Tag Archives: jarrod grammel

Military Christians Aren’t the Only Ones Exercising Their Faith

philcross

…they’re just the only ones criticized for doing so.

Given the way the American culture has drifted over the past few years and the impact that drift has had on religion, religious freedom, and the military, it might be forgivable that people would assume conservative Christians are the only ones publicizing their beliefs from within the military.

That’s an easy framing, but it is not an accurate one.

It turns out that other “liberal” religious beliefs — and even non-beliefs — have been just Read more

Air Force Pulls Chaplain Column, Atheist Article Remains

Update: The Air Force has restored the censored article.  Read more here, or the chaplain’s original article here [updated link].

Update: The Air Force has reportedly declined to explain what regulations prohibit the chaplain’s column, which Liberty University School of Law fellow Ken Klukowski says “looks like expression protected by the free speech and religious freedom provisions of the First Amendment.”

 A chaplain has been censored for expressing his beliefs about the role of faith in the lives of service members.  There has to be a recognition that this is discrimination against Christians… When anti-Christian activists like Mikey Weinstein are dictating the rules for what chaplains are allowed to do, then we must ask the question why we [even] have chaplains.

– LtGen Jerry Boykin, USA, Ret

The US Air Force reportedly pulled down an official article written by a Chaplain because someone claimed to be offended by the title.

A chaplain at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska was ordered to remove a religious column he had written titled, “No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave all in World War II,” because it allegedly offended atheists serving on the Air Force base.

Col. Brian Duffy, the base commander told Fox News the column was removed “out of respect for those who considered its title offensive.”

The article notes that the column, written by Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes, did not “attack or insult” anyone — it simply began with the question of the origin of the phrase.  It seems a few critics didn’t read beyond the title, and criticized a caricature of what Chaplain Reyes wrote, such as atheist Jason Torpy, who makes a point of addressing the “no atheist” cliché wherever he finds it on the internet:  Read more

Air Force Atheist Ponders Spiritual Fitness, Officially

An official article by Moody Air Force Base’s Public Affairs Senior Airman Jarrod Grammel is entitled “Atheist ponders spiritual fitness.”

As an atheist, people sometimes ask and wonder where I get my sense of purpose. I don’t believe that God created me and has a special purpose for me in life, but rather that I’m the result of 4 billion years of evolutionary success on a minor planet of an average star in a universe with at least 100 billion galaxies.

And that’s perfectly fine with me. My purpose Read more