What is with the love affair liberals have with Islam?
Check it out: Another effort at a taxpayer-funded American high school to
persuade female students — but only female students — to wear Muslim
headscarves has failed disastrously. The scene of the hijab hurly burly this time is Mason High School in a pleasant, family-friendly suburb of Cincinnati. A now-cancelled event called “A Covered Girl Challenge” had been scheduled for Thursday, April 23, reports The Cincinnati Enquirer. The intent of the Covered Girl Challenge was to celebrate
diversity and “promote open mindedness,” explained a letter the school
sent to parents.
“[T]he Muslim Student Association is inviting all female students
to participate in ‘A Covered Girl Challenge’ which will allow students
to wear a headscarf for the whole school day,” the letter explained, according EAGnews.org.
By Maggie Ybarra
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee wants Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to explain why a Department of Justice
gun ban list has a “mental defective” category consisting almost
entirely of names belonging to military veterans and their dependents.
“It’s
disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to
defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental
Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve
them,” Sen. Chuck Grassley,
Iowa Republican, said in a statement Wednesday. “A veteran or dependent
shouldn’t lose their constitutional rights because they need help with
bookkeeping.” Mr. Grassley outlined his concerns about the list to Mr. Holder in a letter dated this week. It included various failures by the Department of Justice
— including the inconsistent application of standards and weak due
process protections — that have led to the Department of Veterans
Affairs adding “a disproportionate number of names” to the federal gun
ban list.
All federal agencies are required to report names of
individuals who are dangers to themselves or others to the National
Instant Criminal Background Check System’s “mental defective” category —
a status that prevents them from owning or possessing guns.
That means that veterans “are particularly singled out,” Mr. Grassley
said. Those veterans should not be required by the Department of
Veterans Affairs “to prove that they have the ability to exercise their
Second Amendment rights,” he said.
“These whistleblowers never have the opportunity to make their case,” said Sen. ... more >
“According
to the Congressional Research Service, as of June 1, 2012, 99.3% of all
names reported to the NICS list’s ‘mental defective’ category were
provided by the Veterans Administration (VA) even though reporting
requirements apply to all federal agencies,” Mr. Grassley’s letter said.
The senator said he wanted Mr. Holder to explain what review process the Justice Department has in place to ensure that names are properly on the NICS list, among other things. Mr. Grassley
also noted that the VA’s listings are too loose for the federal
background-check law’s standard — whether a person poses a threat to
himself or others.
“Instead VA reports individuals to the gun ban list if an individual
merely needs financial assistance managing VA benefits. Although the VA
process is not designed to regulate firearm ownership, it results in
veterans and their loved ones being barred from exercising their
fundamental, Constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights,” he
wrote.
The letter shows that Mr. Grassley expects a response from Mr. Holder regarding his concerns about the list by April 30.
[ Gunnery Sgt. Michael Soucy honors Korean War veteran Sgt. Douglas B.
Michaud during a memorial Mass at the Incarnation Catholic Church on
Jan. 7. Sgt. Soucy, 38, from Biddenford, Maine, is the Recruiting
Substation Bloomington staff noncommissioned-officer-in-charge. Michaud,
one of ... more > ]
Soon there may only be atheists in the foxholes.
Christians are leaving the U.S. military
or are discouraged from joining in the first place because of a
“hostile work environment” that doesn’t let them express their beliefs
openly, religious freedom advocates say. Michael Berry,
senior counsel at the Liberty Institute, a Texas-based legal
organization dedicated to defending religious liberty in America, said
recent high-profile cases of military chaplains facing punishment for
private counseling sessions that reflected the teachings of their
religion could cause devout Americans who are qualified for military
service to think twice about joining the military.
PHOTOS: The Blue Angels: Playing with fire
In
December, a chaplain for a Ranger training battalion received an
administrative letter of concern after a soldier complained that he
advocated Christianity and used the Bible during a mandatory unit
suicide-prevention training session. The Military Association of
Atheists and Freethinkers said the chaplain “used his official position
to force his personal religious beliefs on a captive military audience”
in an article the group posted on its website.
And, last month, a
Navy chaplain was removed from his post and may lose his career after
some sailors complained about his private counseling, in which he
reportedly advocated against homosexuality and sex outside of marriage.
The military had 2,837 active-duty chaplains as of December 2014 but recent ... more >
PHOTOS: Top 10 U.S. military helicopters
“People of faith are going to stay away from the military,” said Mr. Berry in an interview with The Washington Times.
“I can’t tell you how many moms and dads I’ve spoken to who say, ‘My son or daughter wants to join the military, [but] in light of what you’ve described, I’m not sure I want to let them join the military anymore,’ and I don’t blame them. I would have serious reservations about my own kids joining,” Mr. Berry said. Douglas Lee,
president of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, whose job it
is to find people who want to be chaplains and make sure they’re also
qualified to serve in the military, said growing religious hostility within the military is making it harder for him to find potential recruits and for the armed forces to maintain the chaplains it does have.
“I know people who get out, officers and chaplains, who’ve said, ‘I can’t serve the way I want to in this environment,’” said Mr. Lee,
who also served as an Army chaplain. “People who’ve said, ‘Because of
the religious liberty challenges I see, I think I’ll serve somewhere
else.’”
Not being able to recruit or retain these individuals is very dangerous from a national security standpoint, said Mr. Berry, because they could be the military’s next group of leaders, but will never serve because they don’t think they’re welcome.
“We all used to sit around and talk about planning on spending 20 years, but at some point enough is enough,” he said. Mr. Berry said he thinks the “hostile work environment” that is forcing the most religious persons out of the military
is only getting worse, and that while in the past problems were mainly
in the Air Force, religious liberty issues have spread throughout all
the services.
“The problem is getting worse, not better, despite
our efforts,” he said. “There is a culture [of] hostility [toward]
religion in the military right now.”
While problems in the past have touched all religious groups, Travis
Weber, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family
Research Council, said he’s seen a recent uptick and pattern of
Christians facing persecution for religious expression. Story Continues →
