MRFF's Inbox
Good article tonight... I even ready some of the comments on CNN and you are getting people to wake up!! Regards J. L.
I was advised of your organization through a CNN report while stationed in Germany. Although I am not an Atheist as represented as the central figure in the news report, I am a Jew and have been alienated and discriminated against due to concerted lack of concern, care, commitment and acknowledgment of those who are not evangelical Christian throughout my military career. I experienced this in Iraq in 2003 by a concerted effort and failure to employ non-Evangelical Christian Chaplains to support the faith needs of Jewish service members deployed overseas--having a singular Rabbi Chaplain for an entire Theater of conflict. It was evidenced while serving in other areas when requests for religious support fell on deaf ears and evidenced today while deployed currently as a mobilized Reservist serving in Germany--where the USAG Kaiserslautern Chaplain's website fails to acknowledge or publish Jewish services. I felt the need to file a written EO complaint against the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Dining Facility for a concerted and continuous lack of religious dietary regard for anyone other than Evangelical Protestants as exemplified by the use of Pork and Pork products in every meal option. It was only when the Dining Facility failed to provide a vegetarian meal option on the Catholic holiday of Ash Wednesday did I feel confident enough to file the complaint where I was able to detail a gross level and lack of regard for any religious dietary requirements spanning Jews, Muslims and non-Evangelical Christians. Please continue to fight, muscle and force this issue to be addressed, acknowledged and corrected. At your service, J.R.
Sir,
Gentleman,
Glad to see you guys are out there - I had more than a couple run-ins with evangelicals during my two stints in the Army.
My name is S.B. I retired from active duty AF last year as a major. I read about the lawsuit and the Pentagon's response that "complaints about evangelizing are relatively rare." I just wanted to let you know that while at Tinker AFB from 2002-2005, I filed an official MEO complaint citing evangelizing and religious discrimination. My primary complaint was a weekly piece in the base newspaper called the Chaplain's Corner. The articles could have and should have been "good morals" type articles or even rortating articles for all beliefs, however, the Chaplain's Corner was nothing more than a weekly christian evangelizing article. The chaplains openly proslytized in the articles and occasionally the articles fell into the "fire and brimstone", "bad things will happen if your not christian" type of articles. When I first filed the MEO complaint, the officer that took my complaint was responsive and pledged to follow through. However, after a month and no contact, I called him only to find out that my case had been handed off to "higher headquarters." Needless to say, I was never contacted and never received any resolution to my complaint (which I believe is actually required). My calls to the local MEO office were not even returned. Even I was shocked how quickly and thoroughly I was swept under the carpet. S.B.
I just saw your coverage on CNN 360 -- mostly about the Hall lawsuit. Amazing the complete dishonesty (or total ignorance??) of the Pentagon official's "response." Keep up your good work (after I'm no longer sending a monthly to "Move On," I'll be able to send a little to help with that work . . R.B.
Hello Mr. Weinstein,
B.M. wrote: Subject: Re: The father of lies 1. I give you no credit. In the name of Jesus Christ, I call on satan to abandon you. Why do you strive against Christ? American Christians are all that stand between Israel and the modern phillistines. Mikey Weinstein wrote: ..I strive not "against Christ" but FOR our nation's B.M. wrote: I did see that you held up the importance of allegiance. You and I agree on the critical nature of that word. C.R. (MRFF Research) wrote: Right ... that's why Thomas Jefferson, when writing in his autobiography about the passage of the Bill Establishing Religious Freedom, said: "...a singular proposition proved that it's protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word 'Jesus Christ,' so that it should read 'a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion,' the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it's protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian=2 0and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination." James Madison wrote something almost identical when describing the same incident. C.R. Mikey Weinstein wrote: ...sigh..........you are SO wrong, B.M.......so wrong on SO many levels.....you haven't a clue brother...and it's SO sad........... B.M. wrote: If you were correct in your opinion, America would have struck Christianity from the land years ago. You represent a minute minority. There is no judicial solution to your rebellion.
