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ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT
In God We Drive?
Indiana state trooper pulls woman over and asks
'do you accept Jesus Christ as your savior?'
"This is the kind of behavior that Mikey Weinstein
and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation
have been battling in the U.S. Armed Forces."
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Selected Article Excerpts:
- We wonder what the American Family Association of Indiana thinks of Scientology.
Not that you’d care, right? Well, a lawsuit in that state might get you interested pretty quickly.
The suit was filed in federal court against Indiana State Trooper Brian Hamilton by Ellen Bogan and the American Civil Liberties Union.
You see, Bogan says she was pulled over by Hamilton for a supposed traffic violation. And during that stop, she alleges that Hamilton not only asked her about her religious status – whether she had a home church and if she accepted Jesus Christ as her savior – but also gave her a church pamphlet that asks the reader to realize he or she is a sinner.
So Bogan and the ACLU sued, claiming a violation of Bogan’s rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution. That would seem about right.
Which is where the AFA-Indiana comes in, because according to a quote attributed to a leader of that organization, the trooper’s behavior, if not ideal, appears to be just fine. Per Jill Disis on indystar.com:
"Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said that although the traffic stop might not have been the best time to quiz someone about faith, he questioned whether a police officer should lose his right to free speech because he is wearing a badge.
"'I have people pass out religious material all the time. Mormons come to my door all the time, and it doesn’t offend me,’ Clark said. '(This case) might not be the most persuasive time to talk to someone about their faith, but I don’t think that a police officer is prohibited from doing something like that.’ "
- Well, that makes sense coming from the state’s self-described "premiere decency organization." It’s acknowledged on its website as an affiliate of the national AFA, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has called out on many occasions and on its website for extremist views and acts. The group has been particularly loathsome in its treatment of the LGBT community.
- This is the kind of behavior that Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation (militaryreligiousfreedom.org) have been battling in the U.S. Armed Forces. In particular, Weinstein has been fighting the efforts by military personnel to insert Christianity into official conduct, notably at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.
Weinstein has been a serious thorn in their side with his brusque and persistent style, but it’s been it’s been essential to eradicate the belief that proselytizing acts are perfectly acceptable during taxpayer-funded activities.
We hope that the lawsuit by Bogan and the ACLU, and Weinstein’s continued efforts, effectively push back on this kind of religious intrusion in public action. Because government freedom from religion is a terrible, terrible thing to waste.
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:
Mikey,
There it was, a religious message embedded in an official procurement document from the Military – sent out late on a Friday.
I couldn’t believe it, in spite of all the regulations, laws, and the very Constitution of the United States of America prohibiting religious messages in official communications, some religious zealot went out of their way and stuck it in there on purpose. There. It. Was.
The message was clear too, you won’t get the contract unless you are the "right" religion, and I wasn’t the right religion. I was furious, and powerless. Do I turn on the lawyers and empty my bank account? Do I contact my State and Federal representatives? If I complain, will I be shunned? What will this mean for me if I complain? I don’t know if you fully understand the fear.
I remembered reading about you and MRFF, and I thought maybe you would help, before I burned my career to the ground to stand up for my moral values. So I sent you an email late Friday night.
Mikey, your personal support and the bulldog attitude was unbelievable. I was still getting up Saturday morning when you told me your action plan! Through the weekend you acted aggressively on my behalf, kept me updated – and my identity confidential – and formed a team of +40 other individuals behind me that would back up my complaint! Of all faiths! Military and non Military! Monday you had their attention, by Tuesday we had apologies, and by Wednesday I had a new solicitation without religious trimmings from the same zealot that tried to sneak it in the first time!
I can’t tell you how glad I am that I contacted you first. You promised and delivered on your promises. You have renewed the strength in my expectation that government will stay out of religion, and that something can be done when zealots refuse to do so. If it ever happens again, I won’t have any fear, because I have MRFF.
With great respect, thanks, and admiration,
(name withheld)
There is no atheist in the fox hole. Mikey Weinstein is a liberal idiot. The phrase was well noted by ex-ww2 soldiers.
(name withheld)
Click here to view MRFF responses
Dear Mikey,
I appreciate your directness about Robertson and his character. But like any good demagogue, he’s just covering his bases. First as Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." And secondly as Ambrose Bierce retorted, "Religion’s the first".
Your support for religious freedom in the armed forces is admirable. The general public normally doesn’t hear about the haranguing and harassment of service members. We hear when General Boykin says, " Our God is greater than theirs." Did the Abrahamic God divide into parts?
I have read of the challenges that you and your group have, including threats against you.
I have worked on different aspects of the American military, including promoting peace, supporting whistleblowers and GI resisters and assisting local efforts to help veterans (Swords to Plowshares SF). Both your work and mine are very necessary in our country.
Thanks for all the good work.
Sincerely,
Bill Schwalb
former board member & associate member (non-vet)
Veterans for Peace, SF Bay
Pat Robertson was assigned eventually from safe liquor officer to a more protective assignment at Camp Fisher Japan (3rd Marine Division Japan) through his senator father. He has never fired back at an enemy as practically every Marine First Lieutenant has who was ordered to Korea at the time he was briefly in Korea. He never came under enemy fire. I was in Korea as a corporal and several times heard scuttlebutt about a Marine Lieutenant who was a senator’s son and had escaped combat duty due to his fear, cowardice and privileged position. News of that type travels among Marine warriors. Having volunteered for Korea and later volunteered for combat duty to fly the F-4 Phantom in Vietnam although my Congressman had appointed me to my home state’s South Dakota Law School, I just could not 'Coward out’ and had to tell my Congressman, Ben Reifel – R- SD that I would have to postpone my law school acceptance beyond a Vietnam combat tour first. My country was short on trained MarineF-4 Phantom Fighter Bomber pilots and believed strongly it was my duty to stay 'with the ship in time of need’ probably much like 'Private Ryan’ in the Capt. Tom Hanks movie. He could not leave his 'New combat brothers’ although all of his were dead. I flew 110 combat Close Air Support missions, taking heavy ground fire repeatedly to save thousands of Marines, Airborne and Army Infantry. My commander wrote me up for a DFC for miraculously flying 5 missions back to back, last two, under flares at night in the Highlands Mountains to save two loaded Marine H -46s. We did get one out late into the night, losing a Spad, an A-4 and two gunships to an NVA battalion. One H-46 and the Marines within were murdered in the Highlands never appearing on the POW roles. Back and back my section leader and I, Major Tom Duffy, later KIA, returned individually to suppress a relentless, stubborn NVA battalion. My BIO- Warrior’s Odyssey is on Amazon and Kindel if you want t o read details. I hold my head up high to this day for doing so. I am a Sioux Indian and we detest Cowards and not too respective of Syndrome either. A Warrior is a Warrior. A detestable Coward a low lying Coward. We were HONORED by our tribe when we returned and given eagle feathers. Maybe why we Sioux have much less Syndrome. Dean Scarlett, my former Law School Dean, now retired at Duke University, Chapel Hill can verify my delaying my law school for combat duty first as can his former beautiful secretary Shirley Hanson- address upon request- So Carolina can also verify.
I tell of this in my BIO. Major Ed McGaa (Chief) Oglala Sioux Marine F4 Phantom Pilot, Chu Lai Vietnam, VMFA 115 Fighter/Attack Squadron, Chu Lai, So Vietnam- 1967- [email protected]
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