Tag Archives: morality

Fired Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran Wins Lawsuit Against Atlanta

Just before Christmas, a Federal district court ruled in the case of Cochran v City of Atlanta, in which Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran had claimed he was fired because he did nothing more than write a book — one that included a page with his Christian beliefs about homosexuality.

You’d be forgiven for not realizing that, given that the ruling on the three-year-old case seems to have garnered little to no press attention, despite its potentially significant impact on religious liberty.

Part of the reason for the seeming indifference may be the ruling itself. The court denied most of Cochran’s constitutional claims but found in his favor on the unconstitutionality of the City’s policies requiring “pre-clearance” before writing a book. (That apparent ambiguity may be why some outlets appear to have said the Court “sided with Atlanta,” which belies the fact Atlanta was defending and did not prevail in its defense — meaning the Court actually sided with Cochran.)

In its legal filings, the City claimed it fired Cochran Read more

Army Lifts Ban on Drug Abusers, Mental Health, Self-Mutilation

UPDATE: Army Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley says the Army “has not and will not” approve waivers for these conditions, saying the USA Today article “mischaracterized” the source documents.

In an effort to boost recruiting, the US Army has eliminated its ban on waivers for potential Soldiers who may have a history of some mental illnesses and drug use:

The Army’s decision to rescind the ban for a history of mental health problems is in part a reaction to its difficulties in recruiting, Ritchie said.

“You’re widening your pool of applicants,” she said.

Awkwardly, that’s precisely the same reason given for eliminating the ban on another potential mental health issue: the confusion between one’s perceived and actual gender, or, more commonly, transgenderism.

Lifting such bans naturally Read more

Is the US Military Creating Its Own Sexual Misbehavior Problem?

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, asked last week if the US military was creating its own problems by sending “mixed signals on morality”. Speaking on the recent firing of an Army General who had sent “flirty” messages to another man’s wife, Perkins said:

It is wrong because its immoral. It violates the moral law of the Creator.

But this is what happens when society thinks it can give a green light to some forms of immoral behavior while red lighting others. You end up with moral confusion…

When we deny Read more

Former Army Secretary Eric Fanning Wrong on Character

Former Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning — known most widely as the “first openly homosexual” Service Secretary — took to Time.com last Friday to support the effort to allow transgenders to serve in the US military.

In so doing, he promoted a common canard — that the US military must accept everyone, regardless of sexual proclivities or behavior — because, well, America:

I know first-hand the need for our military to attract the best talent, regardless of their race, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation…

Our Read more

Reconciling Morality: Misunderstanding Respect and the Military

US Army SFC Timothy Seppala is a Religious Affairs Specialist, otherwise known as a chaplain’s assistant. He recently wrote a few articles about the chaplaincy and one on “Reconciling your Morality: Finding the Common Ground.”

The article begins with a fairly reassuring statement that morality is “highly objective”, but it soon becomes clear SFC Seppala meant the other word [emphasis added]:

The truth is that morality can come from almost anywhere and is something that is unique to each individual.

As you can imagine, having so many sources of morality leads to many different views on what is right and wrong.

In other words, Seppala mean to say morality is subjective, not objective.  That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the article on morality.

Seppala goes on to note that social issues divide society — and the US military reflects the society from which it is drawn, even on issues of morality [emphasis added]: Read more

Yokota Air Base Sees Jesus Hopped the A Train

A group called Arts in the Armed Forces (which was founded by Kylo Ren Adam Driver) recently brought a production of “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” to Yokota Air Base:

The play is a drama on moral responsibility and the modern prison system. It takes place in a New York State prison on Rikers Island, where a young man finds himself in prisoned facing murder charges and is befriended by a surprisingly kind ex-serial killer on death row.

Sounds interesting enough.

But in the modern era characterized by divisive ideology, any media production citing Jesus and morality will almost certainly go only one of two directions: It will preach for — or it will preach against.

The ‘A’ Train preaches against. Really against.

Its near-constant stream of expletives would Read more

Religious Freedom Day and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, 2017

Monday, 16 January 2017 marks the annual Religious Freedom Day, as proclaimed by President Obama over the weekend:

Religious freedom is a principle based not on shared ancestry, culture, ethnicity, or faith but on a shared commitment to liberty — and it lies at the very heart of who we are as Americans…We must be unified in our commitment to protecting the freedoms of conscience and religious belief and the freedom to live our lives according to them…

Part of being American means guarding against bigotry and speaking out on behalf of others…

Religious liberty is more than a cornerstone of American life — it is a universal and inalienable right…

Religious Freedom Day marks the anniversary of the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, originally authored by Thomas Jefferson.  It preceded the US Constitution and its similarly-themed First Amendment by several years.

President Obama’s 2017 statement was Read more

US Air Force Officer Criticizes DoD Advocacy of Humanism, Sexuality

An anonymous US Air Force officer recently published an article on the Family Research Council’s blog entitled “Unmasking the DOD’s Endorsement of the Humanism Religion.”

When you hear the word “religion,” does Humanism immediately come to mind? Probably not. However, pragmatically and legally, Humanism is just as much of a religion as Christianity and Islam. This article articulates the claim that the DOD has endorsed the religion of Humanism by promoting the LGBT movement.

It’s a bold statement — and one that might make sense. In its basic form, humanism simply replaces the deity of religious mantra with humanity; that is, rather than believing God is the ultimate source of truth, humanists believe the source of truth is man. Thus, it is from man humanists derive their moral authority.

From this the author derives the position that the LGBT movement relies Read more

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