Message From MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein

Greetings MRFF Supporters!

MRFF has arrived! Right on the heels of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's exposure of Bible scripture references on the scopes of rifles ("Jesus Rifles") used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and swift victory in getting the Pentagon to remove these biblical inscriptions, comes another monumental MRFF victory.

It was exclusively due to the actions of MRFF that Franklin Graham was disinvited from speaking at the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event on May 6th. This led to the founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, pointing the finger and crediting (or blaming) me personally during the main National Day of Prayer Task Force event on Capitol Hill, which was broadcast to millions around the world. While I appreciate the publicity, I would like to remind Mr. Dobson that MRFF had no direct authority to remove Mr. Graham. The decision was made within the upper echelons of the Pentagon.

On behalf of the Muslim worship community at the Pentagon, we simply shed a light on Franklin Graham's disgusting remarks disparaging Islam. But it was not Graham's Islamophobic rhetoric alone that caused the Pentagon to disinvite him. It was the affiliation of the Pentagon's NDP event with Shirley Dobson's private, exclusively Christian National Day of Prayer Task Force, with Graham as its honorary chairman, that presented such a clear violation of the DoD regulations prohibiting the endorsement of a private organization that left the Pentagon with no choice but to do the right thing.

But even with our success with the Pentagon event, the National Day of Prayer is still an issue. Because the majority of National Day of Prayer observances around the country are organized by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, the day was fraught with flagrant violations of military regulations at other NDP events from coast to coast. Many of these violations are covered in-depth in this, our May 2010 newsletter.

You will also note selected articles we've included below related to another violation of the separation of church and state recently uncovered by MRFF, the usage of Christian symbols in the official emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital in Fort Carson, Colorado.

Finally, I want to extend my warmest gratitude to the enormous number of enthusiastic supporters who joined us in Albuquerque for our Fifth Annual Thomas Jefferson Awards on April 23rd. It was an enjoyable evening for all involved, and I was honored to be joined by so many distinguished guests.

Yes, MRFF certainly has arrived – and we are making serious headway. With a fraction of the financial resources enjoyed by an organization like Focus on the Family, and its offshoot, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, we were able to stop one of their most high profile events from taking place, ensuring the religious freedom of all of our military and civilian personnel at the Pentagon. Please give whatever you can so we may continue on this wave of monumental successes.

Your Eternal Ally,
Mikey