Hello Mr. Weinstein,
To start this email off in the correct vein, I am a committed, practitioner of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice based on Buddhist/Daoist faith. I was raised an Irish Catholic, but felt free to explore and finally decide on my spiritual path. The name given to your organization is somewhat misleading, as it states its a religious freedom foundation and it seems you have tarred with the same brush ALL Christians, and seek to punish and STOP freedom of religion for those who may have genuine faith..
I was on active duty in the military for 20 years and NEVER once heard anything like you say you experienced, nor have any of the cadets I’ve known had anything like this happen to them. I’m not saying you did NOT have this experience. Just that you might consider that you are now as much a fanatic as those people who possibly did those things to you were. You seem to have a vendetta against Chrisitans, and as far as ISIS is concerned..they are going to twist everything anyway. Should we fear these fanatics and stand down from our faith(s), as long as it is a true faith? I consider Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Daoism, and some others to be true faiths. But fanatics can be found everywhere as can wonderful, respectful people.
My faith is persecuted horribly in communist China, and they have even tried to bring that persecution into the the USA. What is wonderful about this country is the freedom of religion…which your organizations does NOT support…but seeks from everything I’ve read to suppress.
Please consider you may have become one of those fanatics yourself, you just show it in different ways. I truly prize the religious freedoms in the USA,and the fact that our military honors religions….but I do not support fanatics however they appear.
I am truly sorry for you if you did experience that persecution during your time as a cadet, but I’m sure your religion has something to say about that to guide you too. Perhaps this quote from the Talmud:
“You must forgive those who transgress against you before you can look to forgiveness from Above.”
Thank you for your time
(name withheld)
Dear (name withheld),
In truth, it is the military, right-wing Christian organizations and certain media that have grouped all denominations of Christianity under the sect better known as the Fundamental Evangelical (born again) Dominionist umbrella, in order to obtain outrage and support to further their agenda.
Unless one is in the military and sees the battle raging to make the Fundamental Evangelical Dominionists the only face of our military, most people do not understand it.
Their unwritten though practiced motto is-
“When one proudly dons a U.S. Military uniform, there is only one religious symbol: the Cross. There is only one religious scripture: the Bible. Finally, there is only one religious faith: Fundamental Evangelical Christianity.”
In October, 1980, seeking reelection, President Carter said “the Bible doesn’t say how you balance the federal budget. . . . It’s never been done before, but certain religious groups are trying to say what the definition of a Christian is.”
Military Chaplains of the 1980’s employed 3,488 chaplains who represented 205 faiths. By 1983 the National Association of Evangelicals said that “Evangelicals populate the corps to a greater degree than ever.” The takeover of our military is now complete with Evangelicals (born-again) holding 85-90% of Chaplain positions.
President Carter was correct in his statement because the Evangelicals were now emboldened enough to state their true agenda against Christians of all denominations.
US Army chaplain MAJ James Linzey, who, in a 1999 video, described mainstream Protestant churches as “demonic, dastardly creatures from the pit of hell “that should be “stomped out.”
THIS is what we fight against.
We are neither an atheist organization nor are we anti-Christian. Mikey is Jewish (and prays to the same Father we do 3 times a day) and 80% of the Board, Advisory Board, volunteers and supporters (244 in total) of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) are Christians. In fact, 96% of our 43,200+ soldier clients ( 1 can represent many) are Christians – Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodist, Lutherans, Baptists, etc. We fight for the rights of these Christians more than any other religion but it never makes the news.
Mikey was a JAG (lawyer) at the Air Force Academy for 10 years, worked in the West Wing under Ronald Reagan, and held positions in private practice.
The media that left out pertinent facts.
AFI (Air Force Instruction) 1-1, Section 2.12, reads in part:
“…leaders at all levels in the Air Force must ensure that 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.”
“Leaders at all levels” include the football coaches.
By allowing public prayer by the football players in Air Force uniform, command is officially endorsing one religion – Christianity. But not all of Christianity – just the Fundamental Evangelical Dominionist one.
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 [in any form] 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
The football players’ right to public prayer is constitutionally unprotected.
As defenders of the Constitution we fight for the separation of church and state.
“…but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” (Article I, III)
This means that from the President to Congress to the military – no one’s job is based on their religion.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion (Establishment Clause), or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (Free Exercise Clause).”(First Amendment)
The Establishment Clause means that you cannot favor one religion over another even though it is in the majority. This clause respects the RIGHTS of all religions. Our military is SECULAR and there are people of other faiths that don the uniform that love this country.
The Free Exercise Clause (which is subservient to the Establishment Clause) means that our soldiers are free to exercise any religion they want or no religion at all but cannot elevate one God above others.
“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.
In 1878 “separation of church and state” became part of the Establishment Clause by law.
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:
Government action violates the Establishment Clause unless it:
1. Has a significant secular (i.e., non-religious) purpose,
2. Does not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion
3. Does not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion
Prayer on the field fits into all 3 and therefore it is a violation of the Establishment Clause. It also violates AFI 1-1 and the Lemon Test.
