Tag Archives: religious freedom

Air Force May Change Religious Freedom Policy

Mikey Weinstein’s confused take on the Air Force’s policy:  It’s like an umbrella in a tsunami…

McClatchy asked the question no other media outlet has in the past few weeks: What ever became of the “offsite” Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said she was convening?

Late last month, James and Welsh convened a “Religious Freedom Focus Day” conference of senior chaplains and legal and manpower officials to discuss the policy. An Air Force spokeswoman, Rose Richeson, declined to make the results of the April 28 meeting public, saying it would be “too premature to provide an interview.”

It would seem, though, someone may have heard what occurred:

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council…said that based on what he’d heard from people at the meeting he expected the Air Force to “make a policy change shortly.”

The article says Perkins’ statement “alarms supporters of the policy,” and cites exactly one person: Michael “Mikey” Weinstein.  The policy Read more

Governor Jindal on War Against Religious Liberty

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal — a Catholic and potential presidential candidate — delivered the commencement at Liberty University on May 10th. Like Chancellor Jerry Falwell, much of what he said focused on the attacks on religious liberty in the United States today:

Today the American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent war…

It is a war — a silent war — against religious liberty…

In this misbegotten and un-American conception of religious liberty, your rights begin and end in the pew. This is ridiculous. We have the right to practice our faith and protect our conscience no matter where we happen to be…

Read more here, or watch the entire Liberty graduation here.

ADVERTISEMENT

USCIRF Appointee: Religious Freedom is Fundamental Right

Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest, was recently appointed by President Obama to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. The USCIRF makes policy recommendations to the US government regarding “freedom of religion or belief abroad.”

In a recent column, Reese expounded on the 2014 USCIRF report (published before his appointment) and highlighted the USCIRF’s assertion that religious freedom is a “fundamental human right,” one that even the US doesn’t always get exactly right:  Read more

Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell, Bill Wagasy Talk Faith, Service

Former US Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell — best known for the book and movie Lone Survivor — and Bill Wagasy recently spoke to a group of Texas high school students on leadership, character, and faith in God.

“Billy and I are kind of cut from the same cloth, if you will,” Luttrell said, mentioning the students should pay attention to Wagasy’s advice. “We started up together, came up together, deployed into combat together…”

Between Wagasy’s talks on honor, developing character, brotherhood, fearing God and developing intellect, the students Read more

The Need for Military Chaplains

The Southern Baptist Convention recently noted the value of US military chaplains even here at home — in the wake of the second Fort Hood shooting:

“This tragic event highlights the critically important ministry of chaplains,” Doug Carver, executive director for chaplaincy at the North American Mission Board, said. “They are able to minister immediately in situations like this, even before churches can respond, because chaplains are there in the military community as soldiers themselves.

“The armed forces don’t see chaplains as pastors in uniform. They see them as members of the family,” Carver said. “The culture in the military is so close-knit that when a soldier is hurt, that means a family member is hurting. Military life is family.”

Carver’s point is an important one: Chaplains are not Read more

Chick-fil-A Beats KFC Again, But Why?

Chick-fil-A bested KFC as the “leader in the US chicken fast-food industry,” though KFC has more stores open more often. (Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sunday.)

Chick-fil-A reportedly had 1,775 locations and pulled in $5.05 billion in sales last year, according to Technomic. KFC had 4,438 stores that pulled in $4.22 billion in U.S. sales.

As to why they’re closed on Sunday — something often attributed to religion — its “as much practical as spiritual:”

“Our founder, Truett Cathy…believes Read more

US Air Force Academy Hosts Wiccan Priestess

While the US Air Force Academy is regularly accused of being dominated by Christianity, its support for other faith systems routinely goes unnoticed or unpublicized (even by its own Public Affairs, apparently):

Selena Fox, who calls herself a Wiccan priestess, was recently hosted by the USAFA chaplains. (She’s holding a chapel coin.) They took a hike with some local pagans up to Falcon Circle, formerly known as the LZ, an “outdoor chapel” area created with some intent to host earth-centered religious adherents a few years ago.

ADVERTISEMENT

Commentators Cite Military Chaplains after SCOTUS Prayer Case

John Ragosta, Paul Finkelman and Steven K. Green, “legal scholars and historians who participated as amicus” in the recent Greece prayer case at the Supreme Court, struggled to understand what the Supreme Court intended to mean by its ruling:

The court fails, though, to explain what this means, an issue that the dissent takes up. Should prayers occur before the public is invited into the room? Should prayers be directed only at the board? Should the members themselves take turns invoking prayers, making it clear that they are personal and not “official” prayers?

These scholars missed the obvious issue that Read more

1 … 152 153 154 155 156 … 286