Tag Archives: sonny hernandez

MRFF’s 2017 Achievements Highlight Mikey Weinstein’s Weakness

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, perennial critic of religious freedom in the US military, celebrated the close of 2017 by happily saying, essentially, he’d ‘transitioned’ into a well-paid blogger. Apparently stung by the revelation he was soliciting funds for lawsuits that weren’t actually happening, Weinstein now says his primary mission is to communicate, not litigate [emphasis added]:

MRFF’s mission to ensure military religious freedom scored big wins this year with battles achieving massive publicity…

We [need your money to] fuel MRFF’s campaign to illuminate federally funded fundamentalism. We must open the public’s eyes. The spread of knowledge is our arsenal’s most potent weapon.

In other words, whereas Mikey Weinstein once bragged of how much he accomplished, he now brags of how much he talks. Apropos.

More tellingly, Weinstein included a list of 14 “achievements” for 2017 that read like a list of non-events — and other people’s events.

Within that list of 14, Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s Lawyer Donald Rehkopf Lies in Accusation of Lying

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and those who work with his “charity,” the contradictorily named Military Religious Freedom Foundation, seem to have a innate problem with telling the truth. (Weinstein lackey Chris Rodda is the most famous, as she’s frequently made easily disprovable false statements in an apparent effort to defend the MRFF’s reputation.)

The most recent example of this lack of integrity came from Donald Rehkopf, the most recent legal face of Weinstein’s MRFF. (Despite being a lawyer — and the only paid member of the MRFF — Weinstein defers to others rather than act for his own organization.)

In a supreme twist of hypocrisy, Rehkopf was trying to accuse someone of lying — while not being so forthright himself.

Apparently set back on their heels by Tommy Vallejos’ defense of Sonny Hernandez, Donald Rehkopf declined to make a calm, reasoned, and rational rebuttal.  Rather, the MRFF advocate submitted a response claiming Vallejos was lying. Said Rehkopf:

It is ironic to have to remind the Rev. Tommy Vallejos of one of the Ten Commandments — not to lie.

Yet, in his Opinion letter, “Don’t persecute chaplain for practicing his faith”…he makes at least two false statements.

Rehkopf then makes his first accusation:  Read more

Politician, Pastor Speaks Out in Defense of Sonny Hernandez

Tommy Vallejos, a local Tennessee politician, Bronze Star veteran, and care pastor with Faith Outreach Church in Clarksville, TN, wrote an opinion column in the Stars and Stripes in support of Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez entitled “Don’t persecute chaplain for practicing his faith“:

As a retired military veteran, a Hispanic, and a man of deep faith, I was shaken to my core after reading a recent story about Chaplain (Capt.) Sonny Hernandez coming under fire for sharing commonly held biblical principles with his fellow Air Force servicemembers…

Vallejos appears to note the often-missed observation that Read more

Air Force Senior NCO Gives Backhanded Endorsement of MRFF

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s “charitable” Military Religious Freedom Foundation received an interesting endorsement from a serving Air Force Master Sergeant. The comment occurred in response to the recent Stars and Stripes coverage of Chaplain Sonny Hernandez:

Justin Blackwell These are the cases MRFF needs to focus on, not the usual clownshow of little crap that makes them look like zealots.

That glowing “endorsement” apparently came from US Air Force Master Sergeant Justin Blackwell. It would seem he supports Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s efforts, even if Read more

Retired Air Force Commander Attacks Chaplain, Religion

Tony Carr, a retired US Air Force C-17 squadron commander and blogger at John Q. Public, already took Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez to task for his article on Christians and the military (previously discussed). Carr updated himself with a post entitled simply “Idiot Under Investigation.”

Carr doesn’t often mince words, but the vitriol he has for Hernandez seems particularly strong — and almost Mikey Weinstein-esque:

[Hernandez’s] major beef? That certain “disloyal” military members would dare to put their oath to support and defend the US Constitution above their loyalty to the teachings of Christ.

This is among the most tortured and ridiculous notions in the annals of idiocy, placing Sonny in multiple pantheons of shame. It’s as though he set out Read more

Update: Air Force Backs Chaplain Hernandez on Religious Freedom

As reported at the Stars and Stripes, the Air Force has defended Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez’s recent publication of his views on Christianity and military religious freedom [emphasis added]:

Air Force Reserve spokesman Lt. Col. Chad Gibson said Hernandez is expressing his own views, not those of the Air Force, and his freedom to express his own faith is an essential protection in the military. The Air Force is not conducting an investigation, he said.

“I think we should reflect on why the Air Force is here,” Gibson said. “We are sworn to protect freedom of faith and religion unless it infringes on other people’s rights.”

That’s an admirably bold and direct statement from Read more

Update: Responses to Chaplain Hernandez and Military Religious Freedom

Chaplain Hernandez’s previously discussed column on military Christians and religious freedom continues to receive critiques — more accurately, criticism — from a wide variety of sources.

One of the more interesting responses came from Don Byrd of the Baptist Joint Committee, a left leaning advocacy group that tends to take a more atheistic view of religious liberty than most Baptists.

In a blog entitled “Air Force Chaplain is Wrong to Oppose Religious Liberty Rights for All,” Byrd began with a principled observation ignored by most [emphasis added]:

Capt. Hernandez is of course free to believe according to his conscience and faith…The controversial issue of salvation for non-Christians is a question of Christian theology, not public policy…

Personal theological beliefs do not disqualify an individual from public service.

Byrd then added a significant “however” [emphasis added]:  Read more

Chaplain Sonny Hernandez Criticized for Column on Religious Freedom

Last week US Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez published a column at Barbwire.com entitled “Christian Service Members: Avoid Supporting or Accommodating Evil!” The article has been widely criticized — from the much-expected Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, to Chelsea Clinton, to multiple other sites — by those who have taken issue with Hernandez’s views on Christianity and military religious freedom.

Some of the criticisms are laced with the vitriol of those who despise Christianity in any form but milquetoast — so it wouldn’t matter what Hernandez said. Some of the criticisms are more academic. But almost all call for Hernandez’s head — or at least a pro forma “investigation” followed by a foregone dismissal. While Hernandez may have said — and did say — things that seemed illogical, theologically questionable, or wrong, nothing he said was illegal or otherwise a violation of any rule, regulation, or law. Those who are attacking his ability to serve in the US military — that so-called bastion of tolerance and diversity — have no leg upon which Read more

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