Check out the honorable and distinguished military personnel and people from all walks of life that support the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Read our Mission statement and see that we are for prayer and religious freedom for all of our soldiers according to the time, place and manner laid out by the laws above.
If you were in the military today we would be fighting just as hard for you to practice your religious belief without fear of harassment.
If you were in the Air Force Academy in 1977 you would have heard about the beating Mikey endured because he is Jewish.
Here’s a quote from the Bible that many Christians take to heart:
”And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets (public display), that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:5-6
Thanks for contacting us.
Pastor Joan
MRFF Advisory Board Member
Hello Joan,
I was on active duty in the military from March 1974 to April 1994, and I never saw or heard anything like this, so your assumption that I wasn’t in the military, (or perhaps that I was WWII veteran) was incorrect. Also as a retired person I have LIVED on Luke AFB, recently for 3 years…never heard or saw anything like this there either…I’m now living near Travis AFB…which I go to daily and I’ve talked to the base chaplains about the persecution in communist China of MY Buddhist based faith..they were open and honestly caring and watched a documentary on illegal organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners.
You know maybe your facts are correct, knowing propaganda well since I work to help people recognize the propaganda the communist Chinese government puts out about my faith, and the extremism they use, what I see is something like that in your foundation…the extremism.
What I DO know is that a bunch of football players saying a prayer…whether in the military or not is NOT usually seen as anything other than them having faith by the public…it does not mean to most of the people I know that the group they play for are endorsing anything one way or another.
I’m well aware of Mr. Weinstein’s faith and background in the military and out..I read all this. I was curious because I read a couple of years ago about the foundation and at that time never sent any emails. Even though I noticed a decidedly reverse fanatical air about it then too. Yet this time I could not, as an American citizen, and one who believes in freedom of religion keep from saying anything.
While I certainly would NOT support any agenda of the Fundamental Evangelical, ever! I cannot help perceiving reverse fanaticism in some of the information provided about and by your foundation, so I had to comment on it, knowing someone would defend the foundation.It does seem you did NOT read ALL of my email or you would not have made the comment about having to have been in the military to me.
My major in college is Psychology, working toward my Masters now, and honestly you might want to look and see if the foundation DOES come across as somewhat fanatical in their approach.
Thank you for responding, at least I know you read a part of my email, for that I am grateful.
Best regards,
(name withheld)
I did read all of it and you said you were in for 20 years not the actual dates.
We have our laws backing us.
Here’s another event that happened at one of our military academies.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/citadel-military-college-cadets-caught-wearing-kkk-hoods-while-singing-christmas-carols/
Joan Slish
Good Day, (name withheld) –
Thanks for taking the time to craft a thoughtful, erudite, and polite email. Too much of what we receive is profane, nasty, and hateful. So as one who is often asked to respond to emails received by the MRFF, it’s a pleasure to reply to you. As for who I am – in addition to being a staunch supporter of the MRFF, I’m also a lifelong, committed and active Christian, a USAF Academy graduate (’85), and a USAF veteran.
I’d suggest that your conclusion that the MRFF has “tarred with the same brush ALL Christians, and seek to punish and STOP freedom of religion” is a misunderstanding on your part.
To begin, the MRFF has never challenged any particular sectarian religious belief — rather, our focus is always on the CONDUCT of individuals, not the creed of any group.
As it happens, the vast majority of concerns that are brought to us by military members do involve a Christian acting inappropriately, and so it may seem that we are ‘targeting’ that group, but that is far from the truth. Our response to inappropriate conduct is the same whether committed by a Christian, Jew, Atheist, or even a Buddhist/Daoist (although to be candid, I don’t believe that we’ve never gotten a complaint about a Buddhist/Daoist doing something that is unconstitutional. That may indicate something positive about the ability of Buddhists/Daoists to respect both the rule of law and the rights of those who don’t share their beliefs).
Anyway, the majority of both MRFF supporters and MRFF clients are people of faith, so to suggest that we are either anti-Christian specifically or anti-religion generally would be incorrect. We are pro-Constitution, dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
You may or may not have a good understanding of how military society differs from civilian society. Many Americans are unaware that the span of unfettered rights and privileges they enjoy as civilians is subject to much greater restriction for military members. Actions that many civilian Americans take for granted, such as a public display of personal faith, are closely governed in a military setting. So the question is never whether or not a military member has a right to their beliefs, but whether the time, place and manner of publicly expressing those beliefs is appropriate and in accordance with the Constitution and governing regulations.
If your motivation to write was prompted by the situation with the USAF Academy football team, then you should know that the MRFF has not objected to the rights of cadets to hold whatever religious belief (or non-belief) they wish, nor have we objected to the rights of individual cadets to pray. The ONLY thing to which we’ve objected is the appropriateness of a public prayer while in uniform and on duty (and yes, USAFA football players are considered to be in military uniform and on duty at games). Just as it would be inappropriate for a group of uniformed officers to pray publicly before engaging in their own duty activity, it is similarly inappropriate for the team to do so.
