Operation Christmas Child (Shame on you Mikey Weinstein)

Dear Mikey Weinstein,

Shame on you Mikey Weinstein and your organization for killing the Air Force program that would have sent shoe box gifts at Christmas to 8 million underprivileged children to 100 countries around the world. As a Christian my wife and I have no problem supporting underprivileged children of any religion. You should know that hunger and impoverishment knows no one religion and discriminates toward none. I am a firm supporter of Israel as a State in spite of the fact that it is a Jewish State. Please re-read amendment 1 to the Constitution of the United States which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and etc.”. As you should clearly see, that Air Force gifts program neither attempted to “establish religion”. Also note that Congress should not prohibit the “free exercise thereof”. I assume your organization would not deprive needy children of a bit of joy that might accompany them around their religious holidays so why would you play the grinch in this situation? Innocent children should not be punished over religion. It is adults that harbor such vile discriminations. Organizations like yours does nothing but foster divisions in our society in it’s attempt to pigeon-hole people. Get over it, we are all human beings created by the same God whether or not you wish to acknowledge the existence of one or not!

(name withheld)

Dear (name withheld),

Mikey has read and asked me to respond to your email.

I’ll begin with the complete factual inaccuracy of the assumptions and allegations contained in your email. In regards to your reference to Operation Christmas Child, you should be aware that it continues unabated at the US Air Force Academy simply with the lead change as requested by MRFF from USAFA’s Command Structure to its Chaplain Corps. A change by the way, requested by MRFF, in order to follow clear direction recently ordered by the Air Force Chief of Staff (http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/09/air-force-schwartz-warns-commanders-on-religious-programs-091611/). Confirmation of this can be seen in this USAFA press release:
Friday, November 4, 2011
Academy responds to cadet community project — Community project will continue, led by Academy Chaplains
http://www.usafa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123278819
Assumptions and accusations based on factual ignorance reveal pre-conceptions and nothing else. This may create a cheap anger driven adrenaline thrill, but accomplishes nothing. As a proud Christian volunteer with MRFF, I find the easy willingness of many like you to bear false witness against Mikey or MRFF to be quite troubling.

The clear Missionary/Proselytizing purpose of OCC is discussed freely in the following video produced by Samaritan’s Purse; ‘The Greatest Journey’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X1MNZvED3mw. If this one video by the parent organization of OCC is not enough for you to see the clear and unambiguous proselytizing purposes of OCC, please feel free to review the entire Samaritan’s Purse YouTube Video Channel located at http://www.youtube.com/user/SamaritansPurseVideo. This is obviously a program best administered/supported through the Chaplain Corps, not within the chain of command.

You state that “Innocent children should not be punished over religion”. I completely agree with that statement and add that innocent children should not be taken advantage of over religion as well. I find the ‘Quid Pro Quo’ proselytizing upon which OCC is based to be an unmitigated perversion of true Christian Charity. Charity, by any moral definition, is not given with the expectation of reciprocal action by the recipient to the benefit of the donor. As a Christian with a clear understanding of true meaning and purposes of charity, I find your accusations truly appalling.

To be clear, MRFF doesn’t want to “Grinch” some toys out of the hands of children and, in fact, has engaged in several toy drives itself. Rather, through its assertions to the academy and other military commands, MRFF is trying to look out for children by assuring the most powerful military in the world doesn’t promote or disparage any religion, which, as history has shown us, can lead to horrific consequences for those, including children, who don’t belong to the “preferred” religion.

If you are a Christian, the only shame lays with your false accusations.

