Tag Archives: Constitution

Military Atheists Target Fellow Religious Troops. Again.

In what appears to be a trend, a few atheist members of the US military seem to have taken on a “militant” practice of their faith — by aggressively going after their fellow religious troops.

In May 2012, Army Sgt Justin Griffith led his “internet atheists” against a prayer event hosted by the families of his fellow Fort Bragg Soldiers — while those families’ Soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan.

In March 2013, an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant proudly announced that he’d purged his squadron of posters for “Christian” events — even official events sponsored by MWR.

In August 2013, Captain Sara Sharick — an Army recruiter — indicated she might use her Army position to try to steer a potential recruit away from his school of choice, Christian-founded Liberty University, because it was home to “the crazies.”

Later in August, Daniel Smith — a civilian commissary store director — claimed the presence of Gideon Bibles in Air Force Inns was unconstitutional.  He lodged complaints with the intent of removing those Bibles, so traveling active duty Airmen wouldn’t have access to them.

Now, another incident from earlier this year has recently come to light.

It seems another Army atheist took issue with his fellow Soldiers and their families  Read more

Retired General, Current Chaplain Face off in Congress

As previously noted, the House resolution to allow military chaplains to serve their congregations — rather than ban them from chapels during the congressional impasse — was proposed by Rep Doug Collins (R-Ga). It was passed in a 400-1 vote.  The lone opponent: Rep William Enyart (D-Il).

Rep Collins is a current Air Force Reserve chaplain with a rank of Major.

Rep Enyart is a retired Major General in the National Guard.

(Coincidentally, Gen Enyart was replaced as Adjutant General of the Illinois ANG by BG Daniel Krumrei — a chaplain.)

Explaining his lone dissenting vote, Rep Enyart said  Read more

Pastor: 80 Airmen Meet on Air Force Treatment of Christianity

Pastor Steve Branson of Village Parkway Baptist Church in San Antonio, TX, reported that he recently held a meeting with a large group of members of the US Air Force to hear their worries over the Air Force’s treatment of their religious freedom.

At least 80 airmen attended a private meeting at the church where [Branson] heard them voice their concerns about religious hostilities at the Air Force base. It was a standing-room only crowd.

“The religious persecution is happening,” the pastor said. “It’s getting bigger every day.”

As to the improper conduct for which these Airmen claim they are being discriminated against [emphasis added]:

“A commander told him, ‘Don’t you understand discrimination – that your thought process is discrimination?’” Pastor Branson said.

Branson’s church in San Antonio, near Lackland Air Force Base, has Read more

MRFF, Atheists, Commissary Manager Grumble over Bibles

Jason Torpy, a former Army Captain and current atheist, previously claimed to have influenced the Air Force to remove Gideon Bibles from hotel room checklists for Air Force lodging facilities.

Critics had claimed this would end the presence of the Bibles altogether; the Air Force disagreed, but Torpy agreed — and that is what he wanted, as he called the Bibles Christian “privilege.”

It seems the original complaint came not from a member of the military but from civilian Daniel Smith, the Store Director for the Navy Commissary in Yokosuka, Japan.  He recently complained — again — because there were shockingly still Bibles available to Air Force lodging patrons:

The Air Force never publicly said it would remove Bibles Read more

Michael Weinstein as Subject Matter in AF EO Course

It was noted once here before that Michael Weinstein met a newspaper’s definition for “conspiracy theorist”, though it wasn’t trying to talk about Weinstein at the time.  In that vein, Judicial Watch recently obtained training materials from an Air Force Equal Opportunity course, which had a similar unintended subject matter — listing character traits for Michael Weinstein without meaning to.

What was it the AF training was trying to describe?

An extremist.

The following text describes how the EO course inadvertenty describes many character traits that Weinstein displays.  While most won’t be interested in such a character analysis, the reason for noting this is to highlight the fact that Michael Weinstein is no run-of-the-mill “religious freedom” advocate, despite his claims.  He is, as the course material shows, a religious “extremist” intent on bending the US military to his will — even if it contradicts human liberty and the protections of the US Constitution…and an Air Force training course actually helps explain that.

Quoting from Nazis, communists, Klansmen, and others on the fringe: Political extremism in America by George and Wilcox (1992), the Air Force Equal Opportunity Read more

The Story of Big Mountain Jesus

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sued over a war memorial — a statue of Jesus on a ski slope in Montana — which they claim violates the US Constitution.  The FFRF lost and has appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty produced a video to explain some of the history of the memorial — history the FFRF calls a conspiracy. Meet Gene Thomas, a member of the Knights of Columbus, one of the men who has been caring for the memorial for 40 years.

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Atheists Appeal Victory of Big Mountain Jesus

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed an appeal after a court recently ruled that the Jesus statue on Big Mountain ski resort could remain standing.  The statue is on public land, and

The group argues the statue violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on Congress making any law regarding an establishment of religion.

The original court ruling had cited the historic value of the statue, and even made a point of saying the statue was more of a tourist attraction than religious monument.  The FFRF apparently thinks that’s all part of a conspiracy:  Read more

Breaking: Air Force Restores Censored Chaplain Article

Update: Now covered at the Christian Post, Christian News, WND, The Blaze, the ACLJ, OneNewsNow, and Charisma News.

In what will certainly be a blow to Michael Weinstein’s ego, the Air Force has re-published the article his “religious freedom” organization had convinced the Air Force to censor because they said it was “bigoted” and “defiles the dignity of service members.”

With noticeably no publicity, the article was quietly reinstated last week.  (The article by Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes can now be read here [updated link]) Col Brian Duffy, with “higher headquarters consultation,” issued the following statement:

Arctic Warriors, our “Chaplain’s Corner” will return and be accessible from our JBER Official Web Page…. Commentaries presented are designed to enhance the spiritual resilience and wellness of our community of Active Duty, DoD civilians, family members and retirees as part of the Air Force and Army Comprehensive Fitness programs.

We believe this new approach, taken in Read more

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