Infringement of religious freedom

Published On: March 24, 2014|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|1 Comment|

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Dear Mikey,

I am writing you to make you aware of a religion infringing upon my rights on a daily basis. I am currently in Afghanistan and I am subjected to the daily Islamic call to prayer. I am unable to avoid it and leadership seemingly does nothing to stop it.

(name withheld)


Dear (name withheld),

Mikey is extremely busy fighting to ensure the Dominionist threat of extremist Christianity isn’t making any ground in trying to overthrow our beloved Constitution so be asked me to respond to you.

I’ve been deployed four times and I find this request perhaps the most bizarre and unintelligent I have ever encountered throughout my entire time with MRFF. If you are deployed in Afghanistan you must surely realize that you are in another country. As such you must also realize that those Afghans are not subject to the separation of church (or in this case mosque) and state.

We cannot force another sovereign nation to adhere to the laws set down under our Constitution. Even if they maintain a mosque on the base you reside and play the call to prayer five times daily within the base there is not much to be done. It is not a permanent duty station and not considered a part of US territory. There is no legal or Constitutional protections against stopping a foreign nation that has the mosque as the head of its government.

But it is a bright reminder of why we do what we do. We fight to ensure that no such occurrence can be made where this will be the status quo in our great Republic, but I’m assuming you already knew that.

Please go troll elsewhere. We have real work to do.

Very Respectfully,
Paul Loebe
Special Projects Manager
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Chicago, IL

*Disclaimer: Although I am a Marine Sergeant my views do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, or any affiliated branches.*


You are correct; a cadet displaying a Bible verse on their personal property in their personal living space is the real threat here.

(name withheld)


Dear (name withheld),

Well now that your real intentions have revealed themselves I must ask – why didn’t you just broach that subject from the beginning? I would have been glad to address it. Now I am sitting here and pondering precisely how to respond to you as I now view you with suspect.

However, since you have not debased your own position by resorting to ad hominem attacks and baseless accusations I will assume that what you wrote can be taken at face value. I will reciprocate in kind and hope you come to understand the TRUE mission of MRFF and what we really stand for, not what the media plays us out to be.

We are Constitutionalists. We believe and fight for the religious rights of everyone wearing a uniform. Throughout the last decade there has been an extreme push by extremist Christians to take over the United States Military. These Christians are in the vast minority of the everyday real Christians you encounter – in fact they make up a mere 9% of the entire US Christian population. However, they are heavily concentrated in the US Armed Forces and that is frightening reality!

96% of our clients are Christians who come to us seeking protection from these vile maniacs who create a perversion out of their own religion. They are persecuted for being “the wrong kind of Christian”. Now tell me – would you want to live in a society where you would be condemned for not being radical enough in your religious zeal?

It is not rampant within every unit and with every commander (we have pushed back hard enough that they have slimed back into the shadows) but they are still prevalent enough to create a threat – not only to the working environment, but to national security itself. This latest removal of the Bible verse on a whiteboard is a response to that.

Due to the extreme proselytization and fear of religious persecution within the Air Force a new instruction was created – or rather amended Air Force Instruction 1-1 Section 2.11. It is a reinforcement of the Establishment Clause of our dear beloved Constitution.

You may find this at odds with your own belief that people have the “free exercise” of their own religious preference without government interference. However, it is not at odds in any way. The Establishment Clause precedes the Free Exercise Clause in the first amendment of the Constitution on purpose. It is not merely that it comes first but that it supercedes the Free Exercise thereof. What does that mean? It means that you or I can go about our personal lives and worship however we please so long as we do not infringe upon anyone else’s right to be left to worship in their own way. But that right is halted at the doorstep of the US Government. Once you step foot on government property as a representative of that government then you must remain neutral towards the establishment of any religion or none whatsoever until such a time as you are no longer participating in being the face of that governing body – ESPECIALLY if you hold a position of authority, which this cadet clearly did.

This cadet’s white board was not in their living quarters. It was in a public place. It is not the message that was wrong – it was the time and the place.

The current debacle with the “Ask An Atheist” booth is another example. It is in a public place on the academy facility and being fully supported by the command. As an atheist I am at odds with that and stand fully against it. That is not government neutrality. The government and the military are not the place for that. If they wish to take part in any religious event they need to do so off military and government grounds or in the privacy of their own quarters.

If you are truly sincere I hope I hear back from you, because if you are I think you will agree with the mission of MRFF.

Very Respectfully,
Paul Loebe
Special Projects Manager
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Chicago, IL

*Disclaimer: Although I am a Marine Sergeant my views do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, or any affiliated branches.*

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One Comment

  1. Nathanael Anderson September 23, 2015 at 8:00 am

    Please proofread your writing if you are going to post it on a .org website you scrub. I am very disappointed in your lack of spell check which should catch things such as “so be asked me to respond to you.” The be should be a he. My point proven, please proofread in the future.

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