Your calm Christian consideration of this information is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Andy Kasehagen

Andy,
Thank you for responding to my personal email to Mikey Weinstein who asked you to respond to my comments to him. As you are aware many emails find their way onto our computer screens. Without extensive research it is often difficult and time consuming to verify the facts. I apologize to Mr. Weinstein for not checking the background of said organization before lashing out at him. You, however, would be better advised to have been more circumspect in your response to me on his behalf. You responded to me with accusatory words such as “bear false witness”, “cheap anger driven adrenaline thrill”, and others. Please consider the fact that I wrote to Mikey personally. I did not copy my letter to him to anyone else. To bear false witness is to relay to another person or persons a lie about someone which could damage that persons honor, or reputation. This did not happen. I wrote to Mikey personally. Secondly, you accuse me of being driven by a “cheap anger driven adrenaline thrill”. Is this not the same thing that you accuse me of doing in my response to Mikey? To use your definition of “bearing false witness” I might accuse you of bearing false witness against me if I understood that term the way you seem to understand it.

You may give my apology to Mr. Weinstein for my misguided words to him, and assure him that I have not bore false witness against him but merely confronted him personally about a situation that I see happening over and over again in the secular culture, that is a attempt to deny religion a voice in the market-place and a deeply rooted denial of religious liberty to individuals and institutions. Our Constitution guarantees freedom of religious expression as well as a guarantee that government shall not establish one religion over another.

With the Christmas season well underway, we will see innumerable examples nationwide of overt attempts to supress public expressions of Christmas by institutions and individuals in an attempt to deny us our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression. This happens every year to Christians who, though they are the majority of believers in this Country, come under severe attack by hate groups. You need only to read a copy of Catalyst, a publication of the Catholic League headed by Bill Donahue to understand the degree to which Christianity is being attacked. It is in my interest as a Christian, and should be in the interest of individuals of any religious belief to admonish those who would supress our freedoms as American citizens, whether they be in the military or in secular society. Andy, I wish you the best of success in your endeavors and encourage you to defend your chosen faith.

Sincerely,
(name withheld)

Dear (name withheld),

Your “apology to Mr. Weinstein for my misguided words to him” has been forwarded. However, I find any apology that is wrapped in so much justification for the original action to be an apology in name only.

Your naiveté regarding a personal email to Mikey would actually be quite charming in some circumstances. Your feigned innocence would have me believe that you truly thought [email protected] was Mikey’s personal email. My Christian faith and basic personal honesty prohibits me from taking advantage of your “innocence” by offering you a sweet internet investment opportunity in Nigeria.

I will however give your tortured logic regarding the meaning of “bearing false witness” high marks on effort. You have displayed legalistic maneuvering regarding the concept of “bearing false witness” that would have been right at home on an episode of ‘Law and Order’. Your attempt to compartmentalize your false accusations directed at Mikey clearly makes you a willing accomplice to those who apparently reach your tortured definition of bearing false witness. Bearing False Witness becomes a meaningless term and concept without the willingness of individuals like yourself to rely on such statements, whether out of ignorance or not. Maybe if I do some additional research and create an appropriate theological construct, I’ll also find in Christ’s teachings that bearing false witness only applies to a third-party communication and does not apply to any accusations made as a result, never mind what’s in your heart.

I can easily agree with you that Christians have been actual victims of intolerance throughout history, right up to and including today. However, your stated victimhood as a Christian in the U.S. is not only laughable but downright demeaning to those Christians throughout the world who truly suffer for sharing our faith. Your reliance on Bill Donahue as some apparent expert on “Christianity being attacked” speaks untold volumes to me about your easy willingness to previously accuse Mikey of shameful actions. I am more than just a little familiar with Mr. Donahue’s work. Although Mr. Donahue does occasionally discuss legitimate intolerance towards Christians, and provides a needed service when he does so, it is so often lost in the noise created by his herculean efforts to create victimhood status where none can be said to exist by any rational individual.

In a closely related matter, you should be aware that Mr. Donahue falls into the same category of faith held by 96% of MRFF’s clients who are also Christian; just not the “right kind of Christian”. Your ‘Holier Than Thou’ implication that I do not defend my Christian faith is truly beneath contempt. I defend both my Christian faith and my Constitution. I don’t feel the need to defend one at the expense of the other.

Sincerely,
Andy