Tag Archives: Public Expression

Retired Airman Thrown Out of Ceremony Because of Religion

oscarIn a drama that can only be described as tragic and embarrassing, US Air Force NCOs physically tossed retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez out of a Travis AFB retirement ceremony (and the building in which it was being conducted) — even after the retiree, Chuck Roberson, had invited him to narrate his retirement flag ceremony. The video, made public first at John Q. Public and since repeated at FoxNews, is at once disturbing and enraging.

Retired LtCol Tony Carr does a decent job of hammering the shameful and inappropriate mistreatment of the retired SMSgt. What was interesting, though, was the Air Force’s official response. As quoted Read more

The Top 3 Military Chaplain Fallacies

by Sonny Hernandez

Serving in the United States Military Chaplaincy is a solemn responsibility of servility and intrepidity. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is an indicative that subjugates Christian believers to willfully evangelize and make disciples. A military chaplain must have a true affinity for the lost (unconverted), and possess a love that is implacable for the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen that they serve. A military chaplain must exercise their constitutional right to faithfully and expositionally teach and preach the whole counsel of God’s special and propositional revelation. Why? Military chaplains that never evangelizes, soft-peddles truth, willfully omits the name of Christ in prayer out of fear of offending others instead of God, substitutes Scripture with psycho-therapy, and cares more about their career than Christ are not examples of holiness and Christ-centeredness; they are examples of hypocrisy and childish-conceits.

A military chaplain must also be willing to persevere and remain steadfast when the culture has increasingly become execrable against God. There will always be impediments against military chaplaincy. In fact, there are exponential stumbling blocks that will attempt to thwart a chaplain’s ministerial fidelity. If a military chaplain prays in the name of Christ a complaint may eventually arise. If a military chaplain does not embrace Read more

“Anti-Religion Hysteria” as VA Removes Bible From POW Table. Again.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently declared “victory” after a second Veterans Administration facility altered the traditional POW/MIA remembrance table in response to his complaints.

An MRFF representative, retired US Army Capt Jordan Ray, had filed the complaint about the facility more than an hour and a half away from him — so far out of his way, in fact, that he asked the VA to take the time to photograph the “new” display so he didn’t have to drive down to do it himself, giving the MRFF a fundraising prop for free.

Writing at FoxNews.com, Mike Berry of First Liberty Institute decried Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s attempts to overturn the tables of POW/MIA remembrance memorials around the country:

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, founder and president of the deceptively-named Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), demanded an Akron, Ohio VA clinic remove the Bible from its POW/MIA remembrance table. This isn’t the first time the MRFF has targeted a symbol of faith for our nation’s POWs and MIAs. In 2014, it attacked remembrance tables in the Air Force and Navy.

It goes without saying that Weinstein has an issue with the Bible. Besides his Read more

US Soldier Climbs Mountain Carrying Cross

mitchellThe local Alaska Dispatch News reported on US Army National Guard Soldier Richard Mitchell, who recently climbed Flattop Mountain carrying a wooden cross:

I just felt called to do it. It made me remember why I’m here on this earth, and I also wanted to do it for people out there suffering from depression and contemplating suicide. For me, religion has always helped…

His climb memorialized the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he said, but he Read more

Military Grants One Sikh Exemption, Three More File Lawsuit

singhThe US Army extended its religious accommodation of Capt Simratpal Singh, a Soldier who had decided to return to his Sikh practices and had sued after the Army tried to subject him to additional testing not required of other Soldiers.

The response from the Army (PDF) is intended to moot the suit. The accommodation allowing Singh to wear his religious accoutrements is open-ended, but it is heavily qualified with the Army’s caveats that it might remove the accommodation at any time. Perhaps more importantly:  Read more

US Sailor Attacks North Carolina Bathroom Bill

willing2Last week the North Carolina legislature passed a fairly common sense bill (PDF) that, among other things, required municipalities and schools to designate bathrooms by gender — that is, a person’s biological gender, not the gender they may say they are.  The State also specifically limited protected class status to biological gender.

As with other efforts in this vein, a smattering of companies have implied they may take their business elsewhere in response to this “bathroom bill” that would segregate boys from girls during their private endeavors.  (The San Francisco mayor said the same, though why he in particular is notable is unclear.)

This law also generated an open letter on Facebook by US Navy LT(JG) Megan Joan Willingham, who describes herself as a Sailor stationed in Okinawa, Japan:  Read more

Boone County War Memorial with Hidden Ichthus Finally Moved

A war memorial dedicated to two Boone County Soldiers killed 25 years ago in Operation Desert Storm irked the American Atheists and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State because it originally had an ichthus at the base.

The monument was in a park with similar monuments dedicated to county residents who had died in previous wars.

The County eventually covered the ichthus with a plaque. The families of the two men ultimately agreed to leave the symbol covered, but even that wasn’t good enough for the atheist opposition.  After Read more

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