Tag Archives: military religious freedom foundation

Military Atheist Documents Counseling with Navy Chaplain

Petty Officer 3rd Class Eduardo Otero is a US Navy Sailor and an atheist, as he describes in a uniquely toned article entitled “Not Applicable: The Story of an Atheist, a Navy Chaplain and a Search for Hope.” Otero, a Navy “mass communication specialist” (essentially a public affairs officer), wrote the article in a staccato future perfect tense — making it seem at times like an odd trip down a future memory lane that is unsure of its own footing.

Ultimately, it boils down to PO3 Otero desiring counseling from a chaplain, and he met with a Catholic priest, Chaplain (LTjg) Jason Burchell.

And that’s really about it. The article eventually becomes a “chaplain 101” story in which Otero seems to have transitioned his counseling into interviews with his chaplain, both personally and professionally.

Some of what Otero cites might seem like fodder for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s crusade against Read more

Mikey Weinstein: Southern Baptists are Terrifying, Existential Danger

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF recently had a case of the vapors when they read the Southern Baptist Convention’s chaplaincy website, which includes the 1941 quote from Alfred Carpenter that

Every chaplain is a missionary in uniform, and an evangelist at large…

Weinstein’s group let loose the vitriol:

MRFF’s Constitutional [sic] civil-rights [sic] battle for separation of church and state in the U.S [sic] military faces vicious opposition from fundamentalist evangelical Christian dominionists hell-bent on ensuring military chaplains function as “government paid missionaries”…

As previously discussed, every Christian Read more

MRFF’s 2017 Achievements Highlight Mikey Weinstein’s Weakness

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, perennial critic of religious freedom in the US military, celebrated the close of 2017 by happily saying, essentially, he’d ‘transitioned’ into a well-paid blogger. Apparently stung by the revelation he was soliciting funds for lawsuits that weren’t actually happening, Weinstein now says his primary mission is to communicate, not litigate [emphasis added]:

MRFF’s mission to ensure military religious freedom scored big wins this year with battles achieving massive publicity…

We [need your money to] fuel MRFF’s campaign to illuminate federally funded fundamentalism. We must open the public’s eyes. The spread of knowledge is our arsenal’s most potent weapon.

In other words, whereas Mikey Weinstein once bragged of how much he accomplished, he now brags of how much he talks. Apropos.

More tellingly, Weinstein included a list of 14 “achievements” for 2017 that read like a list of non-events — and other people’s events.

Within that list of 14, Read more

Christmas Around the Military

In a summary of how Christmas was treated around the military this year:

Air Force leadership wished their Airmen “Happy Holidays“, without expressly saying to what holidays they were referring.

Fort Stewart had an actual Christmas tree with Christmas carols, though the quotation about the meaning of the season — “a time to grow and reflect” — was a bit off.

Schofield Barracks managed to only light a “Holiday Tree,” though seeming to tacitly acknowledge there was only one holiday that was celebrated with a lit tree in December.

The US Air Force continued its annual tradition of supporting Operation Christmas Drop.

Fairchild AFB managed to use the word “holiday” five times in a single caption — and didn’t use “Christmas” once, despite referring to songs, trees, and Santa Claus, all on Read more

A Bit of Hate Mail

It doesn’t take much to generate hate mail anymore. Thanks to the internet, merely stating an opinion means someone will see it who doesn’t like it. Statistically, it is likely one of those critics will be disagreeable enough to send you a note questioning your intellectual capacity or the legitimacy of your family lineage.

In that regard, receiving hate mail is almost as meaningless as getting credit card applications in the mail — despite Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s apparent belief that it means he’s “doing something right.” (Mikey probably thinks that bank junk mail is a testament to his financial status, too.)

That said, every now and then something gets said that’s just interesting or entertaining — or weird. In that latter category, Weinstein acolyte J. Chorazy has been sending novel-length emails to this site for years. They’ve long since been auto-deleted, but every now and then one sneaks through the filters. His persistence — particularly in the face of being completely ignored for years — is…interesting.

Then there’s this gem from another dear reader:  Read more

MRFF’s Chris Rodda Uncovers Plot for Christian Takeover

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein probably doesn’t like it when his organization is associated with conspiracy theories. The problem, of course, is that Mikey Weinstein believes he and he alone has the clarity of vision to see the Impending Doom to be wrought upon this great nation by Those Evil Christians, Inc. — doom that includes a “Slaughterville” for Jews that is already in the works, Weinstein says.

As such, Mikey Weinstein tends to attract like-minded disciples who think 9/11 was an inside job, KC-135s disappear to support secret nuclear strikes, and Colonel Sanders is forming a shadow triumvirate with James Dobson and Dick Cheney underground at USAFA.

Now, it seems Chris Rodda is the latest to have broken the code:  Read more

US Air Force Gets First Buddhist Chaplain

Chaplain (1Lt) Brett Campbell recently became the US Air Force’s first (and only) Buddhist chaplain [emphasis added]:

The Iowa native who was raised Catholic discovered meditation and was introduced to Buddhism while at Iowa State University. He was attracted to the religion because it was more of a life philosophy and that he was frustrated with the mainstream church culture and system that was so susceptible to corruption.

After graduation, Campbell joined the Peace Corps and served in Mongolia where he said he began identifying as a Tibetan Buddhist.

That’s an interesting Read more

Air Force, LtGen Steven Kwast Send Message to Mikey Weinstein

The US Air Force sent a strong message to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently when it elevated the officer he’d demanded be “aggressively punished.”

In January of this year LtGen Steven “Killer” Kwast was quoted in a local Alabama paper saying, among other things, that

I’m not so arrogant as to think that I can make any plans unless God’s in it.

LtGen Kwast was the commander and president of the Air Force’s Air University; essentially, the academic arm of the Air Force. Because LtGen Kwast had the audacity to mention God, Mikey Weinstein filed an IG complaint and demanded that he be “aggressively punished”.

Instead, the Air Force responded by promoting him.

LtGen Steven Kwast is now Read more

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