Hey, Mikey. Get a Life.
Whether you like it or not, this country was founded on religious freedom, centered on Christianity. You seem bound and determined to find any excuse to expose any Christian military member who choose to exercise this right while in uniform. Should we also rid ourselves of the Chaplains who provide spiritual guidance? Should we further insist and enforce upon spiritual neutrality on all our service members?
Sorry, but I believe the time and resources you have spent and caused the country to spend defending against your accusations is more than a waste. It’s a shame. I felt it was worth a few electrons to tell you so.
So, Get a Life. Who knows – maybe you’ll even find some spiritual enlightenment once you stop your obsession with this misbegotten cause? I sure hope so, for your sake.
I’ll say a prayer for you.
(name withheld)
Hi (name withheld),
Thank you for your note to Mr. Weinstein. As you might imagine he is up to his short hairs trying to deal with the 22,000 or so client case complaints from our young men and women in the armed forces who have found themselves in the grip of coercive and command influenced Dominion Christian proselytizing. So I hope you don’t mind me sitting in for him as I know you would like to have a response.
(name withheld), our founding documents, including, the US Constitution, did not center on Christianity. Were that so, some mention of Jesus as the official American God would have been inserted. Rather, according to the wishes of our founding fathers the United States was founded as a pluralistic, secular nation, in which all religions may flourish but none dominate, irrespective of its majority. Christianity is certainly in the majority but must take its place alongside the many other beliefs and non-beliefs protected under our Constitution. Religious freedom is a big part of our foundation but religious freedom is for all beliefs not just Christianity. That is why we work so hard to protect minority beliefs from majority ones in the military.
The First Amendment, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, in many hundreds of decisions rulings and such, prohibits
members of government, including the armed forces from publicly preferring, favoring, advancing, elevating, recommending or proselytizing one religion over another or religion over non-religion. Military members who violate that interpretation are not exercising a right but rather violating the rights of others.
Chaplains are an important and integral part of military life. But they, too, are subject to constitutional provision and the Uniform Code of Military justice and must themselves consult only with willing members of the military seeking religious guidance and must refrain from proselytizing their own beliefs to those who do not welcome it.
Christian supremacy has been a growing problem in the armed forces, the vast numbers of complaints we have received is proof positive. But in the past few years a militant sect of Christianity known to us now as “Dominion Christians” has infiltrated our armed forces and created quite a stir. Dominionists are not the mainstream, loving, caring Christian folk we grew up with but rather the kind of Christian that initiated the crusades, inquisitions, genocides, witch hunts, Holocausts, etc.
If you get a copy of Pat Robertson’s book, “The Secret Kingdom,” you will see a blueprint for the take over of the US Government, usurpation of the US Constitution and its replacement by Biblical Law, and co-opting of the US Military for the purpose of acquiring its arsenals to be employed in world conquest. You see these folks believe that Jesus will not come back to Earth if all world populations are not either converted to Christianity or cast into the “lake of fire.” We assume this means death. If you Google Dominion Christianity and Christian Reconstructionism, you will get a chilling glimpse into Dominionist Christianity that will both shock and disgust you.
We are able to make these statements with some degree of certainty because a large number of our staff and volunteers are military veterans and many of them are combat veterans who have personally experienced such illegal activities. I am a former Air Force officer and rescue pilot with two combat tours in Vietnam. Mr. Weinstein is an Air Force Academy honor graduate serving as a Judge Advocate General in the Air Force for over ten years and joining President Reagan as a White House Counsel for a period of three years.
We still get a chuckle out of the “Get a life” phrase because so many of us have lived our lives in service to America and our families and are barely able to cling to our old lives, never mind trying to get a new one.
We believe a misbegotten cause is one in which someone is damaged or compromised. Ours, which protects our young military men and women and service academy cadets is a great and honorable undertaking.
I hope this has helped you see what our real goals are. You are welcome to visit us at militaryreligiousfreedom.org for more information.
Sincerely.
Rick Baker
Regional Coordinator
MRFF
