The US Marine Corps in Hawaii has said a sign saying “God bless our military” erected just after September 11, 2001, will remain as it is — despite the complaint and threats of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein.
Not only did the Marines reject Mikey Weinstein’s demands, the commander, Col Sean C. Killeen, very effectively shut Weinstein down [emphasis added] (PDF): Read more
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently published an anonymous, 3,000-word essay from a “senior officer” describing why MRFF “clients” always remain anonymous in their complaints against Christians and religion in the US military.
While the treatise is meant to provide justification for the “clients” in Weinstein’s anonymous attacks on Christians in the military, many people would likely agree with the general, neutral premise — highlighting oneself can negatively affect a military career. For example, Tony Carr blogging at John Q. Public and many others have become outlets for members of the military unwilling to name themselves out of fear for their careers. As Weinstein’s acolyte says:
One doesn’t need to commit a punishable offense…to derail a career and if I’m a commander judging a group of subordinates, I don’t even need to bother myself with the mountains of paperwork that would come with actually initiating disciplinary action against one of my junior officers…
Instead, I just can as easily kill the career of an unchosen one with sweet kindness and honesty…If you don’t have a complete, unbroken string of golden soccer trophies for every assignment and year of service, you’re done…
Again, the implication is not Read more
Update: In an asinine announcement, Mikey Weinstein is now “demanding” that the Marine base erect six more signs, one each to Allah, Yahweh, Odin, Vishnu, goddess, and “there is no god.”
Of course, all that ignores the fact the military’s decision to allow the presence of one does not require them to erect others. Weinstein’s “demand” is infantile and ignorant, but it seems to have gotten him the attention he wants.
A variety of news organizations are now reporting that Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation is demanding the removal of a sign on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, as provided by the MRFF:
The offending sign simply reads
God bless the military, their families and the civilians who work with them.
While Weinstein referred to this as the “latest breach,” it turns out it wasn’t Read more
Update: The ChristianPost reports on the sermon here.
The Parish of Trinity Church includes St Paul’s Chapel, which sits near the site of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 and survived unscathed. “The little chapel that stood” became a sanctuary for the rescue and recovery workers.
This year, the Parish inaugurated a “Reconciliation Preaching Prize competition” that
required all entries to address texts from Isaiah and Matthew — one calling for a future without war and the other instructing people to lay down their spears for plowshares.
While it seems a bit odd to say a sermon won a “prize,” the prize was the honor of delivering the sermon on September 11th at the chapel.
The winner Read more
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (repeated at the Stars and Stripes) covered the repatriation of the remains of 36 US Marines from Tarawa’s Betio Island, where they fell in battle more than 70 years ago:
History Flight Inc., a Florida nonprofit that has searched Tarawa for more than five years, announced in June its discovery of a burial trench on Tarawa’s Betio Island, a sandy grave of at least 36 Marines killed Nov. 20-23, 1943…
The flag-draped caskets Read more
Miramar recently rededicated its renovated Airman Memorial Chapel, now called the Airman and Marine Memorial Chapel:
With the help of Col. John Farnam, commanding officer of MCAS Miramar, and donations from local businesses, the renovations began.
“There are places on the base that are centers of gravity and the chapel is one of them,” explained Farnam. “It’s got a long history here and it was something we needed to put a little time into so we could draw attention to it again.”
Some of the Read more
The ACLJ filed an amicus brief (PDF), joined with 42 members of Congress, urging the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to hear the appeal of discharged US Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling. Sterling received a Bad Conduct Discharge for, among other things, disobeying an order to remove a Bible verse posted on her desk.
From the ACLJ:
The lower court had acknowledged that RFRA extended broad protection to religious liberty, the court adopted a very narrow definition of the statutory term “exercise of religion” and arrived at the startling conclusion that Sterling was not exercising her religion by displaying a Bible verse.
Our brief argues that the lower court’s decision sets military tribunals up as theological experts evaluating the validity of religious beliefs, and clearly violates the First Amendment principle that no court is competent to dissect religious beliefs, or to pass judgment on whether those beliefs are part of a religious belief system.
The lower court’s examination Read more
US Air Force Graphic
As it has in years past, the US military has given its troops guidance on how to act in Muslim countries during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. From the official CENTCOM.mil site [emphasis added]:
U.S. military members serving in countries that observe Ramadan are required to adhere to certain practices while outside U.S. installations…
When outside U.S. controlled areas, eating and drinking in public during daylight hours is against the law. Failure to obey could result in fines up to $685 or a sentence of up to two months in jail.
“The commander’s policy dictates that airmen will adhere to local law, which prohibits eating, drinking or tobacco use off base in public,” said Sickles.
It’s an interesting way to phrase it. The US military isn’t technically requiring troops Read more