Tag Archives: Sikh

Professor Erroneously Cites Military Religious Freedom

Noah Feldman, a columnist for Bloomberg and professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard, recently penned an article appealing for public support against Mississippi’s religious protection statutes [emphasis added]:

Signed in April, the Mississippi law calls itself the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.” …

It should be held unconstitutional because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment by singling out one set of religious beliefs for positive treatment.

To buttress his argument against “the danger of religious exemptions,” Feldman cited Goldman v Weinberger, the landmark case in which the US Supreme Court Read more

Push Continues for US Military Sikh Service

sikhtrioIn an era in which US military claims the only thing people need in order to serve is the ability to, a swath of American Sikhs is still left wondering, “What about us?”

In recent “gay pride” celebrations, senior leaders have repeated the mantra that because homosexuals sacrificed and fought in war zones, they earned the right to serve — even if they had been violating military regulations or moral standards.

Whether you agree with that logic or not, Sikhs have a far stronger case, having Read more

Chris Rodda Caught in Lie over Military Religious Freedom. Again.

Chris Rodda, the sometime research assistant for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, seems to have a recurring problem with the truth.

In one of the more glaring examples, she once claimed Mikey Weinstein didn’t pay himself one cent — and all the while Weinstein was paying himself: more than a quarter million dollars.

In another, just last year she proclaimed the MRFF didn’t object to US troops “privately engaging in any religious activity” — just after the MRFF had objected to US troops privately engaging in a church service of all things.

Both of these untruths were intended to sway public perceptions about the MRFF: The first was an attempt to convince people Mikey Weinstein was a selfless martyr, rather than using his self-founded, self-run “charity” to line his wallet, as many now believe. The second was Read more

President Obama Gives Shout Out to Homosexuals, Muslims at USAFA

usafaobamaWhen speaking of the “values” that are an enduring element of America’s power, President Obama said this during the graduation address at the US Air Force Academy yesterday:

We’re stronger when our gay and lesbian cadets and troops can serve their country…without hiding who they love.

Of all the quotes in the long speech on war, policies, sacrifice and the future, this is what the White House highlighted with a “tweet” — and this is what USAFA retweeted.

While this statement received an affirming Read more

US Military Celebrates National Day of Prayer

praydeployDespite one ill-fated and ill-willed attempt to keep some US troops from joining together in prayer, the US military celebrated the National Day of Prayer around the world.

Renowned Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast gathering at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to more than 300 US troops, their families, and civilians.  There and at a simultaneous symposium he talked on ‘Where is God in Suffering?’ and  Read more

MRFF’s Chris Rodda Advocates Military Religious Discrimination

It’s been long established that Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s awkwardly-named Military “Religious Freedom” Foundation actually fights against the religious freedom of Christians in the US military. Examples abound of cases in which a reasonable, principled religious liberty group should have stood up in defense of an Airman, Soldier, Marine, or Sailor, but Weinstein either refused to defend the troop because they were Christian or outright attacked their religious liberty instead.

Fortunately, genuine religious liberty groups have stood in the gap for such Christians — and have defended them even from Weinstein himself. One of the more notable groups is the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has a long history of, unlike Weinstein, consistent, principled defense of religious freedom regardless of a person’s particular religious belief.

(To wit, the Becket Fund has been fighting for the right of Sikhs to serve in the US military while still being able to practice their religious faith; Weinstein has so far refused to do so, tacitly acknowledging that a “win” for the Sikhs would ultimately be a win for other faiths — including Christians.)

More recently, Mikey Weinstein tried to attack the religious liberty of Read more

Transgender Fighter Pilot To-Be Awaits Policy Change

The New York Times recently bemoaned that it was “unfair” to US troops who have publicly announced their gender identity issues for the US military to fail to follow through with its unstated promise of letting them serve in whatever gender expression they chose.

To be clear, US military policy states those who “identify” as a gender other than their actual one have issues that disqualify them from serving. In July of last year, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stood up a “working group” to study the impact of allowing troops with gender issues to serve [emphasis added]:

“At my direction,” Carter said, “the working group will start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified.”

The working group was to study the issue over the succeeding six months.

Eight months later, the New York Times chided Carter for Read more

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