HUFFINGTON POST & DAILY KOS

US Air Force: God Has Already Decided Which DoD Contractors Will Get Contracts

Monday, October 6, 2014

by Chris Rodda, MRFF Senior Research Director

UPDATE: Today at 12:40pm, Mountain Time, Mikey Weinstein was contacted by HQ USAF at the Pentagon. MRFF was officially informed that USAF would comply with MRFF demands for remedial action, and will timely re-send the solicitation email with all unconstitutional, sectarian, proselytizing material specifically removed. At this time, however, none of our clients have yet received the promised corrective email from the Pentagon. MRFF is diligently monitoring the situation.
The MRFF victory comes only 26 hours and 48 minutes after the
original demand was made (on 9:52 AM Sunday 10/5/14) to investigate and rectify this anti-Constitutional action.

Selected Article Excerpts:

Well, it seems that when it comes to who will be awarded defense contracts, the Air Force has a message for potential bidders -- God has already decided who will "prosper" and be given "hope and a future."

Over the past few days, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has been contacted by forty-three individuals complaining about an email sent out by an employee of the Small Business Procurement staff for the AFRL/RD-RV at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Six of the forty-three are business people whose companies are registered to receive notifications of government contracts available in their industry. The other thirty-seven include both Air Force personnel and civilian employees at the base. Thirty-seven of the forty-three identified themselves as either Protestant or Catholic. All are demanding at the very least an apology for this email, which was sent out on October 3...

As you can see, sandwiched in between the helpful social media links and the official Department of Defense warning statement in this official USAF email is a Bible verse citation -- Jeremiah 29:11.

And what does Jeremiah 29:11 say?
- "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

This same recipient [of the email] also contacted the Air Force entity that sent out the email, writing:

Please see the "Jeremiah 29:11" in the attached email. Right above the notice that this is official DoD communication. I thought the government wasn't supposed to do that.

Sincerely,

(MRFF client's name withheld)

This astonishing response that he received (which MRFF was also copied on) was not exactly the "apology" he was expecting:

On Oct 6, 2014, at 5:04 AM, Air Force Small Biz wrote (emphasis added):

Hi (MRFF client's name withheld),

The 'Evangelistic Material' you are referring to is simply the Small Business Specialist's email signature from her individual account, which is where the notification of the solicitation originated. The Air Force accommodates its members, to include military and government employees, the right to free exercise of religion and other personal beliefs as well as freedom of expression.We apologize if you found this to be offensive.

Upon seeing the Air Force's unbelievable response to the complaint, with its utter disregard of the mandatory regulations on official Air Force emails and defending of its employee's violation of these guidelines as their "right to free exercise of religion," MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein had a few words to say:

"Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is MERELY Air Force 'incompetence.' Quite on the contrary, the Air Force knows EXACTLY what it is doing here. Indeed, what we have today at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico is but another horrific example, of among thousands, of a despicable and blatant display of fundamentalist Christian exceptionalism, defiance, supremacy, triumphalism, oppression and tyranny in the United States Air Force. The specific inclusion of that sectarian biblical passage in an official USAF/DoD pre-solicitation contracting communication is an irrefutably clear violation by the U.S. Air Force of the 'No Establishment Clause' of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as well as the 'No Religious Test' prohibition of Clause 3, Article VI of same. Further, this utterly unchecked breach of American law savages the Air Force's VERY OWN regulations; to wit, Air Force Instruction 1-1, and Air Force Manual 33-152, which totally and absolutely prohibit such pathetic and self-serving proselytizing in ANY official USAF e-mail communications. MRFF demands that the Air Force immediately sends an apology and correcting e-mail to all of those who received the proselytizing one last Friday, Oct. 3, 2014. MRFF further immediately demands that the USAF aggressively investigate and punish any and all USAF or DoD personnel who are either directly or indirectly responsible for this wretched display of fundamentalist Christian evangelizing."

Click here to read at Huffington Post

Click here to read at Daily Kos

MRFF's Inbox

We receive an enormous amount of emails at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, both from our supporters and detractors. "MRFF's Inbox" allows us to share this correspondence with you:

Religious Content in DoD Official Email

Dear Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Mikey Weinstein,

I am writing because I need your help regarding official email that I received from the Department of Defense that contained religious content. I am the Principal of a small business that provides consulting services. I am registered on the GSA vendor sites as a SBA Certified Small Business. The Air Force is soliciting me to respond to various requests for proposal because I registered my qualifications with the General Services Administration.

I received the attached solicitation to respond to a Request for Proposal for AFRL/RD-RV efforts. Please note the Christian Evangelical Biblical citation in the bottom of the email. I am not of the Christian faith. I find it incredibly offensive to be on the receiving end of Christian Evangelism from my government. I hesitate to add that since this message was send to all federally-registered contractors using NAICS Code 541690, it potentially went to tens-of-thousands of contractors.

The citation is by no means benign to a non-Christian. When I looked it up, I was appalled! The citation itself was obviously selected by the sender to suggest that Christian God has determined already if my proposals to the US Air Force will be accepted. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This non-Christian gets the message clearly, I have no future as a subcontractor to the Air Force. I think its transparent to simple reading of plain language.

I have eagerly awaited solicitations for Federal work because of the time consuming, expensive, and detailed process that it took me to become a Federally-accepted vendor. I got really happy about this solicitation from an Air Force Base in New Mexico, my home office, right until I got to that Biblical citation. I have run across this before. That’s the flag put up to let me know I’m not going to get the work unless I belong to the Christian Club. They might as well have put "No Irish" on it.

It’s clear to me from everything I read online and in the papers that the US Air Force is a Christian organization and abundantly so in their message, training and now, business solicitations. It’s also clear to me that upper management at the Air Force thinks violating the Constitution and law in matters of religion is trivial. I already know that nothing will happen other than maybe a stern warning. But Mission Accomplished, I got the message; this non-Christian won’t look to the Air Force for work anymore. It saddens me greatly to know that despite all the efforts of the MRFF, our Courts, and some members of Congress and Military, that’s its business as usual at the Warrior’s for Christian God factory, the US Air Force.

I need MRFFs help with my particular case. I could make some noise, but it doesn’t usually work out so well for religious minorities to complain about Christian tyranny in the US. I’ll help you in any way I can, but for now its probably best for me and my business to remain anonymous to the public and the military. I am willing to drop my anonymity should it become necessary in the future as you seek remedy’s to this blatant wrong doing by the Small Business Procurement staff for the AFRL/RD-RV at Kirtland Air Force Base.

Respectfully yours,

(name, address, title, phone numbers all withheld)