E mail to MRFF

E mail to MRFF:

“I am not a Christian Fundamentalist, but Jewish.  I find nothing wrong the National Day of Prayer, our country was founded on that theme.  However, I am very disturbed that you took up the cause of some Moslems in this country.  The whole creed of the present Moslem Fundamentalists, is the destruction of the entire Christian-Jewish Religions, the killing of all our people because we are not believers and eventually the destruction of our way of government to be replaced by the Caliphs of old, the Husseins, the Saudi Arabian dictatorship and the present Iranian leadership, in all of Europe and America.  For God’s sake and for the freedom we love, we must not cave into the Moslem leadership and ideas, who only wish for OUR downfall and destruction.  Islam is a religion which enslaves women, minorities, gays and others who do not believe in the Koran. 

Wake up Weinstein and stop your self destructing.
(name withheld)

Dear (name withheld):
Thank you for your e-mail to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. I wish I could address you by name, but clearly you either lacked enough conviction to include your name, or you are not what you propose and are afraid we will notice you don’t have a “Jewish-sounding” name. Regardless which is the case, I will happily address your ill-advised comments. First of all let me say that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation endeavors to respond to all incoming e-mail; however, Mr. Weinstein is not able to answer all e-mails personally and therefore I have the good fortune to respond to many, such as your own. Please understand, however, that as a result of the sheer volume of hate mail, death threats and vandalism to the home and vehicles of MRFF Founder and President, Mikey Weinstein (including having the windows of his home shot out multiple times), we are turning over all death threats and suspect correspondence to the FBI for follow up. It is worth noting from the outset that you are endeavoring to support a man – Franklin Graham – who wrote an OpEd that he had published in the NY Times that defended the genocide of African Muslims by African Christians. That’s right, he defended genocide. Why? Because he’s okay with the massacre of innocent men, women and children as long as that massacre is carried out by Christians against people who are not Christians. This is no better than endorsing the Holocaust. Of coarse if you were really a Jew you would understand the principle of Tikkun Olam and would therefore join the Foundation in speaking out against a man who has publicly defended acts no better than the Inquisition, endless numbers of Pogroms, the Crusades and then the Shoah – human catastrophes with which Jews are intimately familiar. Mr. Weinstein is the Founder and President of a Foundation which represents people of all faiths and no faith at all. In fact, 96%  of our clients are Christians. Yes, you read correctly – 96% of the MRFF’s clients are Christians! They are in fact Christians who are discriminated against by Fundamentalist, Dominionist Christians who don’t consider them Christian enough. Furthermore, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s largest institutional sponsor is the California Council of Churches IMPACT, which is comprised of some 5,500 Protestant congregations, 21 different Protestant denominations and 6.5 million Protestants. However, we do represent servicemen/women and veterans of all faiths, as well as atheists, etc. Our work is focused on not only representing those servicemen/women and veterans who face discrimination based on their religious beliefs, but on working to prevent such discrimination. That is how we got involved with the Franklin Graham case. We stand up against anyone who would impose their religion on others within the U.S. Military and Department of Veterans Affairs. Of course hateful men like Mr. Graham seek to justify their hate speech and religious tyranny by appealing to “Judeo-Christian values”. As a religious Jew I can tell you absolutely that there is no such thing. Jewish values have nothing in common with Fundamentalist Christian predatory proselytizing and bigotry. Of course many individuals like Mr. Graham also like to harken back to the “good ol’ times” – times that featured slavery, segregation, widespread misogyny, lynching, the Klan and pervasive Anti-Semitism. And finally, your implication that this is a Christian Nation, founded on Christian values (or in your words, “founded on that theme) couldn’t be more wrong. Our Nation’s founders were men of the Enlightenment and they didn’t want religion within a thousand yards of government. But of course you would only know this if you bothered to read what they’d written. Have you ever bothered to read Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Hamilton? I have. And I’ve read the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers as well. Have you? How about the Treaty of Tripoli? The Treaty of Tripoli, signed at Tripoli in 1796 and both ratified by Congress and signed into law by President Adams in 1797, makes clear that the United States of America is NOT a Christian Nation. In fact, Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli reads, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” Also, after he signed the treaty into law, President Adams affixed the following statement to the document: “Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed, and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all other citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfill the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof.” In conclusion let me reaffirm that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation does not support or promote in any manner any faith whatsoever. However, we are committed to stopping the ongoing, virulent and aggressive Fundamentalist Christian proselytizing within the U.S. Military and Department of Veterans Affairs. It is this subset of Christians who most endanger everyone within the ranks of the Military and within the facilities built to provide humane medical care for our veterans. The Foundation has in fact represented a number of Jewish servicemen/women and veterans who suffered discrimination and abuse at the hands of Fundamentalist Christians, while we have yet to have one single Jewish serviceman/woman or veteran report a single case of discrimination at the hands of a Muslim. I personally represented a Jewish veteran who did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who had been diagnosed with PTSD upon his honorable discharge. He had been refused therapy, including for his PTSD by his local V.A. Medical Center because they concluded he was unwilling to become “born again”. Thankfully, I was able to fix this problem for him; however, it would seem that you would have preferred that I would have allowed this inhumane and discriminatory practice to continue. Do you honestly want the U.S. Military and Dept. of Veterans Affairs to continue to discriminate against people based on their religion? Don’t you see that discriminating against anyone’s religious beliefs is fundamentally not only a violation of the United States Constitution, but an act of evil? No, I cannot accept your claim that you are a Jew because Jews have historically had compassion and concern for those around them. If I am wrong, then prove yourself to be Jewish by demonstrating your humanity. I wonder if you can even do that much. I hope for your own sake that you are able to one day move beyond hatred and see the suffering and humiliation of others – believe me, it is worthy of your attention.

