Tag Archives: Islam

Judge Halts Fort Hood Massacre Trial

The trial of Fort Hood shooter US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan — the term “alleged” is apparently no longer necessary, since he stated in open court he did it — was halted by the military judge.

By Wednesday, the lawyers ordered to help him said they had had enough — they couldn’t watch him fulfill a death wish.

“It becomes clear his goal is to remove impediments or obstacles to the death penalty and is working toward a death penalty,” his lead standby attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, told the judge. That strategy, he argued, “is repugnant to defense counsel and contrary to our professional obligations.”

Poppe said he and the other standby lawyers want to take over the case, or if Hasan is allowed to continue on his own, they want their roles minimized so that Hasan couldn’t ask them for help with a strategy they oppose.

In short, the lawyers who are tasked to be in pseudo-standby to help him want to either take over — or they want out.

That Hasan may be actively seeking to be put to death is Read more

US Military Articles Highlight Only Minority Faiths

While the majority of US troops reportedly ascribe to some form of Christianity, Department of Defense press releases on the faiths of US troops might make some people think otherwise.

The vast majority of official US military press releases dealing with religion focus on one of two things: military chaplains or a religious holiday.  It is not unusual for a DoD article to highlight a Chaplain’s support of Christmas or Ramadan, for instance, as the DoD did with US Army Chaplain (Maj) Dawud Agbere, who celebrated the Muslim holy month in Afghanistan with American and allied troops, as well as local nationals.

In general, though, there are very few articles that focus on an individual line soldier — and that individual person’s religious faith.  When those articles do come out, they are almost exclusively about non-traditional minority faiths.

For example, the Army once wrote about SSgt Muna Nur, specifically focusing on her status as a “Muslim medic.”

The military has routinely highlighted Read more

Atheist Misrepresents Facts in Crusade for Atheist Chaplains

Jason Torpy, a former Army Captain and atheist leading a one-man crusade to install a humanist chaplain in the US military, has stooped to misrepresentation to support his cause.  Again.

After years of misrepresenting military demographics to claim non-theists are a substantial portion of the US military, Torpy has recently started distancing himself from his own claims — not long after a member of Congress pointed out that certain people demanding atheist chaplains

make vastly exaggerated claims about the religious demographics of the military.

Torpy’s modus operandi, however, appears to continue in his other battles.

First, Jason Torpy — who says he is the endorsing agent for Jason Heap, the man attempting to be a humanist chaplain in the US Navy — has repeatedly used selective quotations from Department of Defense regulations to claim the military is required to allow humanist chaplains.  Most recently he said [formatting original]:  Read more

Rep Keith Ellison Keynote Speaker at Pentagon Iftar

US Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn) was this year’s keynote speaker at the Pentagon’s annual Islamic iftar, which it celebrates during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Given the state of world affairs, it is notable that the headquarters for the entire US military participates in such a celebration, but it means something even to the troops:

The significance of celebrating Iftar at the Pentagon is two-fold, said Air Force Col. Shakir Kahn. First, it informs Muslim Pentagon employees that the Department of Defense supports them. Second, Read more

Former Marine Pilot Opposes Religious Freedom Bill

Pentagon spokesman Nate Christensen stressed that the Defense Department celebrates religious diversity and that military personnel have the full right to exercise their religious beliefs, as long as doing so does not negatively affect the military’s mission or other individuals’ rights.

Tom Carpenter is a co-chair of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy — a group that advocated for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — a 1970 US Naval Academy graduate, and a former US Marine A-4 pilot.  He recently came out against religious freedom legislation now supported by the endorsing bodies of the vast majority of US military chaplains.  (Carpenter recently repeated near-verbatim atheist talking points rebutting some of the most recent claims of hostility toward religious freedom in the military.)

In apparent shock, Carpenter said, for example:  Read more

US Army Chaplain Ministers to Afghan Soldiers

A chaplain deployed to Afghanistan has taken it upon himself to go above and beyond: he not only ministers to US and NATO troops, but also local Afghan troops:

[US Army Chaplain (Maj)] Dawud Agbere is the only active-duty Muslim U.S. Army chaplain in Afghanistan and one of just four in the Army. As such, he’s in high demand for holding services, counseling U.S. and NATO soldiers – Muslim and others – and overseeing chaplains in smaller units. But in the last few weeks, Agbere has created a new role for himself: a Muslim ambassador from NATO forces to the enlisted soldiers of the Afghan National Army.

The impact the chaplain can have on the local troops may be significant; Agbere’s commander even went so far as to call him their “secret weapon.”

The article is an interesting read.  It also makes you wonder what the reaction would be if a Christian or Jewish chaplain similarly spoke with Afghan soldiers about his faith.

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Hasan: The Challenges of Finding a Clueless Jury

As jury selection continues in the Fort Hood massacre case, a potential juror seemed to express disbelief when the prosecutor asked him if he “had formed an opinion on whether Hasan is guilty.”

“He sits here in a wheelchair because of wounds he sustained on that particular day,” the colonel said. “In terms of 13 victims and who the shooter was, I have an opinion that Maj. Hasan was the individual who pulled the trigger.”

Given that the Judge keeps having to remind US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan not to refer to himself as “the shooter,” that might be a hard opinion to avoid.

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America as a Christian Nation

Dr. Albert Mohler has an excellent article that addresses a key point of contention among many who publicly discuss Christianity in America — whether or not America is, or was, a “Christian nation.”  (These arguments rage despite the fact those on either side may fail to agree on what “Christian nation” even means.)  One notable quote from Dr. Mohler:

Do American Christians really believe that Christianity benefits by being associated with all that America represents in the Muslim world? To many Muslims, America appears as the great fountain of pornography, debased entertainments, abortion, and sexual revolution. Does it help our witness to Christ that all this would be associated in the Muslim mind with “Christian” America?

Touché.

Dr. Mohler’s article was originally published in the Summer 2013 edition of The Southern Seminary Magazine.

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