Tag Archives: rock beyond belief

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 7: You’re Being Watched

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has demonstrated an obsession with ChristianFighterPilot.com — at least, insomuch as he wants to lodge complaints about this site mere minutes after content is published.

Presumably, the time he spends monitoring this site is part of the reason Mikey Weinstein has paid himself nearly $1.95 million to date from the donations his charity receives. It turns out, though, that he’s not the only one he drags into rapid-response.

It seems Mikey Weinstein has had his lawyer, Randy Mathis, on speed-dial. On 30 August 2011, an article was posted here entitled “Military Atheists Miss the Mark with Chaplain “Humor”“. The article discussed the “first act” of then-US Army Sergeant Justin Griffith, who had just become “military director” for American Atheists.

For his opening volley, Griffith had chosen to denigrate US military chaplains and their service — and sacrifice — to their country. The article rebutted his claims — noting, for example, that multiple chaplains had received the Medal of Honor.

Mikey didn’t like it.

The Air Force soon received a letter from Randy Mathis. Not Read more

Critics Target US Military Chapel Services. Again.

A video (which you can watch here) of US Marines worshiping God to Days of Elijah — complete with “oorah!” added to the lyrics — went “viral” a week or so ago, spreading across the internet in a bold display of faith and freedom.

And a few atheists really didn’t like that.

It seems Rock Beyond Belief — a one-hit wonder that staged an underwhelming stage show at Fort Bragg — has degraded into a repository of atheists bellyaching about Christians exercising their religious freedom while serving in the US military. Having learned about the video, their Facebook page launched an “investigation” — because some Marines in the video “don’t appear happy to be there, as if they were forced:”  Read more

US Air Force Cockpit Atheist Speaks on Christian Troops

A 2011 graduate of the US Air Force Academy is apparently making his mark as a “cockpit atheist” US Air Force officer (and, presumably, an eventual Air Force pilot).

The cockpit atheist is a “militant” atheist, in his own words, and apparently has a famous umbrella.

As noted previously, some people seem to think the Air Force, or the US military, is overrun by Christians.  A few think military officers aren’t allowed to speak out about their religious beliefs.

It seems the cockpit atheist undermines the former point and disagrees with the latter.  The Lieutenant has taken not only to the internet with his religious beliefs and his status as an Air Force officer, but also to a small variety of atheist events from Rock Read more

Atheist Soldier, MRFF Member Goes Anonymous for Jesus Manga

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has long relied on “anonymous clients” to support its ends (to their detriment, thanks to Chris Rodda). Conveniently, the lack of detail helps Weinstein obfuscate the appearance of being a self-licking ice cream cone — of creating and then “saving” his own clients — and it sometimes helps his numbers, as when supporters provide both attributable and anonymous support to his cause.

Unfortunately, Weinstein has been caught in these machinations before, as in 2010, when the USAFA pagan lay leader, TSgt Brandon Longcrier, was quoted publicly in the local paper, and then suddenly those same quotes appeared in an “anonymous” message to the MRFF.  Longcrier was already associated with the MRFF.  In other words, the complaint originated from within the MRFF, despite Weinstein’s efforts to portray it otherwise.

Similarly, a band of brothers teamed up with Weinstein to protest the USAFA invitation given to retired Lt Clebe McClary.  All but one of those participating in the public outcry were already activists associated with the MRFF — a fact they conveniently omitted, an obvious attempt to make their movement seem more “broad.”

In April of 2010, Akiva David Miller — also of the MRFF — wrote a letter to the MRFF complaining about religious symbolism in NASCAR.  Again, a member of the MRFF was writing a public letter to the MRFF — all for public show.

In other words, these aren’t forlorn, helpless troops calling out to Weinstein to be their savior.  They’re already “clients” of Weinstein, and they’re either volunteering or being solicited to pen diatribes that come across as pathetic and plaintive cries for help from the “repressed.”

Now, Weinstein’s done it again.  In fact, Weinstein may have gone a step further and actually manufactured a complaint to fit his needs.

Yesterday, Weinstein released a message complaining about a “Jesus Manga” comic book, calling it “anti-Semitic” and saying it “may” be homophobic Read more

Top 10 ChristianFighterPilot.com Stories for 2012

It’s the time of year for lists and summaries, and various sites and groups are compiling their “best of” and “mostest” lists for 2012.  Consistent with last year’s apparent trend, issues of religion and the military seem to have largely fallen from the visibility they once had.  For example, BJC online lists their “Top Religious Stories of 2012” — not one of which references the military.  Likewise the Christian Post.  The Religion Clause and the Stars and Stripes lists both made only one relevant reference, to the much delayed Fort Hood massacre trial.

Curious as to what others were reading here this year?  The Top 10 most-read stories on ChristianFighterPilot.com for 2012 are Read more

Military Atheist Receives Award for Rock Beyond Belief

According to a press release, Army Sgt Justin Griffith received an “outstanding achievement award” at the Carolinas Secular Conference over the weekend for his work on Rock Beyond Belief, the Fort Bragg atheist festival that drew a few hundred people to the Army base in late March of this year:

Despite overwhelming odds, and many hurdles, Justin Griffith demonstrated that those of all faith, or none, have as true American right Read more

Media Ethics Questioned after Atheists Fund Reporting

Writing at TheBlaze, Billy Hallowell raises questions about the ethics of the Religion News Service (RNS) after he describes their decision to accept funding from an activist atheist — without publicly acknowledging they had done so.

The Stiefel Freethought Foundation (SFF), a hub for the atheist movement, has given $65,000 [to the Religion News Service] over the past two years to help fund coverage of non-believers and the so-called “freethought” movement. The organization, run by atheist millionaire Todd Stiefel…, has a very clear goal of organizing atheists, while spreading and advancing non-belief.
 
Under a section entitled “Accomplishments in 2011,” the [SFF] site reads, “SFF donated $50,000 to Religion News Service to bolster its coverage of freethinkers with a series of news, investigations, feature stories and photos.”

Hallowell says “most” news organizations would find this relationships “suspect,” and questions if the donation might influence the tone of reporting:

Taking money from a special interest group in the faith sphere causes one to wonder how rigorously — or honestly — the subject of atheism was explored.

If this sounds familiar, it should.  Hallowell is referring to the issue raised here regarding the RNS reporting of Kimberly Winston, who has written veritable “press releases” for atheists.  These articles have included stories on the atheist counter-Christian “Rock Beyond Belief” organized by atheist Army SGT Justin Griffith, which was an event Read more

Rock Beyond Belief 3 Headed to Japan

The US Army facility at Camp Zama, Japan, recently hosted the 53rd annual “Bon Odori Festival:”

The festival is consistently the largest bilateral event of the year for U.S. Army Japan, this year attracting more than 30,000 visitors to the installation. This year’s Bon Odori featured live entertainment, games for children, a variety of ethnic foods, bilateral sports, and a fireworks show.

While that sounds benign enough, it turns out this was actually a huge religious celebration:

Bon season is a Buddhist holiday that honors the departed spirits of one’s ancestors. The tradition dates back more than 500 years.

Relying on the ever-accurate Wikipedia:

Bon Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), a disciple of the Buddha, who used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. He discovered she had fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering. Greatly disturbed, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother…The disciple, happy because of his mother’s release and grateful for his mother’s kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or “Bon Dance”, a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated.

Naturally, some military atheists will see this as a vast, unconstitutional government conspiracy to give preferential support to Read more

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