Sincerely,

Akiva Miller
Associate Director of Development    
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

Dear Mr. Miller,

First I would appreciate your not accusing me of not being Jewish because I disagree with you and Mr. Weinstein concerning the uninviting of Mr. Graham for that prayer service.  I am very Jewish, believe in Jewish Principles and though I am not Orthodox, I am a Conservative Jew, attend services regularly and uphold the principles of our faith. With that said, the Judeo-Christian Culture of the Western World is under attack from the Moslem World, anyone who doesn’t see this is,in my mind, burying their head in the sand.  I fought for and defended our Constitution and our country many years ago, however I do not think it is in the best interests for us to pander to the Moslem World, even in our country.  Believe me, I am not saying destroy them, but stop their slow takeover of our beliefs, our government and our democracy. Mr. Weinstein and you have the freedoms to say and believe as you wish, just as I do.  Unfortunately, their are crazies in our country and all over the world who would like nothing better then to muzzle and hurt those who disagree with them.  I believe Moslems fall into this category and therefore I get very angry at someone who would help them destroy Israel, Europe and America, in fact, those of us who have the Judeo-Christian Ethic. Please do not question my Jewish Ethics and humanity.  You do not know me, nor have you ever spoken to me.  I have given many dollars for the people of Darfur and the suffering they are going through.  I am also a strong support of Israel and the constant bombings that they are going through every day.  You love Hamas and Hezbollah?  You have feelings of humanity towards the PLO?  Fine, but I dont agree with you. Sorry I did not sign my name yesterday.  But you have it today.

