in there without that blessing,” said Kirk Davis, history director at Gettysburg Anniversary Committee.

In an interesting note:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Attacks Air Force for Gospel Explosion

On July 23rd, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF published a blog claiming Cannon Air Force Base was “hammer[ing] helpless subordinates” with the Christian Gospel. At issue was a chapel-sponsored concert/event called the “Gospel Explosion” with Wess Morgan. Weinstein specifically named two SNCOs in his vituperative attack, saying [Weinstein emphasis original]

USAF Master Sergeant Keith L. Lucas e-mailed a flyer to his subordinates promoting an on-base, sectarian religious proselytizing event called “Gospel Explosion” and explicitly “requested” (in other words, ORDERED in military chain-of command parlance) that they “please post everywhere and spread the word…thanks!!”

Master Sergeant Marvin Jimerson Jr. even instruct[ed] all 27th SOW First Sergeants on base to “Please disseminate within your units.”

This “scandal” is notable for a few reasons.

First, Weinstein includes a paranthetical ‘shout out’ to the wing commander, named as Col Benjamin Maitre (and to whom former Captain Weinstein refers as “sport”). This likely means Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Ouster of Muslim Chaplains

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein — who claims to represent more than 13% of all Muslims in the US military — has effectively called for the military to kick out all Muslim chaplains:

Please listen up; nobody is trying to interfere with the Constitutional rights of military chaplains to hold PERSONAL views that are racist, sexist, and homophobic, etc. Chaplains preach their views according to their denominational endorsing agencies dictates and precepts, that much is understood. However, if chaplains believe that they MUST publicly and visibly preach to their troops a message that their Christian comrades are misled “infidels” because of their “choice” to follow Jesus, then these views are fatally noxious and totally destructive to unit cohesion, good order, morale, and discipline in the armed forces.

Actually, to be accurate, Weinstein didn’t use those exact words. This portion of his actual 1,500-word diatribe was tweaked very slightly, as highlighted, to Read more

Becket Fund Defends Big Mountain Jesus

In 2014 the Freedom From Religion Foundation appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit intended to remove a statue of Jesus from public land (which is leased as a ski resort). The affectionately named “Big Mountain Jesus” statue was erected as a memorial to the 10th Mountain Division, who recalled seeing many similar shrines during their campaign in Italy during World War II.

A 3-member panel of the 9th Circuit Read more

After Gay Marriage Ruling, Chorus Grows for Purge of Military Chaplains, Christians

Despite the Supreme Court’s reassurance that their ruling would not impact the religious freedom of “religious organizations and persons,” a few groups are now using the ruling to call for an end to Christians in the US military chaplaincy.

Last week, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein yet again highlighted the oxymoronic name of his Military “Religious Freedom” Foundation by claiming that Christian chaplains should be “ousted” merely because of their religious beliefs [emphasis added]:  Read more

Supreme Court Restricts Marriage, and No One Notices

Update: As Chief Justice John Roberts predicted: Inspired by SCOTUS ruling, polygamous Montana trio applies for wedding license.

While some have hailed the US Supreme Court‘s ruling last week (available in PDF here) that expanded the legal definition of marriage to include homosexuals, few have noted Justice Anthony Kennedy’s careful wording that actually restricted the definition of marriage:

The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex… Read more

Air Force Rebuffs Mikey Weinstein Demand for General Olson’s Court-Martial

The Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force has “rebuffed” the demand by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to court-martial Major General Craig Olson, who spoke at the National Day of Prayer earlier this month:

The Air Force has decided that Olson did not break Air Force Instruction 1-1 by speaking at the “congressionally-supported event,” said service spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Hughes.

“His remarks were his own personal opinions and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force,” Hughes said in an email Thursday to Air Force Times.

The article quotes both Weinstein and his assistant Chris Rodda as Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Court-Martial of General Craig Olson

Update: Franklin Graham came out in General Olson’s defense, while Weinstein doubled down, saying

Olson was “not simply a harmless howdy-doody/’Stepford Wife/Ned Flanders type of character delivering homilies and platitudes to his assembled flock of like-minded fools.” He was, instead, part of a “Christian triumphalist” plan to subdue America, Weinstein wrote.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein published a press release last week calling for the court-martial of Major General Craig Olson, who was the representative for the US military at the National Day of Prayer on May 7th.

You can watch the video of General Olson’s 20 minute talk at the National Day of Prayer courtesy of the MRFF, which recorded the broadcast and uploaded it here. In it, General Olson says:

I’ve been with fellow redeemed Christians who happen to be educators, who happen to be businessmen, who happen to be medical professionals, who happen to be public officers. I’m just a Christian who happens to be in the Air Force. So we all have things we do but we’re believers, when we love Christ and we love this nation. That’s the point of America. We get to be out and about in America as believers in the various places God appoints us.

Gen Olson spoke repeatedly of having experiences that reminded him of his reliance upon God. He spoke of the need for prayer for our military.

This is what Weinstein said in response:  Read more

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