Tag Archives: Prayer

US Army Rebuffs Jason Torpy’s Atheist Complaint about Prayer (Video)

Jason Torpy, the perpetually (and vicariously) offended atheist and former US Army Captain, complained last week that a US Army Air Assault graduation ceremony included a prayer:

MAAF has obtained a video showing enforced Christian prayer at Air Assault training at Ft Campbell. Trainees are directed to bow their head to graduation prayer and to give a response that sounds like “Amen”.

The 36-second prayer is in the video above.

Torpy complained Read more

Army Chaplain: God is with Us

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David Graetz, the assistant chief of chaplains for the Army National Guard gave a spiritual message to participants of the Golden Coyote training exercise during the 7th prayer breakfast at Camp Rapid…

“It sets the tone for a good exercise and reminds people that God is with us during our training,” said Graetz. “If you look at the training with the perspective that you are preparing to deploy, it’s important to know that God is with us, walking with us and supporting us in the jobs that we do.”

Read more. Read more

President Proclaims Memorial Day of Prayer

Consistent with public law, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential proclamation announcing Memorial Day “as a day of prayer for permanent peace,” calling for unity in prayer on Monday, May 25th, at 1100hrs.

On Memorial Day, the United States pauses to honor the fallen heroes who died in service to our Nation. With heavy hearts and a sense of profound gratitude, we mourn these women and men — parents, children, loved ones, comrades-in-arms, friends, and all those known and unknown — who believed so deeply in what our country could be they were willing to give their lives to protect its promise.

Read more via the DoD.  Read more

Air Force Rebuffs Mikey Weinstein Demand for General Olson’s Court-Martial

The Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force has “rebuffed” the demand by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to court-martial Major General Craig Olson, who spoke at the National Day of Prayer earlier this month:

The Air Force has decided that Olson did not break Air Force Instruction 1-1 by speaking at the “congressionally-supported event,” said service spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Hughes.

“His remarks were his own personal opinions and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force,” Hughes said in an email Thursday to Air Force Times.

The article quotes both Weinstein and his assistant Chris Rodda as Read more

Mikey Weinstein Calls for Court-Martial of General Craig Olson

Update: Franklin Graham came out in General Olson’s defense, while Weinstein doubled down, saying

Olson was “not simply a harmless howdy-doody/’Stepford Wife/Ned Flanders type of character delivering homilies and platitudes to his assembled flock of like-minded fools.” He was, instead, part of a “Christian triumphalist” plan to subdue America, Weinstein wrote.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein published a press release last week calling for the court-martial of Major General Craig Olson, who was the representative for the US military at the National Day of Prayer on May 7th.

You can watch the video of General Olson’s 20 minute talk at the National Day of Prayer courtesy of the MRFF, which recorded the broadcast and uploaded it here. In it, General Olson says:

I’ve been with fellow redeemed Christians who happen to be educators, who happen to be businessmen, who happen to be medical professionals, who happen to be public officers. I’m just a Christian who happens to be in the Air Force. So we all have things we do but we’re believers, when we love Christ and we love this nation. That’s the point of America. We get to be out and about in America as believers in the various places God appoints us.

Gen Olson spoke repeatedly of having experiences that reminded him of his reliance upon God. He spoke of the need for prayer for our military.

This is what Weinstein said in response:  Read more

Christian NFL Punter Speaks at Prayer Breakfast


Brian Hansen, a former NFL punter and local director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, recently spoke at the South Dakota National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing prayer breakfast:

Hansen was introduced and his biography read by Lt. Col. William Tesch, 114th Fighter Wing chaplain.

“If there has been a theme running through the selection of speakers for our annual prayer breakfasts it would have to be faith-based leadership.” said Tesch. “This year, Read more

Linell Letendre Named USAFA Law Department Head (Video)

USAF LtCol Linell Letendre has been named as a new permanent professor to “lead the law department” for the US Air Force Academy:

“Lt. Col. Letendre’s selection for permanent professor indicates the trust placed in her by those who lead our nation,” said Brig. Gen. Andrew Armacost, the Academy’s dean of the faculty. “Her impeccable record of service and dedication to education will strengthen the Academy and nation as we strive to develop leaders of character.”

Ordinarily such a staffing decision hardly rates notice, much less an official press release, but the status of permanent professor at a military academy requires Senate approval and bestows a permanent rank of Colonel, making it somewhat notable.

Potentially more notable, however, are LtCol Letendre’s unique qualifications. Far from being an unknown JAG, Letendre has become a veritable “go to” legal officer in cases involving religion or homosexuality (or both).
LtCol Linell Letendre
In 2007, she and retired US Army Major David Fitzkee (also a USAFA law professor) co-authored a paper in the Air Force Law Review entitled “Religion in the Military: Navigating the Channel Between the Religion Clauses“. This paper was called a “definitive work” on the subject. As noted previously, Fitzkee wrote an abridged and updated version of this same article in 2012, and both works contained strong positive and strong negative statements on regarding military religious freedom.

Their paper was subsequently published again in Attitudes Aren’t Free, a collection put together by then-LtCol James Parco (an avowed supporter of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and frequent critic of Christians in the US Air Force).

Letendre was also the legal advisor to US Army General Carter Ham while he was co-chair of the controversial Comprehensive Review Working Group tasked to assess the impact of repealing the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Letendre’s advice Read more

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