Tag Archives: military religious freedom foundation

USAFA Gets Award for Mosaic Coaching under Rosebush

The US Air Force Academy quietly announced the USAFA Mosaic Character and Leadership Coaching Program had received the Best Practices Award from Florida State University’s Jon C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values last month.

Col. Joseph Sanders, director of the Academy’s Center for Character and Leadership Development program [said] “Mosaic coaching has become one of the primary methods that cadets in the squadron can strengthen their commitments to each other and the Air Force’s values, through a professional coaching intervention that is committed to respecting the worth of the individual.”

The notable thing is that Dr. Mike Rosebush — not mentioned in the article — is credited with much of the work behind the “design and execution” of the MOSAIC program. That’s the same Dr. Rosebush that a few critics tried to get fired because he previously Read more

Mike Farrell Gets Standing Ovation at USAFA

Of the dozens of speakers who addressed the National Character and Leadership Symposium at the US Air Force Academy last week, the local Colorado Springs Gazette highlighted just one: former MASH star Mike Farrell (previously discussed).

Actor and activist Mike Farrell said he gave his usual, well-honed speech.

He focused on human dignity, derided the death penalty and the Iraq war, and described American tactics against alleged terrorists as “drone murder.”

…the audience that gave him a standing ovation…  Read more

MRFF Board Member Mike Farrell to Speak at USAFA

The US Air Force Academy is hosting its annual National Character and Leadership Symposium this week with the theme “Character overcoming Conflict: Individual Stories, Global Impact.”  One of the invited speakers is Mike Farrell, most famous for his role as BJ Hunnicutt in MASH. He’s also been an advocate for other causes, including opposition to the death penalty and a board member of the Cult Awareness Network. What Farrell is less known for is his advocacy for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF, as a member of his “advisory board.”

It is unclear if the MRFF will be part of Farrell’s address at the NCLS, though it is fair to say Farrell has been discreet about his involvement with Weinstein’s outfit.

USAFA’s NCLS is an academic forum that has hosted a wide variety of speakers over the years — including Weinstein himself. This year is no different, and Farrell is hardly Read more

Mikey Weinstein: Its Not about Eliminating God

The Stars and Stripes repeated an article from the Newport News Daily Press noting Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s recent speech at the College of William and Mary. While Weinstein’s speeches are essentially verbatim at each venue, the article headlined and detailed an interesting quote:

“It’s not about eliminating God,” [Weinstein] said. “If that were to happen, we would be in someone’s face in two seconds. It’s about making sure you follow the procedures in deploying your version of God.”

His first sentence seems to be true. He has not advocated “eliminating God” — at least not the God he approves of — from the military or anywhere else. His second Read more

Update: New Religious Liberty Policies and Anti-Semitism

The Deseret News carries its own commentary by Amy Choate-Nielsen on the recent changes to the DoD’s rules requiring religious accommodation. Interestingly, it uses two Jewish Soldiers as the central points of its article — even though the two have nothing to do with the policy changes:

For [Michael] Handman, the new NDAA law comes too late. Five years ago, the private was called derogatory names because of his faith, ordered to remove his yarmulke and rebuked for reading Jewish canon. Then, a few days after his letter home, on Sept. 24, 2008, Handman was lured into a laundry room and beaten to the point of unconsciousness, an Associated Press story says.

That story was discussed in detail here at the time. Retired US Read more

USAFA Superintendent on Religious Freedom, Weinstein Accusations

LtGen Michelle Johnson, US Air Force Academy superintendent, recently sat down with perennial critic of her academic institution (and MRFF ally), regional newspaper columnist Pam Zubeck.

Among the several questions Zubeck reports in a Q/A format are one on religion and another on an accusation by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein:

[Zubeck:] Some cadets and staff are concerned there’s an atmosphere in which cadets are expected to have their first allegiance to God, not country. How do you deal with that?

LtGen Johnson’s answer was consistent with the same Air Force guidance that has been around for years, though she cited AFI 1-1 specifically [emphasis added]:

[Johnson:] Because we’re a college, we need to have open discourse, but we have to balance that with providing a successful climate. So what we have going in, it’s really kicked in well, is this religious respect training, not just for cadets but for permanent party. That’s really important, for permanent party to know the balance there. People are free to have their beliefs but not proselytize or impose them on someone else.

And we have the training to help Read more

Mikey Weinstein Gets Creative with the Facts. Again.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently celebrated the “anniversary” of his idea to create his Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

Ten years ago on this day, the idea for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation came when USAFA cadets were forced to attend screenings of Passion of the Christ.

That does sound pretty bad, particularly since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has nothing to do with the mission of USAFA.

Too bad Weinstein isn’t telling the truth.

In 2004 — and for 6 years thereafter — neither Weinstein nor anyone else ever said anyone was forced to watch a movie, despite his repeated referral to that event. This is what he did say in years past:

[In] the early part of February 2004 when Read more

Mikey Weinstein to Sue after General Endorses MRFF?

Actually, this time, Weinstein didn’t threaten a lawsuit or demand a court-martial when a senior military leader seemed to endorse a non-Federal entity — because this time the non-Federal entity was his own MRFF.

In a letter thanking Michael “Mikey” Weinstein for providing a briefing to the “senior leadership of the New Mexico National Guard,” New Mexico Adjutant General BGen Andrew Salas gave what could be interpreted as an endorsement of Weinstein’s MRFF [emphasis added]:

When it comes to the special and deeply personal freedom of religious faith, leaders should consider the MRFF as a key resource in helping them guarantee the religious freedom all service-members [sic] are entitled to [sic]…

This [religious freedom] right is worth carefully considering, treasuring, safeguarding, and the MRFF is a tool that should be counted upon to help along the way.

Weinstein proudly publicized the letter, saying the BGen “prais[ed] the MRFF.”

Would that make Mikey Weinstein a hypocrite?

In 2007, Weinstein railed against several General officers who appeared Read more

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