An advocacy group has complained about an Air Force general maintaining a private website urging prayer for the nation, a case that has implications for government employees beyond the military. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is demanding the Department of Defense (DOD) investigate Brig. Gen. E. John Teicher, installation commander at Edwards Air Force Base. MRFF’s complaint concerns alleged violations of DOD policies on religious proselytizing.  At issue is a website Teichert maintains, Prayer at Lunchtime for the United States. A biography on the site says Teichert has served in the Air Force since 1994 and accepted Christ a [...]

A Russian woman accused by the U.S. Justice Department of acting as an unregistered foreign agent attended the National Prayer Breakfast hoping to “to establish a back-channel of communication” with American politicians, according to The New York Times. Maria Butina, 29, was indicted for alleged conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent for the Russian Federation. The indictment, unsealed last week, said her political activities included twice attending the prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C.  The annual events were launched in 1953 by Methodist minister Abraham Vereide, who had been leading congressional prayer groups for a decade. The breakfasts now attract [...]

While its more than 800 locations and $4.3 billion in sales last year rank it among the nations’ largest privately-held retail chains, things weren’t always so rosy for Hobby Lobby, says Chairman Mart Green. The keynote speaker at the Chattanooga (Tennessee) Area Leadership Prayer Breakfast May 1, Green recalled the company was “on the ropes” in 1984. His father remarked that he didn’t think they would make it, until David Green decided to give the business to God. “We don’t own anything,” Mart quoted his father as saying. “We’re stewards. When we became stewards, it all changed.” In a report [...]