Much has been made of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s latest campaign commercial saying he would “end Obama’s war on religion.” What is interesting is how he chose to characterize that fight against religion:
There’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school…
Governor Perry associated the open service of Read more
Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers was recently interviewed by NPR on the topic of atheist chaplains. At one point he said he felt “excluded…because of his beliefs” while he was in the Army. His unit was preparing for a convoy:
Going on a military mission, for example, we were getting ready to roll out…So as the commander of this convoy (said), ‘Everybody come in and we’re going to do a prayer first together.’ We’re not going to talk about communications, we’re not going to talk about route planning, we’re not going to talk about first aid, we’re not going to talk about maintenance.
So I had to opt myself out of that situation, to ‘out’ myself because this commander took it upon himself to have a personal religious activity in the midst of a military mission.
CNS News caught that, and later asked Torpy to clarify. Torpy ultimately admitted the unit had prepared for the mission, despite his implication Read more
Rabbi Menachem Stern previously sued the US Army for accepting him as a chaplain candidate — and then unaccepting him when they realized he intended to keep his beard.
The Aleph Institute, a Chabad-Lubavitch organization that assists Jewish military personnel, Jewish inmates and their families, and Sens. Charles E. Schumer, Kristen Gillibrand and Joseph Lieberman sought to persuade top brass that the rabbi should be able to keep his beard.
As have many others, they cited Chaplain Goldstein Read more
Yesterday the American Center for Law and Justice’s David French wrote a scathing (and accurate) critique of Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation (though it never mentions Weinstein by name). The piece is entitled “The Campaign Against the Cross is Not About “Freedom,”” and its genesis is the current controversy over the cross at a memorial on Camp Pendleton.
French minces no words:
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is perhaps the most deceptively-named organization in the United States. Its tone is hysterical (it actually calls those who complain about religious influence “spiritual rape victims/tormentees”) and its methods Orwellian.
French also noted an example of the MRFF’s practice of publishing letters from those who claim to be active servicemembers, with their names redacted. Chris Rodda published a letter from a Marine senior NCO that French called “incredibly profane and unprofessional.” The redacted writer even said would probably be “kicked out” of the Read more
As noted before, some atheists, like many political or social activists, can sometimes become so engrossed in their presumed persecution they see offense where none exists.
Military atheists, for example, took a General officer to task when she made the fairly benign statement that military service requires you to believe in things “bigger than yourself.” They derided a US military Chaplain for describing his duties as required by regulation. In both cases, statements were attributed to the officers they didn’t actually say — it was just what the atheists thought they heard — a perception apparently skewed by an assumption of persecution. Most recently, atheists brought up an old story about a Navy atheist who was “forced to permanently cover” a tattoo. CTR2 Michael Wheeler had the logo of the band Bad Religion, the “crossbuster,” tattooed on his arm where it was visible, even in uniform:
Naturally, there was much consternation and implication of persecution on the part of the atheists. In the end, a few who commented did correctly note a Read more
Ian Smith of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has written a letter to Camp Pendleton’s commander joining Jason Torpy in his calls to have the memorial cross removed.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written to base commander Col. Nick Marano, saying the cross’s establishment on government property represents an unconstitutional endorsement of the Christian religion.
Ironically, or ignorantly, Smith undermines his own message: Read more
Some in American society today seem to think resurgent zealots are trying to push Christianity on society through their use of crosses, even within the US military.
Facts, however, show the long tradition of use of crosses as military memorials.
THIS SIMPLE CROSS WAS ERECTED at the western tip of Betio as a monument in memory of the 2nd Division Marines who were killed in the battle for Tarawa.
Crosses have been raised on Read more
Fresh off accusations the US military forces its young, impressionable troops to pray in formation, an entire formation of US Marines did so in front of nearly 75,000 football fans.
Marines perform their version of ‘Tebowing’ before the Broncos-Jets game on Nov. 17. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)
Actually, they’re Tebowing. Then again, Tebowing is praying, by definition. And they’re in uniform. These Marines must be Read more