Church-State Separation Denigrated at PHC

"I’m a 20XX graduate of Patrick Henry College. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised to hear that Mikey Weinstein of MRFF was speaking there. Separation of church and state was consistently denigrated during my time there—a frightening prospect, considering that I was a government major. The campus administration seemed a bit hesitant about Mr. Weinstein’s appearance as well. A few hours before his interview began, the administration sent out a campus-wide email calling Mr. Weinstein a “rather non-traditional guest” who would “bring[] an alternate and, by some standards, anti-Christian viewpoint.” To their credit, the email asked the students to be hospitable. It’s unfortunate, however, that separation of church and state in the military would be a topic that requires such an introduction.
Marvin Olasky, of World Magazine fame, conducted the interview. From the beginning, his questioning was unnecessarily belligerent. He presumed that Mr. Weinstein’s answers could be a simple yes or no (as if the law is that simple) and gave Mr. Weinstein little time to provide a detailed explanation about the various factors that would go into the legal analysis of a case. Despite Olasky’s shortcomings, it was a great interview. Mr. Weinstein gave as good (probably better) than he got, and the students heard a great explanation about the importance of the Establishment Clause in the military.

I very much appreciated Mr. Weinstein’s entering the lion’s den that is my alma mater in order to provide the students with another point of view. PHC rarely, if ever, invites a guest who is not a member of the Religious Right. Its students are intentionally trained to “bring Christ into the public square.” Giving the students a glimpse of the other side of the story is crucial. I know from my own time at PHC that the instruction provided does not always add up. That’s how I got out of that mindset myself. Yes, some students accept without question the fundamentalist-religious-beliefs-turned-political-prose that is typical of classes there, but many others are willing to march to the beat of a different drummer if you give them the tools to do so. After hearing some of the student reaction to the interview, I know many found Mr. Weinstein’s visit educational and interesting. For some, it could possibly have been eye-opening. I hope Mr. Weinstein can do it again someday!"

PHC Graduate's name withheld

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Mikey, It Was Very Gratifying to See You In Action

> Mikey,
> It was very gratifying to see you in action. The interviewer is kind of a tool and you dispensed with him nicely. The kids were fascinating and not just because they were dressed like a page from a Tommy Hilfiger ad. WTF? Derringer? Thaddeus? really? HA!
>
> That douche that left the Army in the 80s was disingenuous. He was essentially calling us alarmist ninnies. Those same guys that were handing out condoms and visiting prostitutes in his time were many times the worst of the Dominionists in my experience. Back in the day, I always marveled at how they would weaponize Jesus to bludgeon people with their proselytizing and incongruously be the biggest barbarians socially. (HA! “Weaponized Jesus!”)
>
> My sense that time was at a premium and that these kids needed a chance to ask their questions is the only thing that kept me from answering that guys question about how things changed. Larry hit it out of the park. The biggest change is how they have metastasized in the senior ranks and the more there are, the more they could keep others out of the general and flag officer club. In the AF, Corona meets and approves the list of new generals. Ironically, its usually when they meet at the inter-Service football game at the Academy every year in the fall. The sock puppet head of senior officer matters (or whatever they are calling it these days) briefs the four stars behind closed doors and the way I understand it, it only takes one of the four stars to black ball a guy or gal. They go to the next guy or gal in the scoring and continue this whittling until they get the cast of like-minded schmucks that they want. Probably not news to you.
>
> I would also have been glad to give a real life example to that first line of questioning about command influence. My first squadron commander in xxxxxxxx had a sense of humor and when he saw he was getting this wet behind the ears second lieutenant copilot with a Jewish sounding name (me), he put me with an aircraft commander that was a notorious religious fanatic that was constantly annoying squadron mates with his proselytizing.
>
> I did not know much about the Dominionists back in 197X, but I had seen them for years at the Academy in the form of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Now I was to learn of this other incarnation that call themselves the “Navigators.” My aircraft commander was one such “Navigator” and he basically told me upon arrival that I could never get a “one” on my OER (the highest score) unless maybe I saved someone’s life. Being the kind of guy all of us grads are, I was having none of that and looked for ways to stand out. One way I could stand out in his esteem was attend his bible study. After all, I was sitting on SAC alert one week a month and could endure that if it meant my OER would notch up. That’s how it works. As repugnant as it was to me, I felt invisible pressure to attend this bible study and listen to grown (and misogynistic) men’s interpretation of the bible that I found preposterous. On top of that, these same Neanderthals were the same guys that headed to the brothels when we were TDY in the xxxxxx or xxxxxxxx.
>
> By way of epilogue, I attended a few times but ceased after one of the morons in the group told me that my sweet Jewish grandfather, who lived a pious and moral life, was going to hell because he did not have the savior like he did. I did not return to that group and took my “two” on the OER that I probably would have received anyway since that’s just the way the system worked. All six of the Second lieutenants (all my academy classmates) in my squadron got 2′s.
>
> Bottom line, as you can see, I was inspired to be there yesterday.
>
> As for home schooling, my son is married to a gal who was home schooled for all twelve grades by her very religious mother. The article gave me some great insight. While my daughter in law is a productive member of society, her written grammar is atrocious and it only makes me wonder about the other things she was supposed to have learned at home.
>
> Warm Regards,

> XXXX XXXXXXXX

Thanks Mr. Weinstein

Pat robertson is right about You
(with MRFF responses)