On Monday, Aug. 18, Mikey Weinstein spoke in Young hall about his efforts with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and their plight to eliminate prayer at school-sanctioned Corps of Cadets events. This past summer, Weinstein was asked to come by by the Students for Secular Freedom.

“I didn’t expect them to take the level of interest that they had or anything,” said an SSF member who wishes to remain anonymous, “…I sent the school letters and they ignored me… After that, I decided that I need some outside help.” He received a response from Blake Page (Special Assistant to the President, and Director of West Point Affairs) that MRFF was interested in his case.

Weinstein’s aggressive response to the largely debated issue of secular prayer drew quite a crowd, despite the event being hosted on the first day of class. The audience listened to Weinstein as he explained the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and why they were at UNG, “We were asked to come here…We want to express in no uncertain terms that we do have a constitution. This is our founding document of this country. In this country, unlike North Korea or Saudi Arabia, we do separate church and state. It does not mean you cannot have your religious faith.”

According to Weinstein, he is often questioned as to what his end goal is with the MRFF. “I remind them of Benjamin Franklin when he left the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia… When he walked outside he was surrounded by his fellow American Citizens, ’Dr. Franklin, what type of government have you bequeathed to us?’ Do you know what his response was? ‘A Republic, if you can keep it.’ So we are asking the community of UNG to keep the Republic.”

A meeting was held the following morning with Corps of Cadets Commandant Tom Palmer, Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Marling, and other UNG officials to discuss the issue of prayer at the University events. “The meeting was respectful and professional and we left feeling very good that we had a quick dialogue,” said Weinstein. “We made a strong case for why there should be a moment of silence in place of any prayer, even secular prayer.”

Weinstein said that in the event he is asked to come back to UNG, “I would love to come back and speak again and be received [kind of like] a universal response … The nicest thing was that Vice President Billy Wells at the meeting said ‘You know Mikey, we view MRFF not as an enemy but as a resource … I was incredibly impressed with UNG … We got to see the concerns that we raised be put into action.”

The Board has not made a decision but is taking Weinstein under advisement.