MRFF communism in sheeps clothing (with responses)

Dear Mikey Weinstein,

Your new cult makes communist look like a bunch of Choir boys.

It’s unbelievable the harm that you are causing in the Greatest country in the world.

There will be a great reckoning for you and those that you bring down with you.

I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be open before it’s too late.

“IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

(name and location withheld)

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……..you threatening me/us, “Jimbo”??……hey, sport, get a grip….the USA is NOT run on the Decl. of Ind……but rather on the Constitution….which NEVER mentions ANYone’s God…….and spare me your sanctimonious prayers….pray that YOU get an education……….

Mikey Weinstein
Founder and President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

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Dear (name withheld),

Wow, what a complete lack of emotional control. Having served as an Infantry Officer in combat, I can only say this guy would not last long in that kind of environment. He appears to have used the military to pay for college and law school (serving only 10 years behind a desk), yet uses his “veteran” status to the max.

As a point of fact, the original Constitution does contain the mention of Jesus Christ. George Washington wrote in bold letters “In the year of our Lord” before the 1787 and his signature. MRFF would have blown a gasket claiming discrimination for that use of blantantly sectarian language. George Washington would be highlighted by MRFF as an example of bigotry and intolerance.

John Adams, the recognized mastermind of the Constitution, wrote: “This Constitution was made for a moral and religious people, it is wholly unsuited to the governance of any other”. In even a cursory reading of the Federalist Papers and founders’ letters, one is struck by the importance given by the founders to the importance of a collective reverence to God. The preamble to the establishment of Public Education made clear its purpose: “Religion, Morality and Knowledge (first in the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, adopted by Congress).

The Declaration of Independence was the critical document for telling the world what Americans believed about rights and government. It became the philosophical basis of the Constitution: We are “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” it goes on to say that governments were instituted to protect those God-given rights and that if government attempted to subvert those rights it was the right of the people to change government. The Constitution was written to protect our God-given rights.

Mr. Weinstein is not worth the effort. His ilk have one goal in mind: Subvert the traditional US Military into something George Washington and all those who have paid the ultimate price for 230 years would never recognize. I’m not sure if Mr. Weinstein had sand kicked in his face by an non-JAG Christian during his few years in the Air Force, but something strange is driving this strange emotion against a non-existent enemy. I have served 4 years as a cadet and 21 years as an Infantry Officer. I have never seen evangelical “bigotry” and coersion. I have served in both Israel and Muslim countries and seen clear recognition of the religious influence on the respective militaries. Saying “Jewish Army” or “Islamic military” just isn’t a big deal: In those cases, the majority of members are either Jewish or Islamic. Why does the one majority Christian military face garbage like MRFF?
Amazing.

(name withheld)

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Dear (names withheld),

I take it as a sign of desperation in the face of intellectual defeat that you’ve attempted to cite a method of annotating the date as evidence of Christian influence in the Constitution. The Constitution was a deliberately godless document and did not invoke religion as a cause or justification for the civil government. John Adams, the Second President of the United States, didn’t even think it was possible for future Americans to become so ignorant of their history that they’d ever claim to be a “Christian nation”. He thought it obvious that people would forever know the secular grounding of our government: “The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.”

See that? Our Founders didn’t even think Americans could ever get this stupid, but here you are.

We take supporting the Constitution very seriously and literally. Christians claim we’re a “Christian nation”, but our earliest presidents (up until Jackson), including the author of the Constitution, James Madison, took the same position we do on the church/state relationship and chaplains in the government. Madison: “The general government is proscribed from the interfering, in any manner whatsoever, in matters respecting religion”, “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize, every expanded prospect.”, “The establishment of the chaplainship in Congress is a palpable violation of equal rights as well as of Constitutional principles.”

George Washington was opposed to expanding the chaplaincy for precisely the reasons we’re fighting: “Among many other weighty objections to the Measure, it has been suggested, that it has a tendency to introduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of Worship which they do not profess.”

Thomas Jefferson, on Christianity: “Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.”

Jefferson again, supporting our claim against mandatory attendance at government religious events (a common church/state violation in the military): “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever…”

We’re fighting this fight because it’s right and because it is the legacy our Founders fought for, not because we’re “emotional.” It’s not just about how much it bothers us, but about the legitimate role and limitations of government under the Constitution. There are specific Constitutional prohibitions against Congress (including bodies that exercise rule-making power delegated to them by Congress) “respecting an establishment of religion”, which is violated every time they establish preferred religious practices that have the special privilege of a government microphone and captive audience, or establish religious emblems and slogans that employees are forced to wear.

Other explicitly “religious” militaries are not Americans with a secular Constitution. They are not employees of our government subject to our government’s Constitutional requirement of religious neutrality. If you want a theocratic military, go join one. Leave ours alone.

Dustin Chalker