....see, B.M......THAT"S PRECISELY what you canNOT apparently "get", sir!!!!!!!.....and THAT is what is SO horribly and wretchedly sad about your situation, brother!!......my "opinion" is directly from our beautiful United States Constitution and generations of Federal statutes and caselaw.....here, in OUR wonderful country, ALL faiths, or none at all, may flourish robustly and equally but NONE are to the recipient of the special endorsement and favoritism of the awesome prestige, power and financial heft of The State!!.........and our fight is no "rebellion", sir.......it is the fundamentalist Christians who "rebel" against our bedrock law of the land ans Constitutionally-guaranteed, precious religious freedoms.......listen, B.M., our Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has over 8,600 active duty U.S. marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, guard, reserve, coastguardsmen and vets as cherished clients...and-GET THIS, BROTHER-...96% of them ARE CHRISTIANS THEMSELVES: ROUGHLY 3/4 are Protestant anf the other 1/4 are Roman Catholic......merely 4% of our MRFF client base is Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, Atheist, Agnostic et al......thus, good sir, I respectfully put it to you; DON'T THISE ASTONISHING NUMERS TELL YOU ANYTHING???!!..........anything at ALL???!!! B.M. wrote: Our beautiful state and the constitution, for which I do pledge allegiance and thereby my life and the life of my family, finds it authority not in itself or the people, but in the one Holy God of Abraham, the only God. By your course, those who hate God, would remove God from our foundation. Without God, there is NO constitution. Mikey Weinstein wrote: ...........wrong, sir!!.....completely WRONG!!.....AGAIN!!......it is our Constitution ALONE which allows ALL Americans the right to worship ANY "God" of their choice, Ben......good sir, although you no doubt believe only YOUR biblical worldview of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be the SOLE legitimate faith, you DO recognize that there are approximately 10,000 recognized world faith traditions, no??!!......and under our Constitution ALL are granted COMPLETELY equal legitimacy in the eyes of the State and NONE are to be in the LEAST way endorsed nor favored by the State over another!!.......be honest here, B.M.; THAT is what you HATE about all of this, don't you??!!.......you cannot STAND to accept the foundational Constitutional premise that the many diverse faiths (particularly diverse Christian denominations here in America!!) in the United States are ALL received with equal respect and legitimacy with NONE EVER to be favored in the least!!............... .you believe with ALL your heart that America is ONLY a "Christian" nation and that ALL of the rest of your fellow Americans' INFERIOR faith traditions are to be justly accorded subordinately BY THE STATE with respect to only YOUR parochial biblical faith tradition!!!.......you KNOW I'm right here, don't you??!!??........thus, with all due respect B.M., you and the Taliban have SO much in common......think about it..........lastly, since you asked, my family came to America specifically beCAUSE of the EXACT foregoing interpretation of our United States Constitution, Ben....the creation of which represents the VERY first time in the history of homo sapiens that a nationstate actually created a governing document that did not, not, NOT invoke the name of a particular diety!!..........and PLZ don't gimme that ol' "In God We Trust" on the coins argument.....nevertheless, plz DO carefully note that it does not say "In The Son of God We Trust" !!........be well, brother......Mikey B.M. wrote: What year did your family come to America? Mikey Weinstein wrote: ...........late 1800's B.M. wrote: Then you must have several uncles and cousins who haved served. Mikey Weinstein wrote: ....B.M., OH PLEASE, sir!!......I come from a family of 3 proud, consecutive generations of U.S. military academy graduates!!.......my youngest son just graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy last year (2007) and is the SIXTH member of my family to have gone there (including me!).....I'm a 1977 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy......my eldest son and his wife (a Christian) are grads of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Class of 2004, and 2 other close family members (including my younger brother) went there too......my dad is a Distinguished Graduate from the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) Class of 1953 where he met one of his closest friends for life; Ross Perot.....I was Ross Perot's General Counsel as well as legal counsel in the White House for over 3 years to Ronald Reagan.......my immediate family has well over 130 years of combined active duty military service in pretty much every major combat engagement this country's been in from World War One to the current so-called "Global War on Terror"............my nephew, as you and I write to each other here B.M., is a U.S. Marine Corps Platoon Sgt. in al Anbar Province in Iraq on his 2nd combat tour after earning a chestful of medals on his first tour...........and I haven't even gotten to the MANY "uncles and cousins" you just asked me about yet, brother.....now THAT would take all night................why did you ask in the first place??.......and what of YOUR family's military service record, sir??!! B.M. is a lightweight compared to you, Mikey. I hope the FBI knocks on his door. I watched you and Jeremy at 0100 this morning! Jeremy was great. Watching and listening to him you placed yourself in his shoes and thought of the Platinum Rule instead of the old time evangelistic Golden Rule: How about treating others the way they want to be treated - instead of Golden - treat others the way you want to be treated? We are all individuals. Like Rodney King said, "can't we all just get along?" We are a diverse bunch - respect that. You were great too, Mikey. Your command post looked like a bunker - like if I had ever seen the inside of the missile bunker at VAFB, that is what your office reminded me of. That's a good thing - it made the viewer think - Mikey really means business! P.
Mikey, I just read the string of conversations between you and "B.M.". I wish I could say I was shocked by B.M.'s ignorance, but I'm not. I am assuming by B.M.'s stance that I as an Atheist am some how less qualified to perform my job in the Army. I personally would never think about asking what religion a soldier on the ground is when they call for close air support because they are pinned down in a fire fight in some crappy country that the self serving Right Wing Christians got us into in the first place. I'll tell you what this heathen Atheist thinks about when that call comes. He thinks there are some "Americans" that are in trouble and need help. Yes, I will even respond to help those people that would have me ejected from the military because I don't share their religious beliefs. I raised my hand 19 years ago and Affirmed that I would defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies both foreign and domestic. I respect and defend the right of B.M. to speak out with his opinion. I however also will defend the Constitution against the Right Wing, Bible thumping, Evangelical Christians that would strip away the basic freedoms granted to every American by our forefathers, regardless of their religious beliefs. I may be a Officer in the United States Army, but I am also an American with the same right to speak out against an injustice as any other American. So how dare you try to impose your Ultra Right Wing Christian ideas on my soldiers. Just maybe you are the one that needs to be "Saved"! Mean while, us Atheist, Hindu, Muslim, Wiccians and Jews will be out here protecting your right to insult us. Good Day Sir!
