Tag Archives: Public Expression

Atheist Chaplain Analyzes USAFA Whiteboards, Freethinkers

Chris Stedman, the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, took to the Religion News Service to express his view on recent events at the US Air Force Academy. Specifically, he addressed Todd Starnes’ comparison of how USAFA took down a Bible verse recently and censored Christian cadets in the past — but allowed atheists to advertise their beliefs. Stedman said:

The stated reason for removing the Bible verse—attempting to ensure that no person, perhaps particularly religious minorities, feels coerced or discriminated against—is a good one… Read more

Mikey Weinstein Teams Up with Casey on ACLJ Radio Show

Weinstein Wants Christian Cadets Punished, but Not Atheists

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein appeared on the ACLJ radio program Jay Sekulow Live with attorneys Jay Sekulow, Jordan Sekulow, and retired US Army LtCol Skip Ash to respectfully “debate” again — as Weinstein and Jay Sekulow did in 2007 at USAFA. The topic was, once again, the Bible verse stricken from a cadet’s whiteboard.  During the conversation, Weinstein reiterated his position that the cadet who posted a Bible verse on his dry erase board should be punished:

We want to have visible punishment for the cadet…

He also said he would “not oppose” courts-martial for the cadet’s active duty chain of command.

As before, he declined to call for the same punishments regarding the atheist cadets he claims to have “complained” about a few days later, instead, Read more

Hobby Lobby, the American Culture, and Religious Freedom

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, writing at his Moore to the Point, referencing today’s arguments at the US Supreme Court regarding health care mandates and religious freedom, which he calls “the most important religious liberty case in a generation“:

This case isn’t about politics or culture wars. This case will set the tone for the next hundred years of church/state jurisprudence in this country. This case will tell us whether we’ve bartered away a birthright paid for with our forebears’ blood…

Our government has treated free exercise of religion as though it were a tattered house standing in the way of a government construction of a railroad; there to be bought off or plowed out of the way, in the name of progress.

The government wants us to sing from their hymn book, “Onward, Sexual Revolutionaries,” but we can’t do that. We love and respect our leaders, but when they set themselves up as overlords Read more

Report: Bible Controversy at Maxwell AFB

FoxNews Todd Starnes reports on a “Bible controversy” at Maxwell AFB that is, actually, many years old:

For more than a decade new military recruits at Maxwell Air Force Base – Gunter Annex in Alabama have received a Bible from Gideons International volunteers. But that tradition has come to an end after volunteers said they were told by the military that they would no longer be allowed to personally distribute the pocket-sized Bibles to recruits.

A MEPSCOM spokesman explained a little bit more:

Gaylan Johnson, is a public affairs officer for the Military Entrance Processing Command. He told me the Gideons’ side of the story is “not strictly true.”

“They can place their literature within our facility, but they are not allowed to stand there and talk with applicants or hand them (the Bibles) out.”

Unfortunately, this is the product of an old ACLU complaint — from Read more

Weinstein uses Atheist Complaint as Proof of Equality

Update: Todd Starnes at FoxNews covers ‘the rest of the story‘ (via the PatriotPost) left unsaid — or unknown — by Mikey Weinstein.  He notes, for example, both the staff tower announcement at Mitch’s and the wing-wide email, which the Academy defended — though it didn’t defend those same actions by Christians against Weinstein’s attacks in 2011. Also, [formatting original]

The Cadets who contacted me about the atheist event indicated that they were not objecting to the promotion of that event, but to the hypocrisy of that promotion, versus a fellow Cadet being asked to remove a Bible verse from his door. Obviously, only the Christian expression of faith is the target of AFA discrimination, and it is Johnson’s “religious impartiality” which should be in contention.

Jason Torpy and the MAAF — Weinstein’s erstwhile ally — took issue with his characterizations of their activities (though they supported removing the Bible verse).

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF has said he filed a “complaint” about atheists at the US Air Force Academy — and this is proof that he’s an equal opportunity critic:

Weinstein said an atheist cadet announced at the academy’s chow hall on Wednesday, while everyone was at attention, that Wednesday and Thursday would be “Ask an Atheist” days.” Weinstein said a group of the cadets set up a display on the third floor of Fairchild Hall, which includes classrooms, lab and research facilities and faculty offices.

“Replace ‘Ask an Atheist’ with ‘Ask a Christian,’ ‘Ask a Jew,” or “Ask a Muslim,'” said Weinstein, and the problem is obvious. “This is unlawful.”

The first question: Is Weinstein’s accusation accurate?

Simply, no. Weinstein appears to take issue with both the announcement and the actual “event.” The former is an announcement, nothing more. The US Air Force Academy is Read more

“Offended” Cadets Need Correction before Commissioning

LtGen Michelle Johnson, Superintendent of the US Air Force Academy, gave some insight into her reaction to cadets who “protested” the removal of a Bible verse by posting verses and quotes of their own:

Since Monday, there’s been a wave of freedom, religious and otherwise, on the 2,000 whiteboards outside cadet dorm rooms.

In response to the online flap that developed over Monday’s posting and erasure, hundreds of cadets took up their pens and posted quotes from the Bible, Talmud, Qu’ran and non-religious sources.

“It seems 20-year-olds have a sense of humor,” Johnson said.

The academy has told cadets to use taste and caution in what they post. The goal, Johnson said, is to have a climate of respect.

Of course, there’s no evidence the first cadet to put up a verse violated standards of “taste and caution,” so its unclear if that will remain a consistent standard.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council praised the cadets who bravely exercised their faith and their freedom. (Notably, some cadets who joined the protest weren’t even religious — they just Read more

Chaplain Jonathan Fisher Claims Unique Service to All

US Army Chaplain Jonathan Fisher recently made a splash with his peers by blogging on the topic of “inclusiveness,” in which he laid down the law saying he was going to be inclusive, even if it seems like other chaplains don’t want to be.

His made substantial use of an implied strawman:

I am a chaplain for ALL my Soldiers. All of them. The gay ones. The straight ones. The fat ones. The skinny ones. The conservative ones. The liberal ones. The religious ones. The non religious ones. The connected to church and the far away. The reason driven and the faith-based. The agnostic and the Christian. The pagan, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, Read more

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