Tag Archives: Public Expression

US Military Publishes New Religious Freedom Guidance

A host of websites have reported the US Department of Defense has “relaxed” its rules regarding religious accommodation. More accurately, the military has updated its policies on requesting such accommodations in a manner that does seem to imply they will be more amenable to such requests.  Department of Defense Instruction 1300.17 (DoDI 1300.17) now has “Change 1”, which can be found here (PDF).

“The new policy states that military departments will accommodate religious requests of service members,” [Pentagon spokesman Navy LtCmdr Nathan Christensen] said, “unless a request would have an adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion and good order and discipline.”

When a service member requests such an accommodation, he added, department officials balance the need of the service member against the need to accomplish the military mission. Such a request is denied only if an official determines that mission accomplishment needs outweigh the need of the service member, Christensen said.

The key word in the quote and the instruction itself — the DoD will accommodate.

These changes include an apparent allowance of religious facial hair and “body art,” as well as direct responses to the 2013 and 2014 National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) requiring the US military to accommodate religious expression: Read more

Huckabee, Potential 2016 Presidential Candidate, on Military Religious Freedom

During a lengthy interview with the Baptist Press, former (and potentially future) Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee talked about religious freedom — and the military:

The American people must be willing to stand up for religious liberty, Huckabee said.

“The government’s job is not to say you can’t have a nativity scene, you can’t sing a Christmas carol, you can’t wear colors of red and green at Christmastime,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite. The government is prohibited from getting involved at all, making any decisions. It’s the role of citizens to express themselves if their expression infringed upon someone else.”

Those appear to be references to recent issues in the US military and the Veteran’s Administration. Huckabee later specifically mentioned the military:

The military is another battleground for religious freedom, Read more

Lawsuit Against Mikey Weinstein Survives Dismissal

In 2012, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein lost the fifth of five lawsuits he has filed since 2005. None survived to trial. The last was Weinstein v Ammerman, which was a personal lawsuit against former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt for his “imprecatory prayers.” As with all of his lawsuits, Weinstein promised an “aggressive” appeal when it was dismissed. As with all of his lawsuits, Weinstein never appealed.

The essence of Klingenschmitt’s defense was the only “harm” Weinstein could produce occurred prior to Klingenschmitt’s public prayers. It was said several times that for Weinstein’s case to have merit, he would have needed a time machine.

As a result, following the dismissal of Weinstein’s lawsuit, Klingenschmitt chose to file a lawsuit against Weinstein for “abuse of process” and defamation. The former, because Weinstein allegedly filed his lawsuit knowing it to be false; the latter, because Weinstein allegedly knowingly connected Klingenschmitt with criminal acts he had nothing to do with.

Last week, a New Mexico judge dismissed the abuse claim but allowed the defamation claim to proceed.

A defamation lawsuit filed by a Read more

Chaplains Praise Post-DADT Military, Criticize Fellow Chaplains

In a Unitarian Universalist article entitled “End of DOMA brings new openness for military chaplains,” a chaplain and his endorser recently spoke about the ability to be “more open” now that DADT has been repealed:

[Unitarian Universalist] chaplains are now able to more easily support soldiers who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual and to help provide services for them and their families…

“The big difference is in my ability to be much more open myself about what my stance is,” said Chaplain (Captain) George Tyger, an active duty UU military chaplain. “As a UU minister, I represent the Unitarian Universalist Association in the military. Before DADT went down, I had to tiptoe around the issue, and now I don’t. I can say, ‘This is how I feel; I’m 100 percent affirming.’”

It’s an interesting highlight in an era in which most people seem to assume military chaplains universally have a problem with homosexuality.

By the same token, its no small irony that while a “100% affirming” military chaplain now has the confidence to boldly proclaim his support for homosexuality, non-affirming chaplains have reportedly had their confidence Read more

US Navy Disregarding DADT Repeal Plan?

Update: The theme continued at the Air Force Times nearly three weeks later.

The US Navy recently announced (on its continuously updated DADT page) that it had coordinated with Japan to understand that “spouse” in the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) would cover a “same-sex” couple. (Published at the Washington Post, repeated at Stars and Stripes.) As a result,

The Navy [said] in a notice to personnel that it had added Japan to its list of overseas assignments for same-sex couples…The Navy has made only Japan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, available

as overseas assignments for gay couples.

The specifics of that announcement were largely missed or simply viewed as another “victory” by homosexual advocacy groups, including the American Military Partner Association, which

described the Navy’s decision as “welcome news” but noted that the armed forces do not treat same-sex spouses equally at many duty stations abroad.

Oddly, neither the AMPA nor anyone else seems to have noted this “special treatment” for homosexuals in assignments was never supposed to happen.

The Pentagon’s DADT repeal report Read more

Chris Rodda, Mikey Weinstein Go Off Script on Religious Freedom

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation believes the 2014 NDAA language requiring the US military to accommodate religious expression — not just religious belief — is “a good thing.”

Simultaneously, Weinstein’s MRFF also believes the language is “a blank check for bullies.”

Awkwardly, Weinstein and his “special research assistant” Chris Rodda issued opposing MRFF statements on precisely the same subject.

In mid-December, Rodda, speaking for Weinstein’s “charity,” said this in a little-noticed MRFF posting [emphasis added]:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein vs Bill O’Reilly on Combat

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein made a fairly effective effort to focus the debacle of his “interview” with Bill O’Reilly last week on an O’Reilly quote near the end of the piece. After O’Reilly called the removal of the Nativity at Guantanamo a “cowardly” decision and questioned why Weinstein’s anonymous “clients” didn’t have the “cajones” to come on The O’Reilly Factor, Weinstein pushed back with “at least [my clients] joined the military…” In response, O’Reilly said

“I covered four wars with a pen…so don’t impugn my courage ever again.”

That retort can justifiably be criticized — but can Weinstein criticize it? O’Reilly was apparently referring to being a correspondent and experiencing a couple of “firefights.” According to his own admissions, the closest Weinstein came to combat was giving a briefing on the breakup of AT&T. While Weinstein did serve in the Air Force, he spent nearly half his uniformed career as a student.

O’Reilly looked foolish trying to buttress his combat cred with his “pen.” But Weinstein is throwing stones pretty confidently for someone who lives in a glass house.

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VA Screens Christian Christmas Cards

Update: The VA’s treatment of Christianity over the past Christmas has caught the attention of Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL), among others.

A few reports have covered the Veterans’ Administration policy that requires Christmas to be filtered based on its Christian content:

A VA official quoted the policy which is in the Veterans Health Administration handbook:

“In order to be respectful of our veterans’ religious beliefs, all donated holiday cards are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team of staff led by chaplaincy services and determined if they are appropriate (non-religious) to freely distribute to patients. We regret this process was not fully explained to this group and apologize for any misunderstanding.”

Apparently, this wasn’t the only Christmas event in which Christianity was Read more

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