Posted on 08/24/2016 7:11:53 AM PDT by xzins
An Air Force major, who was accused of civil rights violations for having a Bible on his work desk, has been cleared of any wrongdoing, according to military officials at the 310th Space Wing in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Maj. Steve Lewis, a supervisor at the Reserve National Security Space Institute, agreed to voluntarily remove the Bible pending a military review.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation had filed a complaint against Maj. Lewis -- accusing him of "harboring and encouraging a truly abhorrent example of First Amendment civil rights violations."
But a public affairs spokesman told me late Tuesday that Maj. Lewis was well within his rights to have an open Bible on his office desk.
"We have concluded that no abuse of liberties has occurred," Lt. Col. David Fruck told me.
He said both the workplace environment and the major's behavior were well within the provisions governing the free exercise of religion and religious accommodation.
Lt. Col. Fruck said the major is free to place the Bible back on his desk - should he desire to do so.
I'm sure that's going to be disappointing news for MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein. He wanted the major "aggressively punished" for displaying what he called a "Christian Bible Shrine" on the desk.
“It [the Bible] is very obviously a statement of Christian preference, Christian primacy,” MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein told me last week. “Had that been the Book of Satan or the Koran there would be blood in the freaking streets.”
Weinstein claimed to be representing some 33 Air Force personnel who were frightened by the sight of the open Bible on the major's desk.
“We have 33 very scared Air Force families,” Weinstein told me.
One of the airmen who reached out to Weinstein complained that the officer’s Bible is a “blatant case of Christian defiance and Christian discrimination.”
“I am intimidated by the display, and I am a practicing Christian,” the unnamed airman wrote. “This open Bible is discrimination at the highest level.”
The airman went on to say that he wasn’t just offended by the Bible – he was “outrageously offended.”
First, I want to commend Col. Damon Feltman, the commander of the 310th Space Wing. Unlike many military personnel, he refused to be bullied by Mr. Weinstein. He investigated the complaint, found that it was without merit and allowed the major to carry on.
Second, I want to commend Maj. Lewis for setting a Christ-like example. He did not create a fuss. He did as he was instructed to do and allowed the system to work.
Third, I want to challenge Mr. Weinstein to stop pestering the military with his petty complaints. And stop bullying Christian military personnel, too. We've grown tired of his anti-Christian vendetta.
Finally, a word of advice to the 33 "aggrieved" military personnel. If the presence of God's Word causes you to tremble in fear -- perhaps you should consider another line of work.
A member of the military does not lose his/her religious rights by virtue of entering the military.
If you're intimidated by the sight of an open bible you're a liar and you serve the prince of lies.
The God hating atheistic Jew Weinstein is going to have to find another Christian to persecute.
Apparently, airmen/women are a sensitive lot.
Yes, because it is Christians who are beheading so many people. Oh, wait …
I laughed at both that and the shallowness of the complaints.
Everyone of them have something personal at their work station. Forbidding the major to do the same is religious discrimination via viewpoint discrimination.
Those 33 airmen don’t exist.
[“We have 33 very scared Air Force families,” Weinstein told me.]
JESUS CHRIST is the WORD. Every knee will bow to the CHRIST, the WORD, and confess that He is LORD. That is why they afraid, very afraid.
Disgusting
wouldn’t surprise me at all.
someone, though, reported that the major actually did have an open bible on his desk.
Better suggestion.
If the presence of God's Word causes you to tremble in fear -- perhaps you should consider reading it.
A local middle school kid did a report on MLK where he posted an excerpt from a sermon where MLK stated that Jesus was the only way to Salvation.
The teacher didn’t know whether to poop or go blind.
LOL.
It is difficult for Christians to pray for those who hate and persecute them, as God’s Word directs us to do. But we are assured that “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
Poor little fainthearts!
***Weinstein claimed to be representing some 33 Air Force personnel who were frightened by the sight of the open Bible on the major’s desk.
“We have 33 very scared Air Force families,” Weinstein told me. ****
King James Bible
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
If they had a rule against the Bible, or for that matter....Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto....then it’d be a open and shut case. They have no such rule, and never will.
My guess is that leadership just sat there and kept asking what list of books are forbidden, and people started laughing because there isn’t a forbidden book list in existence.
Whoever started this episode? I’m guessing that their days in the organization are numbered and they will be told to find a job elsewhere. Frankly, if you got time to go look around people’s desks.....I think you ought to go out back and fill forty sandbags or do sixty push-ups. That’s the kind of behavior I wouldn’t put up with.
You say you are a practicing Christian, and yet you are outrageously offended by the Bible? Psalm 119:165 declares you to be a liar:
Great peace have they that love Thy Law; and nothing shall offend them.
***The teacher didn’t know whether to poop or go blind.***
Lemme guess! He closed one eye and passed gas!
How about we challenge all branches of the military top brass instead: Repudiate this vile hateful anti-Christian activist forcefully, and sue him for the costs of the investigation for every warrantless attack he brings in his efforts to trample on the religious freedom of our military officers. Call him what he is loudly and put him on the defensive and make his outrageous abuse of officers' civil liberties cost him dearly.
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