Dear MRFF:
My husband and I were both greatly disturbed reading some of the hate mail that MRFF receives. Particularly, the letter calling Mr. Weinstein, “Mike the Kike” that also included other racial expletives that seemed to spew from a four-year-old at daycare.
My husband has been in the military for seventeen years. He is an E-8 serving as a Team Leader with the Green Berets. He has been deployed nine times in the War on Terror and has received six Bronze Stars with Vs for Valor and a Purple Heart. Before 9/11 he was constantly deployed on missions throughout the world, receiving numerous citations. Despite all this, if my husband mentions that he is a non-Christian, he is often lectured about being a “good” soldier.
We do not know if the person who sent the hateful email to Mikey is a current member of the military, but it only highlights language and attitudes that we have witnessed that are accepted in the military if the target is not Christian or even, not Christian enough to the many that feel the military and religion are intertwined. The irony is that the soldiers who have actually served in hot spots throughout the world know that there needs to be much less religion tied into our missions, not more. Almost all of the conflicts for which we have had to intercede have been religious wars. Going in as outsiders has allowed our soldiers to see the insanity and stupidity of killing “In God’s Name”
Whenever someone discusses the War on Terror as some kind of religious Crusade, we like to pose to them a simple question. Had the atrocities of 9/11 been perpetrated by Sponge Bob Square Pants, would we not pursue him and his accomplices with the same vigor and commitment that we have brought to bear in our attempts to protect ourselves from future attacks? The fact that Bin Laden interjected religion into his motives and justification for those violent acts does not mean that we have to bring forth some sort of “better but different” religion in order to motivate and sustain our service members in order to do the job for which they have volunteered. It also compromises our relationships with potential allies, who must ask if we are there to correct some wrong doing or are we there because they have the wrong god?
We have to remove the religious undertones in all parts of military operations. To not do so muddles and distorts what was the noble mission of protecting our country and its citizens. When we make this a war of who has the best imaginary friend, we all will lose. Contrary to the attitude taken by the author of the hateful email, we need MRFF to continue to work for religious freedom and freedom from religion for our service members so that they can focus on the job they signed up for. Thank you MRFF!
(name and military installation withheld)
Well said!