A religious liberty panel sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission agreed that
religious liberty will be the civil rights issue of the next decade
The panel members included Phillip Bethancourt, Samuel Rodriguez, Rick Warren, David Platt and Russell Moore. Rick Warren spoke for many when he advocated for a “free market” of religious belief, not the restriction or imposition of any: Read more
As reported at FoxNews, the union representing civilian employees at Eglin Air Force Base demanded the removal of two “senior management officials” because they displayed “I Support Phil” stickers.
Alan Cooper, the executive vice president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, said one of the officials also displayed the “I Support Phil” decals in his office last month and offered them to subordinates.
“The BUE (bargaining union employee) was clearly offended and disgusted that a senior management official would display Read more
US Army Maj. Gen. Marcia Anderson was recently profiled (at The Root, a website for “African-American influencers”) as an example of diversity in the US military, given her position as the “most senior-ranking black woman” in the military made her an indicator of the “color of change.”
While there are often many criticisms regarding the practice of highlighting “differences” in a world that is supposedly blind to such differences, Gen Anderson did make one comment that is valuable in discussions about being an example to others [emphasis added]: Read more
In an interesting comparison on perspective, the Washington Times noted near the end of May that some were making an effort to “push [the] military for more religious liberty,” including members of Congress:
Rep. John Fleming, Louisiana Republican, criticized the military for appearing “zealous to shut down expressions of faith.”
“This is our military telling service members to raise their hands and ask permission before they dare to utter an expression of faith,” Mr. Fleming said during a speech at the Family Research Council.
Daniel Blomberg of the Becket Fund noted that Congress had twice passed laws requiring the US military to “be more accommodating to religious beliefs and practices,” laws Read more
In what was probably an attempt at clever semantics, Aviano Air Base advertised its homosexual “Pride Month” as “Celebrating ‘Pride,’ condemning prejudice.” Unfortunately, the inarticulate result is a title that implies the Air Force celebrates sexuality and “condemns” the opposing view of its religious Airmen as “prejudice.”
Interestingly, the spokesperson for Aviano’s event cited diversity not only in sexuality, but also in religion [emphasis added]: Read more
Retired Marine Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter was recently presented the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony. During a Fox and Friends interview, Carpenter was asked about a tattoo he has of a Bible verse:
“Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. Psalms 144:1”
Carpenter explained that he and his fellow Marines Read more
FoxNews reported that the US embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, raised a rainbow flag immediately below Old Glory.
As many know, the rainbow was a symbol of God’s promise to man that He would not again destroy the earth by flood — something He did after the world’s sin and debauchery brought about its destruction by water. So the rainbow flag is an excellent reminder of God’s promise.
Of course, that’s not what the embassy meant Read more
SrA Kayla Dale talks with other participants in the gay pride parade, June 7, 2014, in Seoul, Republic of Korea. (USAF photo, SSgt Jake Barreiro)
The 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs ran an interesting human interest story on Senior Airman Kayla Dale, describing how she escaped the “dark realities of inner-city Chicago” to become an Air Force Airman.
Perhaps as a result of the June celebration of “LGBT pride” in the DoD, the article highlights sexuality, noting she is a “double minority” as an “African-American lesbian.” The article even quotes her Aunt — and takes the time to point out that she, too, is a lesbian.
More interesting, however, is that Dale notes her personal conflict between religious belief and sexuality: Read more