(name and location withheld)

Dear (name withheld):

First of all let me commend you for deciding to man up – to at least believe enough in your phony assertions to sign your name to them. Once again you refer to a figment of your imagination – “Judeo-Christian values”. It escapes me how a real Jew could even imagine there was such a thing. The values of Jews and the hate of Fundamentalist Christians have nothing in common. The term Judeo-Christian values was dreamt up by Fundamentalist Christians in an effort to hoodwink religious Jews into supporting their Dominionist Christian agenda. You can buy into their lies all you want; you can parrot their fabricated terminology all you want, but that won’t make it true. Just because you keep repeating a lie doesn’t somehow magically make it the truth. It bears noting that magical thinking like that is often a sign of a more problematic psychological disorder. I’m not saying you have one, just that it warrants consideration. The truth is that our culture is under attack by Dominionist, Fundamentalist Christians and it seems they’ve fooled you into supporting their cause. It is the Fundamentalist Christians who are routinely subverting the rights of our Jewish brothers and sisters within the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Franklin Graham was just the latest example. Do you really want to support a guy who hates all religions other than his own. Remember, nuts don’t fall far from the tree – his father was a raging Anti-Semite (just listen to his rantings about Jews both running and ruining the world on the Nixon tapes) and Franklin has seen fit to take his father’s bigotry to newer, higher levels of hate. I am not, as you falsely assert, blind to the sick culture of death evident within radical Islam and demonstrated almost daily by radical Muslim suicide bombers. Contrary to your patently false accusation, neither I nor anyone who works for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation supports Hamas, Hezbollah or the PLO. However, we are daily dealing with huge problems of religious discrimination within our own Armed Forces and Department of Veterans Affairs, and that is our focus. However, it is also true that radical Fundamentalist Christians by their actions are placing our servicemen and women in greater danger by confirming the fears of the Muslim nations, in particular the fear that America is engaged in a religious Crusade against the Muslim people. Allowing Franklin Graham to address the Pentagon only serves to confirm Muslims’ fears – as I mentioned in my previous note to you, Mr. Graham defends the genocide of African Muslims by African Christians. You have completely glossed over this point. Are you too a defender of genocide? You state that “their [sic] are crazies in our country and all over the world who would like nothing better than to muzzle and hurt those who disagree with them” – I couldn’t agree with you more. Both radical Muslims and radicalized Fundamentalist Christians fit into this category. In our own Nation radical Fundamentalist Christians are actively seeking to impose their religion of hate on others, including on your own Jewish brothers and sisters. Let me give you another example (since you ignored the one I mentioned in my previous note): I am a veteran with a service-connected disability. When I was living in Iowa City and receiving medical care at the Iowa City V.A. Medical Center I experienced not only rabid discrimination, but predatory proselytizing at the hands of Fundamentalist Christian V.A. staffers. And when I dared to lodge a complaint with the patient advocate, the Iowa City V.A. Medical Center cut off my medical care. My doctor broke the news to me when I was ill with seven kidney stones; he told me, “You’re a religious Jew; why don’t you try prayer or meditation.” Now it seems to me that you are defending this conduct…or at least glossing over it in an effort to mask the foul stench of your complicity with these same Fundamentalist Christian Anti-Semites. You also claim that Mr. Weinstein and I have the freedom to say and believe as we wish – clearly my story should demonstrate that that is not the intent or goal of the Fundamentalist Christians. They work night and day to take these rights away from us; and now you support them. It is the Fundamentalist Christians who have excluded all faiths, including Judaism, from participation in the official National Day of Prayer activities. Those you defend are actually the ones seeking to muzzle everyone else, and that’s what we’ve opposed and you have defended. Shame on you. Further, we are contacted every single day by servicemen/women and veterans who are suffering discrimination and even violence at the hands of the same Fundamentalist Christian haters you seem to be defending, just because we do not share their hateful beliefs. You bemoan the fact that radical Muslims seek to muzzle those who do not share their beliefs, often by violence. Tell me, how is this different from people like Franklin Graham when they seek only to inflict their religion of hate on everyone else? These people shoot abortion doctors in their churches, they bomb abortion clinics, they use their authority as NCOs and Officers to pressure their fellow servicemen/women to attend Christian bible studies and prayer services and to convert to their hateful strain of Fundamentalist Christianity. I couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head how many of our fellow Jews have contacted us after not only being pressured by superior officers to convert to Christianity, but after having experienced threats and even serious violence just because they had the temerity to stay true to their Jewish faith. And now you would have us be complicit with the very people responsible for these hate crimes. Are you kidding me? Finally, I am unimpressed by your purported support for the people of Darfur since you support a man – Franklin Graham – who defends the genocide there. I am not impressed by your compassion for suffering people when you continue to support those who most seek to inflict their religion of hate on our fellow Americans here at home, in the United States of America. But I am wasting my time trying to reason with you since you have clearly already sold your soul to the Fundamentalist Christian hoard who seeks to impose their own brand of theocracy on America. I’m sure you are not even willing to take a few minutes and read what their leaders have written. Like so many of their followers no doubt you just watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh and parrot whatever you hear. There’s little chance you’ll pick up a book –  read what their great prophet has told them to do. But why? Are you afraid of the truth? Don’t take my word for it – go to the source, pick up at least one of the three volumes of Rushdoony’s “Institutes of Biblical Law” and see for yourself what they have planned for us Jews, and the rest of America too. Then you can write me back and apologize for your grave error. That’s right – you’ve cast your lot with the same sort of people who have been murdering our people for centuries. Don’t look now, but you’re becoming one of the prototypical caricatures in this world – a self-loathing Jew. But while you’re advocating for the destruction of your own people, while you’re busy furthering the cause of hate, Mr. Weinstein and I will be working night and day to protect our fellow Jews, and yes….we’ll also be protecting Muslims, atheists, Hindus, Wiccans, Agnostics and even Christians from the onslaught of bigotry and hate by your buddies, the Fundamentalist Christians. While you’re clothing yourself in bigotry, we’ll be practicing Tikkun Olam.

