Tag Archives: religious freedom

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

Military Chaplain Reports Retaliation over Lawsuit

Chaplain Ray Leonard, the civilian contract Catholic Priest now famous for suing the US government after he was banned from his congregation during the government shutdown, has now said he has experienced official retaliation as a result of his suit:

A Catholic priest has been the target of government retaliation…

The government’s alleged retaliation against Father Ray Leonard began with depriving the civilian priest of two months of his salary, even after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had allowed him to continue his ministry…

Chaplain Leonard’s attorney from Read more

Military Religious Freedom Group Petitions Congress

The group Military-Veterans Advocacy, represented by J.B. Wells, has written a letter to Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL), the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, stating that the Veterans Administration is preventing “chaplains and patients…from exercising their rights to religious expression.”

Wells indicated he was aiming for the same protections for religious expression the active US military recently received:

“We wrote the letter to provide support and also to suggest hearings on the situation. My goal is to see similar provisions enacted for veterans and VA employees as were included in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.”

Wells is currently suing the VA over discrimination Read more

Al Mohler: The End of Legislating Morality

The Rev (Dr.) Albert Mohler wrote an interesting article responding to comments by Jonathan Turley, the lawyer for the successful Utah “sister wives” legal challenge and law professor at George Washington University [emphasis added]:

Turley’s article is an example of a concerted, very sophisticated, libertarian argument that is fast gaining ground in American life. Just last year the state of Colorado decriminalized adultery. The president of the Independence Institute testified for the decriminalization, stating that “it is a conservative value to get rid of bills that are useless.”…

The original statute was hardly useless. It was a profound moral statement about the sanctity of marriage and the crime of violating the marriage vows, thus subverting marriage and the family and endangering children and weakening the larger community.

Mohler also revisits the argument that the state should not “legislate morality,” which he accurately rebuts by Read more

Donations to Mikey Weinstein Fall, but His Paycheck Rises

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently promised contributors to his “charity” their donations would “represent a…monetary impact” to his cause:

You can rest assured that your generous donation to MRFF would represent a dollar for dollar monetary impact on this Civil Rights/National Security issue that is second to none.

Believe it or not, the awkwardly named Military Religious Freedom Foundation, founded and run by Weinstein (also the sole employee), is a 501(c)3 charity. The advantage of such a designation to Weinstein is he can solicit donations with the same tax benefits to the donors as if they’d given to their local church. The disadvantage (to Weinstein) is he is required to publicize financial documents, which can be quite revealing.

Despite having issues in the past with the public seeing his records, Weinstein has continued to pay himself essentially the same amount each year.  Mikey Weinstein has grossed more than $1.4 million in direct personal compensation (from the donations to his charity) to date.

This year (2012 is the most recent Weinstein has released) was little different. Michael Weinstein’s “reportable compensation” for 2012 was 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

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