Tag Archives: religious freedom

There are No Agnostics in Foxholes (but there are Quakers)

In an article on the recent changes in DoD policy regarding religious accommodation, USA Today made this observation:

The wide variety of worship or lack thereof is reflected in the ranks of the 1.3 million active-duty force. Troops aren’t compelled to report but many do. The most popular affiliations: Christian, no denomination chosen, 346,752; no religious preference, 277,563; Roman Catholic, 262,248.

Elsewhere in the ranks, there are 301 Quakers and 1,561 troops who practice witchcraft. But you won’t an agnostic in the Army. There are 3,126 atheists but not one agnostic.

To be fair, the same demographics note there are more than 6,000 agnostics in the other three services.  Apparently everyone in the Army is certain — one way or the other.

Repeated at the Air Force Times.

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Mikey Weinstein Gets Creative with the Facts. Again.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently celebrated the “anniversary” of his idea to create his Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

Ten years ago on this day, the idea for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation came when USAFA cadets were forced to attend screenings of Passion of the Christ.

That does sound pretty bad, particularly since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has nothing to do with the mission of USAFA.

Too bad Weinstein isn’t telling the truth.

In 2004 — and for 6 years thereafter — neither Weinstein nor anyone else ever said anyone was forced to watch a movie, despite his repeated referral to that event. This is what he did say in years past:

[In] the early part of February 2004 when Read more

Airman on Being an Atheist in the Military (Video)

An Air Force Airman posting as “A1C Venom” has started a YouTube page in which he comments on various issues of religion, including “Atheism in the Military.” His video is calmly presented and not altogether unbalanced, though a few of his comments are confusing, leading one to wonder if he actually understands some of what he’s saying or how well informed he is.

For example, he states at the beginning of the video that he’s “seen a lot of discrimination” as an atheist in the military, yet he doesn’t provide a single example of discrimination. He does talk about prayer at military events (which he feels is Read more

Klingenschmitt: Chaplain’s Statement Proves Need for Protections

Former US Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt recently responded to testimony by the Rev James Magness, the Episcopal Church’s Armed Forces Bishop, given at the House Armed Services Committee (previously discussed here):

Klingenschmitt calls it arrogant for James Magness, the Washington National Cathedral’s bishop for the armed forces, to say that chaplains who pray in Jesus’ name risk offending non-Christian troops and harming unit cohesion.

“This quote by him demonstrates exactly the reason Read more

Air Force Pilot Gives it All to God

The US Air Force published an interesting story about 2Lt Abraham Morland, whose origins may be a little unique but whose desires about Air Force flying are probably pretty common:

Second Lt. Abraham Morland…held dual citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He was born to British parents in Tulsa, Okla., where his father worked as a flight simulator technician…

“My real love was America, I wanted to come back home to the states and join the U.S. Air Force,” he said.

As a result, his parents moved back to the United Sates so their son could pursue his dream of becoming an American pilot.

Morland ultimately enlisted and then spent years trying to Read more

Paper Revives DADT Survey Debate

The Department of Defense “studied” the impact of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by performing a much-contested survey of US troops in 2010. While the effort was reportedly intended to gather data and draw conclusions based upon that data, there were accusations at the time its actual purpose was to justify repeal — not assess its impact.

The Washington Post recently revived the DADT debate when it wrote about one of the two co-chairs of the survey, then-DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson, in an article entitled “Four straight black men who led on gay rights.” The article seemed to allude Read more

Congress Asks Tough Questions of Military Chaplain Chiefs

As previously noted, the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel heard testimony from several witnesses on religious freedom in the military after the DoD’s recent changes to accommodation policy.

The Stars and Stripes noted that while many have focused on ‘turbans and beards,’ Congress didn’t:

Accommodation for minority religions was not the main concern of the primarily Republican House members present Wednesday, however. Many of their questions centered around allegations that free expression of faith by Christian believers was being suppressed…

Instances of Christians being told Read more

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