Sincerely,

Akiva Miller

Dear Mr. Miller,

You are so off base diagnosing my thoughts, intentions and actions, and assuming my thinking is with some radical group of Fundamentalist Christians, that I will not waste our time responding.  Suffice it to say, you have little to say about the real enemies of Judaism, Christianity and other religions, all from the Moslem World.  You keep upholding their rights while they slowly chip away at our rights in America and Europe.  When they finally take power, people like myself and yourself will be walked to our death as the Nazi’s did to our people in Europe.  Moslems are the new Nazi’s as far as I am concerned.  They must be contained, not be education or example(it is too late for that) but by force.  They hopefully, will not destroy us all. Lastly, you may consider my assertions phony, however if you truly believed in our Consitution, you would at least find it somewhere in your frame of reference to realize that because someone disagrees with your thoughts which may not be accurate either, does not mean that they are wrong.  Believe me my friend, I am sure your thinking is not always correct.

(name withheld)

Dear Mr. (name withheld):

to argue to defend Fundamentalist Christian bigots who seek to tear down the wall of Separation between Church and State constructed for us by America’s Founding Fathers, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, et al. It is painfully evident that no amount of education or information can dissuade you from your delusional beliefs, proving the Yiddish proverb once again, “a chazer bleibt a chazer” (a pig remains a pig). Don’t bother writing back – you are both a waste of my time, and a
waste of the air the rest of us breathe.

You can argue all you want that you “believe in the Constitution [sic]” but it won’t alter the reality that you are arguing to not only  violate it, but destroy it. You argue from a position of ignorance.  However, you do make one point I must concede: this is a waste of my  time. One may debate with a person of intelligence and hope to further educate them; however, an ignorant man will always appeal to superstition and emotion, becoming increasingly shrill as his “arguments” are exposed for empty platitudes. Of course since you are both a bigot and a ignoramus you continue to appeal to the
Constitution to back up your desire to subvert it, and despite evidence to the contrary you continue to defend the belief that Muslims are destroying our Constitution, which of course in your confused little mind justifies denying the Constitutional Rights of Muslim Americans (even those who are fighting honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan in the United States Armed Forces). Further, you continue

Akiva Miller