US Air Force LtGen Thomas Trask, Vice Commander of Special Operations Command, hosted a Chanukah service in the Pentagon’s “Hall of Heroes,” where Medal of Honor recipients are documented.
That such a senior officer could Read more
While many continue to focus on promoting “sexual liberty” within the US military — primarily open service by homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, etc-sexuals — few have come to the aid of Sikhs who want to serve in the US military. (Sikhs wanting to serve in the US military have received more press in India than the US.) Sikhs seek a waiver not for behavior, but for their religious beliefs. Kamal Singh Kalsi, a Sikh who obtained an exception to the uniform policy and was allowed to serve wearing a beard and turban, recently highlighted the inability of Sikhs to serve, as well as the increasing calls for the DoD to “fix” policies that prevent them from joining:
With the support of the advocacy group The Sikh Coalition, 105 members of the House of Representatives and 15 senators sent letters to the Department of Defense urging the U.S. armed forces to modernize appearance regulations so patriotic Sikh Americans can serve the country they love while abiding by their articles of faith.
The re-write earlier this year of religious accommodation regulations in the US military would presumably have made it easier for Sikhs to obtain an exception and join while wearing the accoutrements of their faith. However, Read more
While saying the move was unrelated to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s complaint a few weeks ago, the US Army “removed all university preferences from [its] assignment postings.”
In other words, the text “must be of Christian faith” will no longer appear next to Army staff assignments to Wheaton College.
This was previously discussed at length. While Weinstein called it a “HUGE MRFF Victory” [emphasis original], it Read more
In November, former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt lost his Federal appeal (filed in 2011) of his discharge from the Navy, which had stemmed from his 2006 court-martial.
“I sued the domestic enemies of the Constitution in the DC Court of Claims to redeem my career [and] to redeem my pension after I was robbed by people who punished me for quoting the Bible in chapel,” he tells OneNewsNow. “[I was robbed] by people who punished me for praying in Jesus’ name in uniform outside of chapel.”
The ruling can be read here. Klingenschmitt has indicated he plans to appeal.
As a side note, Read more
The Ohio State House of Representatives passed “a resolution,” HR 283,
To urge the United States Congress and the United States Department of Defense to protect and uphold the religious and free speech rights of military service members.
The resolution cited several incidents of apparent religious hostility in the US military, but oddly missed one that was very close to home. The resolution noted that the Ohio National Guard had the same challenges Read more
It didn’t take too long for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant, Chris Rodda, to pen a diatribe criticizing the US Air Force Band’s “flash mob” kick-off to the Christmas season. As is her typical style, she wrote an 800 word passive-aggressive narrative without ever really saying why she was writing it, other than a vague objection to “religiosity” on the part of the Air Force.
Near the end, though, she finally cut to the chase:
I’ll bet there are some Islamic extremists out there who are also being quite “inspired” by these viral videos of mobs of uniformed U.S. military personnel belting out lines like “Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!,” “Joy to the world! the Savior reigns,” and “This, this is Christ the king!”
Way to go, U.S. Air Force Band!
Ah! So the MRFF thinks that if Islamic extremists will hate America Read more
While recent changes in Air Force regulations and a favorable congressional hearing have given some groups a positive perception of the direction of religious liberty in the US military, it is worth noting that even that trend isn’t universal, and it hasn’t reversed some of the damage done over the past few years.
Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain recently kicked off the holiday season with its traditional tree lighting — absent one of its longstanding traditions. In 2012, Jason Torpy — an atheist and former Army officer — single-handedly persuaded the US Navy to ban a children’s “live Nativity” from the tree lighting ceremony.
The reason? According to Torpy, the kids
threaten[ed] US security and violat[ed] the Constitution.
It was probably “easier” for the Navy to surrender to Torpy and remove the children’s event rather than try to defend it for its positive value. Thus, plastic baby Jesus Read more
Upon hearing that Michael “Mikey” Weinstein would be testifying at a congressional hearing on religious liberty in the military, atheist activist and former Army Captain Jason Torpy had a particularly biting retort:
When will the reasonable voices get their day in Congress?
Given that Weinstein is so often accused of being an atheist, and given the core ideologies (if not the methodologies) of Torpy and Weinstein generally align, it is interesting to see Torpy’s sharp response.
On the other hand, it should not be entirely surprising. There has been bad blood between the MAAF and MRFF (particularly Chris Rodda) for some time.
It turns out Weinstein and his acolytes can be so vitriolic and derisive they alienate even those who agree with them. And if you’re an ally with the gall to criticize the MRFF’s methods, they might even turn that vitriol on you…