Tag Archives: jay sekulow

ACLJ Calls on SecDef Mattis to Defend Gen Teichert

The ACLJ is once again standing as the voice of reason against attacks on military religious freedom by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF. Last week the ACLJ wrote to Secretary of Defense James Mattis — the same recipient of the MRFF’s letter — defending BGen John Teichert.  The letter began with what is probably the most astute and clear statement on dealing with accusations from the MRFF:

We must admit it is difficult to know exactly where to start to refute the many false allegations and legal misstatements contained in Mr. Rehkopf’s letter. As we will show below, Mr. Rehkopf imputes impure motives to General Teichert and alleges harm based on his and MRFF’s hypersensitivity to religious expression by persons in uniform.

When Mr. Rehkopf encounters a religious view expressed Read more

ACLJ’s Skip Ash, Jay Sekulow Rise to Counter Mikey Weinstein

The ACLJ has recently begun to more firmly establish itself as one of the most articulate and assertive defenders of military religious freedom, specifically as it pertains to the attacks on religious liberty by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein.

Two weeks ago, Skip Ash (who has already written some lengthy and well-cited rebuttals to Weinstein and his acolyte John Compere) wrote an article detailing how the ACLJ had stood in opposition to Weinstein’s attacks on Bibles in POW/MIA displays. Noting Weinstein’s MRFF had sent yet another letter demanding an investigation (after their first demand was denied), Ash notes the ACLJ also wrote another letter to the DoD, saying

Our purpose, as always, is to educate DOD IG personnel on what the Constitution actually requires and permits vis-à-vis such displays and to refute the broad (though, admittedly, consistent) Constitutional misinterpretations of the MRFF and its supporters. The MRFF and its supporters grossly misunderstand what the Establishment Clause requires, and they too frequently interpret freedom of religion to actually mean freedom from religion.

As has been noted in the past, such Read more

Trump Administration is Too Christian and Not Christian Enough

In an OpEd at the Los Angeles Times, Phil Zuckerman (a professor of “secular studies”) bemoaned the fact President Donald Trump’s administration is overrun by Christians — while simultaneously accusing them of being bad Christians.

First, the list — with his continuous parentheticals mocking their beliefs:

Betsy DeVos, who leads the Department of Education, has stated that her goal as a public servant is to “advance God’s kingdom.” Secretary of Energy Rick Perry employed mass prayer as a means of addressing social problems when he was governor of Texas. Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, believes that the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil…

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has said Read more

Mikey Weinstein Gets Shut Down by ACLJ. Again.

In response to the recent demand letter to the Air Force by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF (a letter probably written by Chris Rodda), Skip Ash and Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice wrote their own letter (PDF)to Wright-Patt encouraging the Air Force to do the right thing — and continue ignoring Mikey Weinstein. Weinstein had written to demand “punishment” over a base chapel’s wing-wide email announcement of an upcoming leadership conference.

The letter was a well-written takedown the attack by “outlandish atheist” Mikey Weinstein — not Read more

Breaking: Mikey Weinstein FOIA Lawsuit Dismissed with Prejudice

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein settled his FOIA lawsuit with the US Air Force Academy last week (making it the first lawsuit against the military/government he’s filed that wasn’t summarily tossed out). Weinstein had filed the lawsuit after he alleged USAFA was unresponsive to his Freedom of Information Act request.

One of USAFA’s complaints about Weinstein’s FOIA was that it was overly broad, and the settlement appears to specifically address that concern by having Weinstein cite the specific location of record searches and the subjects of the records sought.

(For the uninitiated, that information should have been in the initial FOIA request Weinstein Read more

ACLJ Again Defends Military Religious Freedom from Mikey Weinstein

The ACLJ has again written a letter to the US military encouraging them not to allow the military to become

an unwitting tool to implement Mr. Weinstein’s agenda of eviscerating religious freedom in the Armed Forces of the United States.

The letter was directed to the (acting) DoD Inspector General, Mr. Glenn Fine, the most recent recipient of a Weinstein missive. Weinstein had written the DoD IG after Peterson AFB refused to crucify a US Air Force officer who had a Bible on his desk.

The ACLJ’s letter (PDF) is much like the last two — one of which also went to Mr. Fine. Besides Read more

Mikey Weinstein Fails to Intimidate Air Force Chaplain (Video)

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein continues his self-declared “war” on Christians in the US military, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to coerce US troops to accept his demands.  Much of the military has discovered the best response is simply to stand up to him. Weinstein’s only tool is intimidation, and when it fails, he is toothless.

In an apparent effort to play to the July US Supreme Court decision on homosexuality, Weinstein recently claimed in a blog and subsequent interview that he would “prosecute” chaplains if they preached something that did not pass his muster [formatting original]:

If chaplains believe that they MUST publicly and visibly preach to their troops a message that their LGB comrades are sexual-deviant “sinners” because of their “choice” to be gay, then these views are fatally noxious and totally destructive to unit cohesion, good order, morale, and discipline in the armed forces.

Despite Weinstein’s attempts to restrict the free exercise of US troops, chaplains are free to preach the tenets of their faith — and they have continued to do so.

In fact, just a few days prior to Weinstein’s ultimatum, Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez spoke eloquently and forcefully on the Gospel during Read more

Mikey Weinstein Teams Up with Casey on ACLJ Radio Show

Weinstein Wants Christian Cadets Punished, but Not Atheists

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein appeared on the ACLJ radio program Jay Sekulow Live with attorneys Jay Sekulow, Jordan Sekulow, and retired US Army LtCol Skip Ash to respectfully “debate” again — as Weinstein and Jay Sekulow did in 2007 at USAFA. The topic was, once again, the Bible verse stricken from a cadet’s whiteboard.  During the conversation, Weinstein reiterated his position that the cadet who posted a Bible verse on his dry erase board should be punished:

We want to have visible punishment for the cadet…

He also said he would “not oppose” courts-martial for the cadet’s active duty chain of command.

As before, he declined to call for the same punishments regarding the atheist cadets he claims to have “complained” about a few days later, instead, Read more

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