I just wanted to tell you that I really feel strongly about your cause. I was raised Roman Catholic, and find it to be the biggest farce ever perpetrated by man. I am not an atheist, I do believe in some higher power, but I do not think that it is the government’s right to force that upon anyone, especially the people who are defending the country. I understand why some become more religious after joining the military and facing, death, but that is their choice. K.B.
Dear Mr. “Mikey” Weinstein and Foundation Voices,
Mr Weinstein, With regard to your lawsuit for religious discrimination in the military. When I was in boot camp for the Navy my Company Commander got very upset with our unit because we did not receive the flag for religious attendance. What that meant was that we did not have enough members of the unit attending a religious activity on Sunday. So the pressure to attend an organized religious function begins in recruit training. D.H.
I never knew your organization existed, but I will do whatever I can to support it so that other soldiers do not have the negative experiences I had with the military - because the military is great, and religion should not play a part in it at all. So again, thank you. J.B. Dear Sir, I wanted to applaud you for creating such an organization. I'll be frank with you, I am a Christian, and proud but recognize and have experienced religous persecution in the military. You may ask how can an active Christian be persecuted? I served on board the USS Kentucky in the 90's. My Chief of the Boat was a Master chief who was also a Mormon. I come from a Mormon family but choose not to be Mormon myself. When my mother, who has never given up "bringing me back" to the church, called my COB (Chief of the Boat) and expressed sorrow and siappointment at having a "Jack Mormon" in the family, the treatment began. I was forced to call my estranged parents, I was given the worst duties because I still refused to rejoin the Mormon church. I spent over 80 days straight in the TDU (Trash Disposal Unit) on board. The TDU is a 6ft by 4 ft room full to the ceiling of everything from un-named chemicals to who knows what. This continued the entire time I served under him. From being in the TDU and handling so many un-named chemical I developed tumors on my upper body. I have to have half my face removed and reattached in 2005 to remove large tumor, I have a scar that runs from my head down to my throat. So if you don't mind the expression, God Bless you for your efforts. There are even Christians who are persecuted by other Christians. D.O.
Amen to what D.O. wrote! God bless you and the MRFF indeed. Can anyone ever be Catholic enough, Christian enough, Mormon enough, or neat enough for a mom with a mission? But moms get a pass. C.O.s do not!
J.T wrote I think that you and your organization are terrible. I hope that you get your reward halfway to China - if you know what I mean. I will share you organizations hateful thought with all that I know - and we will pray for your salvation - or "reward". If you have no religion - you have no right to be on this earth - go to be with all of your friends (all 5 of them) in the great reward - down with the snakes of the earth. Good riddance to you all - godless creatures. Say hello to Satan along the way - I hope he entertains you for 5 thousand years or more. Mickey Weinstein wrote .........sorry you feel that way....you don't even know me........didn't Jesus preach "judge not lest YE be judged" on the Sermon on the Mount??!!........you seem to NOT be complying......Mikey Weinstein J.T wrote Good point! My disappointment is really with Jeremy Hall - not you or your organization. The fact that he is suing the U.S. on this point is my main problem - but you are correct - one should not judge others. I apologize for my outburst.
My profound thanks to you all for your activism on this front. I was almost the victim of something similar when I reported to my new assignment at Fort McPherson, GA, in the summer of 1986. I was told by my sponsor that the Colonel who ran our group said, upon reading my personnel preference sheet just prior to my arrival, "What? He has no religious preference? I don't understand." The Colonel was a staunch Southern Baptist, and illegally used his two secretaries to prepare his church bulletins, programs, and related materials. Several months following my arrival, a complaint was lodged with the Inspector General by a fellow officer, investigated, and the Colonel was forced to retire. Please keep at it!! My only regret right now is that my financial status does not allow me to make a contribution . . . maybe that will change soon!
I just wanted to thank your organization for standing up for soldiers and their right to practice their religion or no religion at all. I have seen a steady increase of Evangelical Christianity in the Army over the last 19 years and it is disturbing. I, myself am an Atheist and also an Equal Opportunity Officer in the Army. I have seen case after case of inappropriate conduct among service members and even Army Chaplains. For example, during invocations during public event Chaplains ending the invocation with "In Jesus name we pray." That is exclusionary to anyone in the room that is not Christian. I have heard soldiers calling a Jewish friend of mine, the "Jewtenant". I am not convinced that you will be able to change anything but you can sure make them squirm.
Hi there, What can I do to help? J.C.
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