Tag Archives: religious freedom

USAFA Cadets Mock “Mike Whinestein” in Religion Scandal

Cadets at the US Air Force Academy recently penned a fake news article bemoaning a religious “cult” plaguing their school: the cult of the Sky Crane, aimed at the large crane overshadowing the campus constructing the “uniquely-shaped” Center for Character and Leadership Development.

Filled with innuendo and double entendre, the Onion-worthy piece highlights the persecution of cadets who fail to share the religion of the crane:

Cadets who will not embrace “Our Lord, the Crane” have found themselves increasingly marginalized and excluded from Wing activities:

“I have truly felt the soft, inconsequential blow of cadet discrimination. Last Thursday I tried to AMI a room in Sijan and was told to get out on account of my non-belief in our Lord and Savior the Crane. Over Read more

Chaplains as God’s Hands and Feet on the Front Lines

The Christian Examiner writes about US Army Chaplain (Maj) Stanton Trotter, who was deployed three times to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan:

Trotter said often what is required from army chaplains is their physical presence.

“The soldiers want their chaplain to be with them in the field,” Trotter said. “They want them to be jumping from the same airplane, to be out in the field, and to experience the same life they have. When they see that, they can say ‘this guy or gal is one of us and I can relate to them.'”

During deployments, physical proximity often means entering danger zones…

US military chaplains put Read more

Atheists Misrepresent Military Religious Data. Again.

In what has become standard practice for atheists trying to inflate their numbers, the Freedom From Religion Foundation ran an ad in USA Today’s Year in Defense claiming nearly a quarter of the US military is “not religious” [emphasis added]:

Proselytizing officers got you down? Annoyed by preaching chaplain emails? Frustrated by prayer at mandatory events? Tripping over bibles with every about face? If you’re one of the 23.4%* of the U.S. military who is not religious, join the ranks of America’s largest non-prophet nonprofit…

As previously noted, atheists who take pride in their “skepticism” and reliance upon demonstrable data over mere belief have been very quick to express their belief in the report from the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers that initiated the 23.4% number — despite the fact the data does not support the conclusion.

The asterisk in the ad leads to Read more

Army Removes “God and Country” after Army Times Inquiry

A US Army recruiting post in Phoenix, Arizona, removed a sign with “On a mission for God and country” tag line after a media inquiry.

The poster, which features a Special Forces patch along with Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces tabs, includes “a stock image” the command makes available for local recruiters, spokesman Brian Lepley said in an email, “but the text was changed by the local recruiting personnel” and not cleared by command headquarters.

That’s really about it. The poster could have said “For Mom and Apple Pie” and also would have been removed if the customized official sign had not gone through the proper approval process.

According to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, though, the US Army was caught in an open attempt to recruit Christians to violently take over the country. Seriously.  In response to the poster, Weinstein says:

[T]here exists a brutal, sectarian, Christian fundamentalist reign exercised within the United States Armed Forces, constituting a de facto Dominionist fifth column. In fact, it’s often so brazen that it’s not even very “fifth columny” anymore.

Since the reason Read more

Religious Freedom Day, 16 January 2015

Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. President Obama has not yet issued his proclamation this year [Edit: now available] but will likely do so today.

Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today. Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute. First, Read more

Mikey Weinstein Attacks Military Church Services

Remember the inspirational video of US Marines praising God with Days of Elijah during a Sunday worship service last September?

That is what Mikey Weinstein says he is “up against.”

When Mikey Weinstein objects to Christians attending church, can there be any doubt that he’s not really interested in “religious freedom?”

This is what we at MRFF are up against… the Dominionist “Holy Warrior” indoctrination of U.S. service personnel!

(The normally critical atheist Jason Torpy Read more

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