Tag Archives: proselytize

Weinstein Attacks Allen Willoughby, Promotes Courage for Christ

The Associated Press picked up on Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s complaint about Allen Willoughby, an athletic trainer at the US Air Force Academy Prep School who sent Weinstein an email after Weinstein’s complaint about “So Help Me God.”  As published by Weinstein’s ally Pam Zubeck at the Colorado Springs Independent, the email said:

…God will always be a part of the US Military even when you are gone to meet him face to face. You know you can do a lot for the homeless veterans out here but you could care less about them but when it comes to Christians you are willing to fight against us, well you will never win and so you know the war has already been won. I am on staff at USAFA and will talk about Jesus Christ my Lord and savior to everyone that I work with. Do something productive with your life and Stop harassing the fine people at USAFA. I really pray for your soul.

Zubeck provocatively titled her blog

Academy athletic trainer vows to proselytize on campus

Presumably, Zubeck is at least trying to appear to be a journalist, albeit one who apparently does not deign to use a dictionary.  As is evident to the rest of the world, the Prep School trainer did not “vow[] to proselytize.”

For his part, Weinstein almost Read more

Congressman Explains Military Religious Freedom Bill

On FoxNews (video), US Rep John Fleming (R-La) said the NDAA clause the House passed and the Senate cleared through the Armed Services committee says that:

…military members are fully entitled to express their faith, as long as it is within certain confines, which would be military readiness, good order and discipline, military necessity, and of course without any coercion to others, and for some reason, the [Obama] administration has been against that.

That’s what Michael Weinstein calls a “nasty amendment” that is a “license to kill?”  On its face, it is a preeminent and explicit Read more

Atheist Supports Restricting Military Religious Freedom

Update: Former Marine pilot Tom Carpenter of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy — a liberal activist group — largely repeated the list below a few weeks later, though he did so without attribution.


Jason Torpy, the one-man band that is the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, recently posted a point-by-point refutation of recent accusations of the US military being hostile to Christianity.

Much of his disagreement was nuance or the way in which something was phrased, which isn’t worth discussing here.  The interesting ones, though, were the cases in which he agreed with the US military’s “anti-Christian” actions:

January 2010 — Department of Defense orders removal of tiny Bible references on military scopes and gunsights.
Torpy: True and appropriate.

This issue has been discussed before.  While there is no religious requirement the references remain, the fact they were targeted because of their (obscure) religious reference — only after Michael Weinstein complained, notably — is troubling.  That he would seek this Read more

MRFF Opposes “So-Called” Christians, Fears Christian Madrasas

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has a history of claiming only the “right kind” of Christians deserve religious liberty in the US military.  In 2011, the MRFF demanded the US Air Force Academy rescind a speaking invitation given to someone who “does not represent true Christianity” [emphasis added].  For that same event, Weinstein was personally outraged the invitation was given to the wrong kind of Christian.  In another scenario, Chris Rodda readily admitted the MRFF opposed the religious beliefs of Christians, not any action or conduct on their part.

The MRFF just recently refined their definition of “acceptable” religious Christian belief.

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired Army Colonel and recent addition to the MRFF.  He also joined Michael Weinstein at his much ballyhooed Pentagon meeting last month.  Wilkerson recently published a tirade against “so-called” Christians who are the target of the MRFF’s wrath:

Another perniciously destructive anomaly threatened good order and discipline in the ranks. And this one came from so-called Christians.

I write “so-called” simply because these people do not believe in the Christ of the Scriptures; they believe in some human-crafted, almost demonic Read more

WSJ Cites Chilling Effect of Air Force Meeting with Weinstein

The Wall Street Journal had a fairly balanced article on the recent dust up over Air Force leaders choosing to meet with religious freedom critic Michael Weinstein at the Pentagon in late April.  Author Mollie Ziegler Hemingway accurately notes that there’s been a bit of sensationalism in recent headlines:

Initial reports on these matters were exaggerated, taken out of context or simply false.

But she also acknowledges that, exaggerated or not, there are still some valid concerns:

For one thing, the Pentagon statement clarifying that military personnel would not be court-martialed if they “evangelize” also said that “proselytization” is considered a [UCMJ] offense. Yet the definitions of those two words are almost identical…

Further, the WSJ piece notes that regardless of any hyperbole in recent claims, there remains concern over the mere fact the Air Force met with Weinstein:  Read more

US Military Clarifies Religious Freedom Policy. Again.

For the third time in a week, the US military released a statement attempting to articulate the DoD’s policy on religious freedom. In response to multiple media questions, LtCmdr Nathan Christensen issued the following statement [emphasis added]:

There is no DOD wide policy that directly addresses religious proselytizing. Furthermore, there is no effort within the department to make religious proselytizing a specific offense within the UCMJ, including under Article 134.

Service members may exercise their rights under the 1st Amendment regarding the free exercise of religion unless doing so adversely affects good order, discipline, or some other aspect of the military mission; even then, the Department seeks a reasonable religious accommodation for the service member. In general, service members may share their faith with other service members, but may not forcibly attempt to convert others of any faith or no faith to their own beliefs.

Concerns about these issues are handled on a case by case basis by the leaders of the unit involved.

In other words, the prior statement that did try to “directly address religious proselytizing” is…retracted?

The statement essentially reverts the DoD from the “new” (first, “uncomfortable,” then evangelism vs proselytizing) back to the “old” more Read more

US Military Clarifies Religious Policy, Disavows Weinstein Agenda

In another setback for Michael Weinstein’s vitriolic assaults on religious freedom in the US military, the Department of Defense issued a clarifying statement (full text below) disavowing Weinstein’s characterizations and accusations.

It did so in a unique way, however:

Service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one’s beliefs (proselytization).

(The DoD statement would presumably override the one from the Air Force the day prior, saying troops couldn’t share their faith if it made others “uncomfortable.”)

It’s an awkward turn of semantics, since most dictionaries don’t define “proselytizing” as being “unwanted” or “intrusive” (its a neutral term “to convert”).  Over the past few years, the term has been so often associated with “coercion” it has come to have a negative connotation.  (Weinstein’s research assistant, Chris Rodda, actually agrees the Read more

Gazette on Weinstein: Miffed USAFA Critic Buys Billboard

The Colorado Springs Gazette, local to the US Air Force Academy, noted that religious freedom critic Michael Weinstein apparently bought a billboard ad to publish Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz’s memorandum on religious neutrality, which Chris Rodda says USAFA is “withholding.”

Air Force Academy critic Mikey Weinstein, miffed that a four-star’s memo on religious respect wasn’t e-mailed to cadets at the Air Force Academy, published the 200-word memo himself Tuesday on a Colorado Springs billboard.

Weinstein is apparently relegated to billboards because USAFA won’t answer his voluminous emails or return his phone calls.  Publicly, he claims he billboarded the memo because General Gould wouldn’t give in to his demands:  Read more

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