THERE YOU GO AGAIN!

Published On: May 19, 2015|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|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.
Dear Mike:
There you go again, trying to obliterate God. You remind me of Voltaire who tried to do the same thing but in the end his house became a Bible factory!
 
There is no “wall of separation” in the Constitution, only the 1st amendment which states that Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion NOR LIMITINGTHE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF”. Therefore YOU are acting in an unconstitutional manner by trying to LIMIT THE  FREE EXERCISE THEREOF!
 
I know that with Obama as president, the most unChristian Christian president this country has ever suffered through, but you can’t stamp out faith, my friend, even though you obviously want to . The Bible says that where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty! This freedom you are enjoying to try to restrain religious expression is a God given freedom.I grieve for you and whatever mistreatment you must have suffered in childhood to createsuch God hate and antiChristianbigotry and I pray for your soul. Any time you want to talk I’m here for you.
(name withheld)
Dear (name withheld),
Mikey has read your email and asked me to respond.
 
We are not trying to obliterate God but believe everyone has the right to worship the deity of their choice but according to the UCMJ and Supreme Court ruling as to the accepted time, place and manner.
 
The issue is that he showed up in uniform at a civilian event.
The National Day of Prayer Task Force is not the National Day of Prayer signed into law by President Truman in 1952.
The National Day of Prayer is celebrated by Americans of many religions, including Christians of many denominations, including Protestants and Catholics, as well as Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews, reflecting the demographics of the United States. On the National Day of Prayer, many Americans assemble in prayer in front of courthouses, as well as in houses of worship, such as churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. Luncheons, picnics, and music performances revolving around praying for the nation are also popular observances. Traditionally, the President of the United States issues an official National Day of Prayer proclamation each year as well.
The National Day of Prayer Task Force is strictly a conservative evangelical Christian organization called the “National Prayer Committee” that was formed to coordinate and implement a fixed annual day of prayer (the same day as the original National Day of Prayer) for the purpose of organizing evangelical Christian prayer events with local, state, and federal government entities.
The National Day of Prayer is sanctioned by the government where the National Day of Prayer Task Force is not.
If he had showed up in civilian clothes there wouldn’t have been a problem.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment (Establishment Clause) of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise (Free Exercise Clause) thereof . . . “(1st Amendment)
 
“Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.” Thomas Jefferson, to the Virginia Baptists (1808) ME 16:320. 
This is his second known use of the term “wall of separation,” here quoting his own use in the Danbury Baptist letter. 
This wording of the original was several times upheld by the Supreme Court as an accurate description of the Establishment Clause.
Jefferson’s concept of “separation of church and state” first became a part of Establishment Clause jurisprudence in Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145 (1878). In that case, the court examined the history of religious liberty in the US, determining that while the constitution guarantees religious freedom, “The word ‘religion’ is not defined in the Constitution. We must go elsewhere, therefore, to ascertain its meaning and nowhere more appropriately, we think, than to the history of the times in the midst of which the provision was adopted.” The court found that the leaders in advocating and formulating the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Quoting the “separation” paragraph from Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, the court concluded that, “coming as this does from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of the measure, it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured.
 
The Supreme Court heard the Lemon v. Kurtzman case in 1971 and ruled in favor of the Establishment Clause.
 
Subsequent to this decision, the Supreme Court has applied a three-pronged test to determine whether government action comports with the Establishment Clause, known as the “Lemon Test.”
1.      Any law or policy must have been adopted with a neutral or non-religious purpose.
2.      The principle or primary effect of any law or policy must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion.
3.      The statute or policy must not result in an “excessive entanglement” of government with religion.
 
If any government entity’s actions fit into one of these three, then it is a violation of the Establishment Clause. 
 
Then there’s Parker v. Levy: 
 
“This Court has long recognized that the military is, by necessity, a specialized society separate from civilian society… While the members of the military are not excluded from the protection granted by the First Amendment, the different character of the military community and of the military mission requires a different application of those protections. … The fundamental necessity for obedience, and the consequent necessity for imposition of discipline, may render permissible within the military that which would be constitutionally impermissible outside it… Speech [to include religious speech] that is protected in the civil population may nonetheless undermine the effectiveness of response to command.  If it does, it is constitutionally unprotected.” (Emphasis added) Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 1974
Our military is secular and by giving his speech on Christianity in uniform – which gives the impression to the world that we have a Christian military – demeans the morale of those of other faiths. His speech is constitutionally unprotected.
 
Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.12:
 
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. 
 
The violation of this – by speaking in uniform at a civilian event- is a potential felony under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
 
A person in uniform also cannot attend a political rally.
 
We are NOT limiting the free exercise clause; the military and the Supreme Court are. Civilian laws and military rules and regulations are different.
 
Major General Olson knows these rules but chose to ignore them.
 
Again, we are not trying to take God out of the military, but Major General Olson cannot be given an exception to the rules because of his rank or his religion.
 
We endorse the religious freedoms or lack thereof of all of our soldiers, but they must conduct their lives under the rules set out by the military while in uniform.
 
Blessings,
 
Pastor Joan
MRFF Advisory Board Member

Recent Posts

Share This Story

Leave A Comment