FEATURED INBOX POST – Religious Freedom (with MRFF response)

Published On: August 30, 2014|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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Do any of you understand what kind of low life human beings you actually are?

To impose YOUR beliefs on the military is just as much a violation of the “establishment clause” as you complain about all the time. As a matter of FACT it is MORE a violation of the establishment clause since you are attempting to force those in the military to have NO religion whatsoever, which is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

There is absolutely NOTHING in the Constitution that says that those in the military cannot be allowed access to ANY religious materials just because a few anti-religious bigots don’t want them to. And there is NOTHING in the Constitution that says that a “lodge” can’t have a Bible to the exclusion of any other reading material, or that having a Bible in a lodge is any kind of violation whatsoever, other than to your own personal hatred for those that believe in a God or higher power.

And also, if you would READ the Constitution instead of attacking those that have religious beliefs,, and the First Amendment actually ALLOWS those in the military to have the FREEDOM of religion. Neither the Constitution nor the Uniform Code of Military Justice says that those in the military cannot have access nor speak on their personal religious beliefs, despite the dishonest garbage you put out.

These people are putting their LIVES ON THE LINE for this nation, and unfortunately, for you. And you pieces of garbage actually want to prevent them to have the right to have access to a military Chaplain of their beliefs, to gather with others of their belief, or to even have something as simple as a Bible that YOU don’t believe in anyway. Simply because even though you are too COWARDLY to defend this nation with your life yourself, you feel you have the right to impose YOUR anti-religious beliefs on those that do.

I spent 22 years on active duty with the ABSOLUTE knowledge that if I felt the need for a Chaplain for any reason, be it religious, counselling, get religious material, or simply to speak to privately, that there was one available. You jerks want to take that RIGHT away from everyone because of your own stupid BIGOTRY.

You’re disgusting beyond words with your propaganda, hatred, and trash.

(name withheld)


Oh (name withheld),

I’ve had to wait a bit before attempting a reply to you because I’ve had some things I thought more important to do.

Now, because you’ve shown yourself to be very good at misunderstanding, I want to be sure you don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I think your message is unimportant, it’s just that I hear so much of this angry, bloated rhetoric from people like you, all hot under the collar and red in the face because you’ve heard a bunch of lies about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Or maybe, and this would be worse, you’ve read something, not likely but maybe something we’ve actually written, and completely misunderstood it.

Anyway, I do want to take this time to respond because I think it’s important that we make an attempt to be understood, even if the misunderstanding is not our fault in the first place, and especially if it’s intentional. You indicated that you’re retired, and I guess that’s a good thing because your understanding of a number of the points you’ve made reference to here is sadly confused and/or simply lacking. And if you were still in the service you’d be blowing off and someone else might think you knew what you were talking about.

You don’t, Roger. And before you start spewing again, let me explain.

I’ll not comment on all the stupid name-calling you’ve chosen to resort to. I’ve come to understand that sort of stuff comes from people who can’t or won’t deal in facts and aren’t willing to hear the truth, but let me try anyway.

First, of course we understand the kind of human beings we are. We are, among other things, the kind of human beings who are deeply concerned that people like you don’t really understand the concept of freedom of religion. You and others like you seem to think that freedom of religion means only the freedom of your religion, not that of others. You also have a problem with understanding that the concept of freedom OF religion allows for the idea, if one chooses to embrace it, of freedom FROM religion.

Now you have decided, for whatever reason, that we want “those in the military to have no religion whatsoever.” I don’t know where people come up with these cockamamie ideas, but IT’S NOT TRUE. It couldn’t be further from the truth, actually, as most of the people associated with the MRFF are Christians, some of them ministers. Some are of other faiths and some do not believe in God, but over 95% of our friends and associates are “believing Christians.” And all of us are in agreement that the freedom of belief of those in the military must be protected. The protection that’s offered under our constitution and subsequent laws has come to be understood as the separation of church and state. This means that the government (the state) cannot and should not be in a position of promoting, or appearing to promote, one religion or religious belief, over another.

So that’s the core of your misunderstanding. And it has caused you to blow a lot of hot air at us.

You’re right that there’s nothing in the Constitution that says people in the military can’t have access to religious material of their choosing. No one here opposes allowing people access to their own religious material; what we oppose is having people imposing their own religious beliefs on others. In particular, we think it’s a violation of the freedom of religion when people in superior positions impose their religious beliefs on those beneath them in status, which is why we insist on complete freedom of religion in the military. That means there can be no proselytizing, no matter how zealous the faith of the individual who believes that everyone must adhere to his or her belief system or be damned to hell. He or she is welcome to that belief but MAY NOT impose it on others.

You see, we’re pretty familiar with the Constitution, and unlike some others I can think of, we believe what it says about all of our freedoms: that they have to be honored, trusted and protected from those who would subvert them. Because Christianity is the predominant religion in this country of ours, some seem to believe it’s OK for part of the government, like the military, to promote Christianity and/or look the other way when others choose to promote it. But no can do.

In the case of the “lodge” you chose to rant about, a domicile run by the military should not be providing a book about a specific religious belief. Period. The implied propagation of that religion should be obvious, and obviously wrong, I would think. But apparently you don’t understand that; apparently you find it perfectly proper because it is the religion of your choice. But what if the book placed in the lodge was the Koran, or the Book of Mormon? Would you be bellowing because it was removed?

Of course you wouldn’t. You’d be applauding. You see, that’s why we have to be scrupulous in our work to separate church and state.

You make another error in your name-calling that I want to point out. Many of the members and supporters of the MRFF are active duty military and many, many of them are veterans, all of whom understand and appreciate the work of the organization. Just to give you something to think about, many of the men and women you’ve chosen to slur are not only present or former career military, but are also decorated combat veterans.

So I’d advise you to give some thought to your ugly missive and consider taking a look at the MRFF website and reading the mission statement there. You probably won’t, but if you do, check out some of the other ugly letters sent our way, mostly by people who claim to be followers of Christ. See how they make you feel.

Yours in understanding,

Mike Farrell

(MRFF Board of Advisors)

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