To Mikey:

Published On: November 5, 2011|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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Ugh. I guess you won’t be happy until no one in the military ever mentions their religious viewpoints, or any belief at all for that matter. The e-mail was sent by a cadet… Did you hear that? A cadet to other cadets! You do know that people have free will, right? If they don’t want to participate, they can simply click “Delete”.

You are a self-promoting hate-monger that wont’t be satisfied unless the last drop of religious thought is sucked out of the minds of our military members and not one of them ever mentions the word “Jesus” again. Your organization would more properly be labeled “Military Freedom FROM Religion”, wouldn’t it?
Good luck with that, you’ll need all the help you can get as long as there are people like me that believe in free speech.

(name withheld)


Dear (name withheld),

Thank you for your service to our nation. It is, and always will be, greatly valued and appreciated.

At MRFF, we have no problem with the general concept of your organizational labeling suggestion. Freedom, by its nature, implies both the ability to do something, or not to do something.

Your assertion that MRFF is anti-religious or anti-Christian is absurd and ill-informed I am a very proud Christian (Episcopalian in fact and a direct line descendant of the founders of the Anglican Church of England). Although I have no military experience, I am very proud to work with many retired and active duty military members at MRFF. On behalf of MRFF, I’d like to respond to your apparent assumption about our objection to the US Air Force Academy’s COMMAND STRUCTURE SUPPORT for the Samaritan’s Purse ‘Operation Christmas Child’.

MRFF has done nothing to stop OCC at the USAFA. Any statement to the contrary is both ignorant of actual facts and based on a wild assumption. Absolutely no one at the USAFA is being prohibited from participating in the OCC. USAFA even has an internal (meaning tax payer funded) element that can encourage participation in this or similar activities. You may have even heard of this organization that exists within all branches of the US military, it’s known as the Chaplain Corps.

MRFF’s Founder and President Mikey Weinstein stated as much:

Thursday, November 3, 2011

UPDATE: AFA backs away from toy drive that sparked flap

Weinstein said he’d be fine if the academy was backing a secular toy drive, or if the religious charity was promoted by chaplains rather than cadet leaders. But having leaders apparently backing the worldwide evangelism aims of Operation Christmas Child is inappropriate, he said.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/religious-127840-academy-christmas.html?pic=1

Was this statement:

a) Not clear;

b) Not included in whatever source you relied on to spur you to write to MRFF; or

c) Not able to fight it’s way past your preconceptions of MRFF’s actual goals?

This position on the USAFA handling of participation in OCC which I believe was clearly and precisely stated by MRFF was quickly followed by the USAFA agreeing with MRFF 100% in a 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

It appears to me that the USAFA does not agree with you that this matter was precipitated by an innocent free speech cadet to cadet email outside of the USAFA command structure. I trust your obvious devotion to protecting free speech is extended to all protections granted in the Bill of Rights.

MRFF’s goal is, and has always been, to uphold the military’s command structure constitutional imperative to be totally neutral on religious affairs. In fact, this imperative is of such significance as to require a very recent command directive from the US Air Force Chief of Staff:

September 1, 2011

Schwartz: Don’t endorse religious programs

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz sent a service wide memo Sept. 1 cautioning leaders at all levels to balance the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom and the prohibition on government intrusion.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/09/air-force-schwartz-warns-commanders-on-religious-programs-091611/

Was this command directive:

a) Not clear;

b) Over 2-months old and difficult to recall;

c) Applicable to all US Air Force elements outside of the USAFA; or

d) Not able to effectively cut through an existing, and un-constitutional, command structure religious bias?

Assumptions based on factual ignorance reveal pre-conceptions and nothing else. This may create a cheap anger driven adrenaline thrill, but accomplishes nothing.

We are involved in a cause that affects children worldwide very deeply, both today and tomorrow. Any assertion that MRFF has no care for children speaks volumes about the lack of understanding of the overwhelming historical importance of our cause. To allow the command structure of the most powerful military in world history to promote any religion would lead to potentially horrific consequences for any children not belonging to the “preferred” religion.

Your consideration of this information is greatly appreciated. May the warmth and calm of Christian brotherhood be with you.

Sincerely,

Andy Kasehagen

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