Essay: US Air Force Prepares to Cry Havoc

Published On: August 2, 2014|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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I read Mikey Weinstein’s recent essay (US Air Force Prepares to Cry Havoc …). Not knowing anything about MRFF it appeared to me that Weinstein was calling for the suppression of all religious expression in the military. He characterized religious expression in the most hateful ways. People who witness about their beliefs are “predators” who “rape” and “torment” others, according to him. Weinstein made no secret of his disdain and hatred of Christian fundamentalists, also.
Reading the “Our Mission” page at the MRFF web site I found that they are against =unwanted= proselytizing and the like, which is reasonable, but in this and some previous essays Weinstein sort of forgets to say “unwanted” and just refers to religious expression in general. So what is the true face of MRFF?
I note a quote from Weinstein on the MRFF web site: “When one proudly dons a U.S. Military uniform there is only one religious symbol: the American flag. There is only one religious scripture, the American Constitution. Finally, there is only one religious faith: American patriotism.”

That really does sound like a call to remove religion from the military entirely. Someone tell Weinstein: It’s freedom =of= religion, not freedom =from= religion.

(name withheld)


Dear (name withheld) –

Thanks for your note. As a Christian and AF veteran who supports MRFF, I’d like to offer my perspective of what our organization is all about… and I also want to share my view of Mikey Weinstein.

In fact, let’s talk about Mikey first, because that will help to inform what I want to share about MRFF.

You say, “Weinstein made no secret of his disdain and hatred of Christian fundamentalists.” Now, I don’t pretend to know the heart of another person, so I can’t say whether Mikey harbors “hatred” for anyone — but “disdain” is another story. He certainly does show disdain for some people, and I share his disdain for these folks. Not “Christian fundamentalists” per se, but rather Christian Dominionists. These are the folks who believe it is their God-ordained purpose and mission to advance the “dominion” (power, authority, control) of their particular sectarian beliefs within all American institutions, including the US military. They believe that their “mission” trumps the Constitutional rights and freedoms of anyone who does not share their beliefs – I find that disdainful because it is un-American.

You say that Mikey is hateful when he uses terms like “predators”, “rape” and “torment”. I would suggest that, while they may be blunt, they are descriptive and appropriate. Any person with power over others, such as a military leader, who uses their position to push a personal belief on a captive audience, is acting in a predatory manner.

Just last year, an unfortunate example of this behavior occurred at my alma mater, the USAF Academy. The Assistant Athletic Director at the Prep School said, “I am on staff at USAFA and will talk about Jesus Christ my Lord and savior to everyone that I work with.” Almost half of the Prep School students are recruited athletes who hope to gain admission to USAFA so they can compete at the D-1 collegiate level. Ponder that for a moment – that is over 100 students who want to be in good favor with the athletic dept. You can also be sure that all do not share the same sectarian beliefs as the Asst AD. So when he approaches them to “talk about Jesus Christ” and it’s unwelcome, what are they to do? To me, the only label for that behavior is “predatory.”

If you want to consider what I think is truly hateful language, how about this — Satan; evil; despicable; kike; demon. These are all things that Mikey has been called, in email notes to MRFF from purported Christians, just within the past several weeks. This same group also shares such good news as, “It is we who shall destroy you”… “burn in hell”… “die in agony”… “we pray as one for you to die tonight”. Again, these little gems were all received in just the past several weeks from supposed Christians. As a Christian myself, I read this poison and feel nothing but disdain for the writers, and every chance that I get I repudiate them because they follow a very different God than the One that I worship and serve. Quite frankly, having seen the nastiness and threats that are regularly leveled at Mikey and his family, I marvel that he shows as much restraint as he does.

To close my thoughts about Mikey, I find him to be one of the most honorable and courageous men that I have known. Undiplomatic? Yes. Strident? Sure. Unyielding? Absolutely. And these are all characteristics that, in my opinion, are often needed in the fight in which MRFF finds itself.

So with that backdrop, let’s talk a bit about MRFF…

You wrote, “It appeared to me that Weinstein was calling for the suppression of all religious expression in the military.” Close but not quite – replace “suppression” with “appropriate governance” and you’ve got it right. MRFF is all about ensuring appropriate governance of all religious expression in the military.

The American people are a diverse bunch when it comes to religion. Christianity remains the dominant force (although even within the ranks of Christians there is a considerable range of dogma), but nearly a quarter of Americans align with other faith traditions or with no belief at all. Similarly, our military is comprised of a diverse group of patriots who follow a variety of religious beliefs (including non-belief). Each of these beliefs is entitled to equal consideration and protection, and each service member is entitled to live and work in an environment that is free of unwanted sectarian persuasion, evangelization or proselytization.

Perhaps it is simplest and most direct to describe it in personal terms. I’ve been an active and devout Christian my whole life… including the time that I was an Air Force officer. While in that role, I still retained all of my constitutional rights to whatever religious belief I wished to hold. But as a leader with authority over other service members, I also had a responsibility not to use my position to promote my personal beliefs to my subordinates, because they too had a constitutional right to their own beliefs (including non-belief). More importantly, they had a right to live and work in an environment where my sectarian religious beliefs were not conflated with the mission of our unit.

To put it in similar terms to what you’ve shared, every military member is entitled to freedom OF their own religious beliefs, and also freedom FROM the religious beliefs or influences of others. And again, this is not an anti-Christian or anti-religion stance; rather, it is pro-Constitution.

I hope you find this perspective informative and helpful. Thanks again for writing – I encourage you to learn more about the threats that exist today to the religious freedom of all Americans. Those threats are real, and we need groups like MRFF to stand opposed to them.

Peace,

Mike Challman

Christian, AF Veteran, MRFF Supporter

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