Tag Archives: MRFF

Muslim Airman First to get Beard Waiver

SSgt Abdul Rahman Gaitan has become the first US Air Force Airman to obtain a religious exemption to grow a beard in uniform:

The biggest challenge yet, was getting approval for his shaving waiver from Air Force Headquarters. This required endorsement by the unit commander, base chaplain, installation commander up to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel Division. This process took Gaitan almost four years to accomplish.

Interestingly, the article explains Gaitan was actually Catholic, but he apparently became disenchanted with the lack of authenticity in the liturgical faith — and he was drawn to the seeming sincerity of Islam he saw in locals while stationed in Turkey.

With the beard openly displaying his religion, Gaitan says Read more

Air Force General Roger Brady: Mikey Weinstein “Extreme”

Retired US Air Force General Roger Brady made some waves in 2005 when he led an investigation of the US Air Force Academy’s religious climate. Much to some activists’ dismay, the report said there were some issues and perceptions, but there was not a systemic or institutional religious problem at USAFA. (Gen Brady also famously criticized Airmen who contacted their congressmen — an explicitly protected form of communication within the military.)

General Brady was interviewed recently by Christianity Today on faith and the military in a Veterans’ Day article that led off noting the recent “controversy” surrounding Air Force BGen John Teichert — as initiated by “former Air Force Captain and activist attorney Mikey Weinstein“.

The interview was highlighted by the Baptist Joint Committee — a liberal leaning group — as having “both some troubling and some heartening perspectives and insights.” That seems accurate, as Gen Brady says thing both sides of the religious liberty debate will support and oppose. In fact, in just two sentences he managed to hit both sides of the fence [emphasis added]: Read more

Mikey Weinstein Non-Reports Alleged Anti-Semitism at USAFA

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s veritable public relations officer, Pam Zubeck of the CSIndy, published an article late yesterday claiming a cadet at the US Air Force Academy said something and another cadet didn’t like it.

And that’s about it.

The incident isn’t explained fully in any one paragraph within the article, but putting the pieces together it appears upperclass cadets at a lunch meal are alleged to have said:

The 11 Jews murdered [in Pittsburgh] would now be burning in hell forever because none of them had accepted Jesus as their savior prior to being shot and killed.

A first year (Fourth Class) cadet who is Jewish apparently Read more

Mikey Weinstein Mocked by Duffel Blog. Again.

Yesterday the Duffel Blog — a military-themed site in the flavor of the satirical Onion — announced that the US Air Force had removed baptism as a requirement for graduation from basic training:

The Air Force announced today that it would no longer require recruits to become baptized Christians in order to graduate basic training following yet another bout of criticism over bias from Air Force leaders who identify as evangelicals…

“The Air Force Academy…has outsourced all science and engineering classes to Focus on the Family,” said MRFF President Mikey Weinstein…“We’ve got a generation of aviators and potential astronauts who think that gravity is the devil trying to suck them down into hell and that Elijah’s magic chariot dust is what propels them into the air.”

Now, it’s clear to everyone else that the Duffel Blog is mocking Mikey’s continuous — and vastly overblown — accusations that the Air Force is secretly turning into an evangelical church. But it is unlikely Weinstein Read more

Mikey Weinstein Implicates Himself as Insane Conspiracy Theorist

While writing a recent diatribe on a rather meaningless topic, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein included this gem, saying:

Frank Gaffney is another insane conspiracy theorist who hallucinates about a massive magnitude of militant Islamists that are ready to seize control of the United States and impose a violent, backwards theocracy on all the good Christians.

Projection, hypocrisy, irony — you pick. For those that don’t see it, consider changing just the bold terms in Weinstein’s artful sentence:

Mikey Weinstein is another insane conspiracy theorist who hallucinates about a massive magnitude of militant Christians that are ready to seize control of the United States and impose a violent, backwards theocracy on all the good people.

Just change four words out of 37.  And its true.

Remember, Mikey Weinstein claims a “massive magnitude” of Christians (38 million, to be precise) is Read more

Progressive Religious Groups Had No Effect on Kavanaugh, Mikey Weinstein. Here’s Why.

While some have vaunted (or mocked) the power of the ‘religious bloc’ in American politics, the nomination and confirmation of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the latest insight into when that power appears to be ineffective.

On Wednesday, October 3rd, the National Council of Churches issued a statement calling for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn. The NCC said its stance was because

Judge Kavanaugh exhibited extreme partisan bias and disrespect…[and] his testimony before the Judiciary Committee included several misstatements and some outright falsehoods.

Judge Kavanaugh’s [record] is troubling with regard to issues of voting rights, racial and gender justice, health care, the rights of people with disabilities, and environmental protections.

The NCC, according to it own website, has 38 “member communions” that “include more than 45 million people in over 100,000 congregations.” If you do the math, that’s nearly 14% of the entire US population.

Yet, despite this condemnation from Read more

MRFF’s John Compere Highlights Mikey Weinstein’s Bias

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and his erstwhile research assistant Chris Rodda tend to get hot under the collar when someone (accurately) accuses their organization of bias and bigotry, but its hard to defend against that characterization when your own people are providing the evidence. Former Assembly of God “pastor” Joan Slish has been a frequent source of insider information, and now “disabled American veteran (Vietnam)” John Compere is the most recent to demonstrate his own organization’s bias.

In his most recent “article” for the MRFF (the point of which is irrelevant), Compere — who relies on quotations like some do thesis statements — closes with a quotation from Ronald Reagan that tells you everything you need to know about Mikey Weinstein and his MRFF:

“We were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion is this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not.”

Reagan gave that speech at least twice, with minor variations, to the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on 23 August 1984 and to the Congregation of Temple Hillel and Jewish Community Leaders on 26 October 1984.

Those are, indeed, Ronald Reagan’s words, given during campaign speeches in 1984 — but they are ripped from context. Despite Compere’s claim to their message, the speech is utterly anti-MRFF. Compere appears to quote the latter version of the speech, in which President Read more

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