Lastly, to suggest that those of us who support the efforts of the MRFF are fanatical may be largely true. We are fanatical about upholding both the letter and the spirit of the US Constitution, which is something about which ALL Americans should be just as fanatical.
Thanks again for writing. If you have any questions or comments about what I’ve shared here, I’m more than happy to continue this dialogue.
Peace,
Mike Challman
Christian, USAF veteran, MRFF supporter
Hello Mr. Challman,
Actually I do understand military vs.civilian life, I was active duty USAF, from March 1974 to April 1994. In that time I had never seen or heard of anything like this. Which accounted for my questioning email.
I suggested there MAY be some fanaticism, perhaps not the entire organization, however I’m willing to concede that what I thought was fanaticism could be passion about what the group stands for. The U.S. Constitution is important to me.
Thank you for taking the time to connect,
(name withheld)
Dear (name withheld),
Thanks for the reply, I’m glad that you and Joan were able to connect.
As my final comments to you, I’d like to share two perspectives that I read recently, from USAFA classmates of mine (USAFA ’85).
The context of this was a Facebook thread on our class FB page. The discussion was started by yet another classmate who, like you, questioned whether the football team issue was really emblematic of a deeper problem at USAFA and/or in the USAF. The experiences of these two individuals are compelling.
Keep in mind that these 2 individuals have no affiliation with the MRFF- they are just two retired officers relating their own experiences. Both of these comments were posted just this past week.
Classmate #1 comments —
I agree with Mike Challman – there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. I was a varsity swimmer, and one of the coaches led the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group. He told me directly that if I wanted to be a part of the team I should participate in the group. I really didn’t give a shit because my main reason for swimming was to sit on Ramps and get out of town every now and then, but I’m convinced that travel roster and other decisions were made with some consideration to that idea.
Classmate #2 comments —
I recently went to a retirement ceremony of a dear friend of mine and my former CC. A man of God who never foisted his faith or views on anyone. The best commander and relationship builder I ever saw.. And then, his retirement ceremony gave me pause. It was held at the place he commanded for years and in the presence of his old squadron members (about 140 enlisted folks total). My friend’s boss (a Colonel) extolled the virtues of my friend and what a man of God my friend was. I totally agreed and was proud of my friend..a truly good man. And then, it became “Sunday school”..not a retirement ceremony. Here stood 140 troops..a captive and subordinate audience listening to the virtues of Christianity….. What message was imparted to those young men and women that day? That if you aren’t on the Jesus team that you are not part of the team?….. In the ’80s, no one tried to “save” me or convert me as I attended Jewish services and privately (and without fanfare) practiced a faith that kept me sane for 4 years at the zoo. When I re-entered the Air Force Reserves a few years ago, I found things were profoundly jacked up: a religious war, and a climate of political correctness and scrutiny that made my job as a commander effing almost impossible at times. It’s a disservice to foist a “brand x” religion upon the troops….
Peace, Mike
Hello (name withheld),
Mr. Weinstein is quite busy protecting the religious freedom of the women and men in the military, so has asked me to respond to your message.
Since your message is rather lengthy and quite complex, I’ve copied it below and will enter responses within the text IN CAPS so they can be distinguished from your words.
Wow. O_o
Victim blaming, denying another’s experiences, Twue Faith… so many buttons and not enough words or patience to address them all. Well, perhaps I have the words after all… Three cups of coffee later and I believe I am up to the task.
** Letter writer doesn’t understand MRFF represents those cadets he and his friends never saw back in the day. Did the letter writer even poke about the site before presenting their opinion as factual crap on a cracker?
** Letter writer has no concept of separation between church and state.
** Letter writer claims to be from a tolerant faith but then lists only a few TWUE FAITHs deserving of protection. No surprise that pagans and atheists are not on their list. I know a lot of people of all kinds of faith and no faith at all. You know what? People distill down into being either jerks or decent folk. I’m thinking you distill into a jerk.
** Letter writer tries to be passive but uses very aggressive language to deny Mikey’s experiences while at the AFA. Letter writer stated: “I am truly sorry for you if you did experience that persecution during your time as a cadet, but I’m sure your religion has something to say about that to guide you too.”
“If you did experience that persecution…”
How absolutely condescending of you letter writer.
And then the offering of a quote – you come across as holier than thou just like the Christian supremacists who post here. If, as you say, you really want to fight fanatics perhaps you should start with the person in your mirror.
Wow, Pastor Joan had the audacity of calling this vet a liar! What I really love is that she got slapped up side the head by a non-Evangelical with the truth of what MRFF really is!
The fact that when she responded to this vet, she said that the problem is with evangelical “born again” believers alludes to me that she is not born again herself and probably does not understand what it means to be biblically born again.
Sadly, she may hear the words of Jesus say to her, “depart from me for I never knew you” as He casts her out into outer darkness where there is weeping and nashing of teeth!
Pastor Joan, repent before you find out it is too late!