Air Force Officials Remove Open Bible From Major’s Desk, Investigation Launched
Clyde | August 21, 2016 URL: http://wp.me/p2Jq2P-uyr
Officials
at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs have removed an open
Bible from a major’s desk after complaints from the Military Religious
Freedom Foundation.
Base
officials also are investigating if allowing the Bible on the desk was a
reasonable accommodation of the officer’s religious beliefs or if it
violated the separation of church and state, the Colorado Springs
Independent reported.
“The
basic premise of the Air Force instruction [on religious freedom],
grounded in Department of Defense policy, grounded in law is, people
have an inherent right to free exercise of religion within boundaries,”
Col. Damon Feltman, 310th Space Wing commander, told the Independent.
“At the same time, people have freedom to be left alone. It’s finding
that right balance. The challenge of the commander is to be sure both
people are treated fairly.”
MRFF
founder Mikey Weinstein’s complaint letter to Feltman describes Maj.
Steve Lewis’ “egregious Constitutional and DoD regulatory violations”:
For
years he has kept an open, yellow highlighted Christian bible displayed
front and center, quite prominently, on his official USAF work desk in
an open office work environment. The egregious Constitutional and DoD
regulatory violations of such a brazen display of sectarian Christian
triumphalism and exceptionalism have been noted by many USAF members
through the years but they have not sought to officially seek redress
and remediation from this outrageous display of callous and bold
Christian primacy from their respective USAF chains of command due to
all-too-credible fears of reprisal and retribution from same.
“It
certainly gives the appearance of favoritism toward one religion,” a
base member told the Independent on the condition of anonymity over fear
of retribution. “I’m a Christian myself, and it’s concerning. I don’t
think people should be promoted or given opportunities based on whatever
[religion] they are. It should be about your performance.”
The
member told the paper that the open Bible on Lewis’ desk gives the
impression that Christianity is the favored religion on the base. The
Independent added that dozens of military members contacted the MRFF to
report the Bible after it was brought up in a survey last year but not
removed.
Feltman
told the Independent that the investigation will be conducted quickly:
”If a person has a Koran display or book of Satan, they’re free to have
that on display and read it as long as they’re not proselytizing, trying
to entice someone to their particular viewpoint.”
After Feltman told Weinstein an investigation was underway, the MRFF founder issued the following statement to the Independent:
The
310th “Space” Wing is NOT called the 310th “Space For My Personal
Proselytizing Christian Bible Shrine” Wing for a damn good reason. Major
Steve Lewis has created an around-the-clock Christian Bible Shrine on
his official USAF workstation desk that has been in prominent static
display for YEARS. The pages in his open bible on his USAF desk never
change, ever. Thus, it is obviously there as a religious display to
promote to others his Christian faith. This sectarian display is a
disastrous travesty which completely serves all too well as an absolute
textbook violation of Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.12 as well as
the No Establishment Clause and No Religious Test Clause of the United
States Constitution. MRFF is very pleased that, pursuant to MRFF’s
specific demand, this bible has expeditiously been removed from Major
Lewis’ desk pending the the ongoing Commander Directed Investigation
which MRFF also demanded. In my nearly 12 minute call with the 310th
Wing Commander, Colonel Feltman, yesterday, he promised me that he would
be open and fair in all of his dealings on this matter with MRFF and
its 33 clients at Peterson AFB and Schriever AFB. We will hold him to
his word. So far, MRFF has been impressed with his honesty and
responsiveness.
H/T: Todd Starnes
Obama’s socially engineered military is full of anti-Christian wusses
David Leach | August 19, 2016 URL: http://wp.me/p2oBxg-31Z
Back in June,
during the height of graduation season, I wrote a piece about how an
organization known as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
successfully banned retired Lt. General Jerry Boykin from speaking at a
prayer breakfast at Ft. Riley Army Base because he was supposedly
anti-Muslim and anti-gay.
It
turns out the real reason he was banned was due to the fact that he’s
also a professing Christian, as we learned from the founder of MRFF,
Mikey Weinstein:
“(Boykin) sows hatred and heinous divisiveness with his sickening screed of fundamentalist Christian supremacy . . .”
Weinstein went on to say how Boykin’s appearance was causing unnamed soldiers to actually break down in tears.
Well,
Mr. Weinstein and the emotional wimps he represents are at it again.
This time, it’s a Bible causing the troops trained to kill to cower in
fear. MRFF is demanding that Air Force Major Steve Lewis be
“aggressively punished” for having an open Bible on his desk at Peterson
Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In an interview with writer and FOX News contributor, Todd Starnes, Weinstein defended his accusation:
“It (the Bible) is very obviously a statement of Christian preference. Christian primacy. Had that been the Book of Satan or the Koran, there would be blood in the freaking streets.” He went on to accuse Major Lewis of “harboring and encouraging a totally abhorrent example of First Amendment civil rights violations.”
In
his official letter of complaint, Milquetoast Mikey claimed to
represent “thirty-three very scared Air Force families.” Although one of
the traumatized troops was able to muster up enough courage to snap a
few photos of the intimidating book to submit as “evidence.” Unofficial
reports indicate that the soldier survived.
As we continue to see situations like these play out, there are two glaringly obvious conclusions to be made:
- The culmination of generations of touchy-feely education that focuses on “me-first self- esteem” has finally arrived. Too many of today’s men and women in the military are concerned more about how things make them feel, particularly when it comes to the politically correct issues of today, than they are about their responsibilities as soldiers.
- Christianity is the target of the extreme left. To use military terms, while they typically camouflage this fact by using the patterns of the LGBT and pro-Muslim agendas—though not specifically mentioned in Major Lewis’s case, it’s a pretty good bet they’re behind the complaint—the absolute annihilation of Christianity from American society remains the primary objective.
Major
Lewis voluntarily removed the Bible from his desk while the case is
being reviewed, but according to Colonel Damon Feltman, commander of the
310th Space Wing, a resolution to this situation remains inconclusive
and unclear.
Obama’s
social engineering is creating military full of wusses, dealing a blow
to the Constitution it is sworn to protect and defend in the name of
advancing a politically-correct progressive agenda.
Laura J Alcorn
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