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COLUMBUS DISPATCH – OSU grads fight for troops’ religious freedom

Published On: January 30, 2012|Categories: News|0 Comments|

Selected Article Excerpts:

  • Two of the most-prominent national organizations fighting for religious freedom in the U.S. military have roots at Ohio State University. Retired Army Capt. Jason Torpy incorporated the nonprofit Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers while getting a master’s in business administration at Ohio State in 2006. Air Force Reserve Capt. Casey Weinstein, whose experiences at the Air Force Academy helped lead his father to begin the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, also has an MBA from Ohio State. His wife, Reserve Capt. Amanda Weinstein, is working toward a doctorate in economics there now.The Military Religious Freedom Foundation and members of the Weinstein family have sued the Air Force Academy twice, as well as the Defense Department and other groups.
  • Casey Weinstein was a senior at the Air Force Academy in 2004 when The Passion of the Christ movie came out. His brother, Curtis, was a freshman. They are Jewish, and both had experienced some anti-Semitism at school, Casey said.The promotion of the film by the Academy’s leadership — special screenings, universal email messages — seemed to be the equivalent of a government authority unconstitutionally promoting a religion, argued Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, Casey’s father. He’s a former government lawyer and also an academy alumnus.
  • What followed was covered in the national news media. Casey’s father sued the academy, arguing that no Air Force member could proselytize or evangelize for any religion while on duty (the film wasn’t the only example he had). A federal judge dismissed the suit once the Weinsteins graduated, saying that because they were no longer students, they no longer had the ability to sue.
  • Mikey Weinstein created the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, based in Albuquerque, N.M., out of that experience and has continued to argue loudly against evangelizing in the military and to file lawsuits.Casey Weinstein, who is from New Mexico, and his wife, Amanda, who was raised in California and Colorado, came to Ohio when both were stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. They’re now inactive reservists and live in Fairborn.Casey works on marketing and social media as a volunteer for the foundation. He’s much quieter spoken than his father, though he appreciates his father’s spirit.

    “He holds people’s feet to the fire,” Casey said.

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