Tag Archives: religious freedom

Air Force SNCO Claims Firing over Religion

Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland AFB, TX, says he was “relieved of his position” because he did not agree with his homosexual commander about “gay marriage.”

The Air Force disagrees, and says it was just his time to move on.

As depicted, there may be validity to both sides as to whether or not he was “fired,” but that discussion detracts from the actual issue.

Monk, an evangelical Christian, said the issue came up when he was advising his company commander about a situation involving a staff sergeant who had expressed opposition to homosexuality on religious grounds — an opinion shared with trainees that might be a violation of an Air Force policy barring the use of a position of authority to promote personal religious beliefs.

Monk had said the situation called for Read more

Air Force Chief Targets Bible in POW Memorial, IG Defends It

A long-running US military tradition is the POW/MIA table.  While often a discrete event at formal functions such as military dinings-in, many dining facilities maintain a continuous POW/MIA table within their facilities.  There are actually many variations on the display, though one of the more common ones follows:

The table is round – to show our everlasting concern for our missing men (and women).

The tablecloth is white – symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of Read more

Air Force Chaplain Targets Single Airmen

While some people think of families and kids when talking about a chapel, Chaplain (Capt) Randy Croft of Shaw Air Force Base wants to focus on single servicemembers:

“We want to help strengthen single airmen and soldiers, and support strong resilient, spiritually fit singles so they can do their mission really well,” Croft said.

Though he is a religous leader, Chaplain Croft reiterates the military position that “spiritual” does not necessarily mean “religious:”  Read more

Chaplains’ Assistants Protect Lives, Religious Liberty

When talking about military religious freedom, much of the focus is naturally on chaplains.  Often left unmentioned is the assistant, bodyguard, and companion of military chaplains: his chaplain’s assistant.

As noted in a recent Marine article, chaplain’s assistants not only support activities at home, but they are also the armed protectors of the unarmed chaplain when deployed:

Religion has always been important to 19-year-old Seaman Apprentice Jacob L. Brown, a religious program specialist…

When he learned that he could pursue it while serving his country, he jumped at the chance… Read more

Michael Weinstein Goes Defensive, Repeats the Crazy

In response to last week’s article highlighting his penchant for alliterative adjective abuse, Michael Weinstein posted a defensive 1,500 word diatribe saying people should cut him some slack.  He claims he rants like a foul-mouthed playground bully because he’s trying to save the world [emphasis added]:

What sane person can doubt that anything less than a tooth-and-nail, eye-gouging fight will protect the American people from those both in uniform and [in] the House and Senate who seek to plunge the United States into an end-times war of apocalyptic proportions? Such a worldwide conflagration of combat is precisely what fundamentalist Christian Dominionists see as necessary for ushering in the Second Coming of the Christ, or “Rapture.” They ruthlessly lust for their promised worldwide bloodbath…

The aircraft carriers, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Peacekeeper Missiles*, bunker-busters, nuclear ICBMs, and 2.35 million active duty and reserve personnel…comprise the jewel in the crown that the “Christian Taliban” aims to seize at any and all cost.

There you have it, folks.  Weinstein should be granted wide latitude because his noble goal is to save the American people from the crazy Christians in its own military and Congress.  (To be clear, this isn’t the first time he’s made this claim.)

And who are these crazy Christians?  Read more

Trijicon Latest Company to Oppose Health Mandate

Trijicon has become the most recent company to file a lawsuit claiming that obeying the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) would violate the religious convictions of its owners.

The most recent complaint alleges, “the Mandate illegally and unconstitutionally requires Trijicon to violate its and its owners’ religious beliefs by forcing the company to provide abortion-inducing items, such as ‘Plan B’ (the so-called ‘morning after pill’), Ella (the so-called “week after pill”), and Read more

Navy Info Chief for Michael Weinstein: Cut out Adjectives

Navy Chief of Information RADM John Kirby didn’t write a personal letter to Michael Weinstein, but he might have been thinking about him when he emailed naval officers and told them to stop the “jargon and gibberish,” as well as excessive adjectives.  Criticizing his own service’s communications efforts, RADM Kirby said:

We’ve never met an adjective or adverb we didn’t like.

We don’t “exploit operations in the electromagnetic spectrum.”  We fully exploit them.  We don’t integrate functions; we seamlessly integrate them…

Here’s another example…about the Zumwalt-class Read more

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