PRESS RELEASE – MRFF Response to CARL

Published On: May 19, 2015|Categories: News|0 Comments|

Accessibility Notice

This post was created on the previous version of the MRFF website, and may not be fully accessible to users of assistive technology. If you need help accessing this content, please reach out via email.

MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION

May 19, 2015 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION
at [email protected] or call 337-356-8696

MRFF urges Air Force
not to consider it “hysterical”
to uphold and enforce DoD regulations

‘Military officers are subject to military regulations… period’ 

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – In response to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) demand that Air Force Major General Craig Olson be punished for violating numerous Department of Defense and Air Force regulations by speaking in uniform at the National Day of Prayer Task Force’s event held on Capitol Hill on May 7, the Chaplain Alliance For Religious Liberty (CARL) has issued a press release with the heading “Chaplain Alliance urges Air Force not to give in to hysterics.”

Does CARL really think a demand that the U.S. military uphold and enforce

its own regulations is “hysterical”? Apparently so!

CARL’s executive director, Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews (USA Retired), is in error when he claims that “Major General Olson’s speech is protected by the Constitution, federal statute, and Air Force regulations.”

As an active duty military officer, Major General Olson is strictly prohibited by DoD and Air Force regulations from speaking in uniform at events such as the National Day of Prayer Task Force’s (NDPTF) event because the NDPTF is a private organization, or “non-federal entity.” Among the regulations violated by Major General Olson regarding this prohibition are the U.S. military’s Joint Ethics Regulation (DoD 5500.7-R), which prohibits the endorsement of a non-federal entity, and DoD Instruction 5410.19, which prohibits the providing of a selective benefit or preferential treatment to any private organization, religious or otherwise.

And then, of course, there are the military’s regulations prohibiting the endorsement or promotion of any religion, such as Air Force Instruction 1-1, which states (emphasis added):

2.12. Balance of Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment Clause.
Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion, including individual expressions of religious beliefs, and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion.
They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief.

Can CARL’s Ron Crews really not see how Major General Olson’s exclusively Christian speech at the National Day of Prayer Task Force’s exclusively Christian event would “reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing” and “extending preferential treatment for” not just the religion of Christianity, but the very specific brand of fundamentalist Christianity promoted by the National Day of Prayer Task Force at its event?

“Major General Olson’s speech specifically and incontrovertibly violates the U.S. Constitution, it’s construing Federal case law and statutes and USAF directives, instructions and regulations. Additionally, his astonishingly sectarian speech, delivered in full uniform, provides our Islamic fundamentalist enemies with a boundless bonanza of propaganda at the worst possible time for this to happen. The Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty (CARL) is once again displaying it’s typical and intrinsic inability to recognize literally ANY time, place, or manner restrictions on the ability of U.S military members to witness or proselytize their chosen religious faiths, which in the case of Major General Olson, is fundamentalist Christianity” – Mikey Weinstein, Founder and President, MRFF

It is not MRFF’s demand that the U.S. military uphold its own regulations that is “hysterical.” The only hysterics are coming from those such as our good friend Ron Crews, who erroneously see the upholding and enforcement of these very necessary regulations to be some sort of war on Christians.

– Mikey Weinstein, Founder and President, MRFF; 505-250-7727.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is the only civil rights organization devoted to protecting the Constitutionally-mandated Separation of Church and State within the U.S. Military.  MRFF is now representing well over 41,000 active duty armed servicemembers, veterans, and civilian personnel.

###

Share This Story

Leave A Comment