Very Puzzled (with a response from Blake Page)
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Sir,
I cannot understand your constant issues with the USAF. The name of your organization is baffling. You seem opposed to anything “religious”, and there is certainly no “freedom” permitted.
My father was a career AF pilot, and my whole family have military connections. Not once in my life (I am 77) have I been aware of any military person doing or saying anything offensive regarding his or her religious beliefs.
If you are an atheist, then by all means be one, but allow others to be Christian, Jewish, or whatever belief they embrace. Why should that bother you? Let the chaplains do what chaplains are for. No one is forcing any belief on you or any other atheist. Atheists in the military are not forced to attend chapel services.
Apparently you don’t even feel that you owe the USAF any thanks for putting you through law school. I don’t detect any loyalty on your part.
Our nation has become a bunch of whiners, ever anxious to create problems where none exist. I should think you might find something better to do with your law degree than to find complaints about our Air Force. It’s very sad to me.
Sincerely,
(name withheld)
Dear (withheld),
Mikey has asked me to respond to you on his behalf, as he is quite busy at the moment.
To address your first point, our constant issues with the USAF originate directly from airmen. We do not pursue issues, we only respond to problems as they are brought to our attention through clients. more than 96% of our clients happen to be practicing Christians of some form or another. If we were opposed to anything religious, why would we spend so close to all of our time and efforts defending religious airmen and women?
Next you lay the claim that you have never seen anyone do or say anything offensive regarding religion. I’m sure what you intended to say was that you’ve never seen such things that were offensive to you. And there’s the rub. As you seem to be a religious individual yourself (I’m going out on a limb here and guessing Christian) it is probable that the rhetoric of military leaders which is exclusive to those of minority belief systems is systematically inclusive from your perspective. Imagine a white man with a white officer above him saying something along the lines of, “it sure is great to be white, we’re the best race there is.” Now imagine a black man with a white officer above him saying the same thing. I hope you can understand the analogy I’m painting for you, but if not – You are a part of the majority, you are a part of a privileged group. Because of this, you do not take offense to statements of supremacy regarding your demographic. Those who are not a part of the Christian supremacist klan and are attempting to serve the country that they love as American warriors do quite often take offense to such rhetoric and actions. Beyond that, religious people with a basic understanding of American civics take offense to the total disregard of constitutional law by military leaders who overstep their bounds to further the Dominionist Christian agenda of total government conquest.
Atheists in the military are quite often coerced into attending religious services. It is a long standing tradition that during intensive training of all sorts, service members are given the “option” to take breaks to attend religious services. If these service members decline they are generally punished with things like cleaning toilets, mowing dirt, flipping rocks, or any sort of creative time wasting their superiors can invent. I know this because I experienced in every military school I attended during my 5 1/2 year stint with the Army. It has also been reported so many times by so many members of our military that to doubt this is occurring requires one to perform a phenomenal impersonation of a scared ostrich (which must have made typing your e-mail very difficult, well-done on that).
I hope this has helped clear things up for you. If you have any further questions feel free to direct them to me.
Cheers,
Blake A. Page
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Special Assistant to the President
Director of West Point Affairs
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I’m glad that this person didn’t have any problems with religion in the AF. I didn’t much either, though we did have a Captain in one unit I was in who was a bit pushy, I was very outspoken and was at the time a SSgt who didn’t have a problem politely declining for myself, and helping other, younger Airmen slip past his “encouragement” to attend services at his church. The fact that he felt comfortable putting even slight pressure on lower ranking troops to ‘join’ his faith, shows that this is a bad idea. Luckily it really wasn’t at all threatening or all that overbearing, but it really could have been to a young troop which is the point.
I agree with a lot of Blake A. Page’s comments to Mr Name Withheld above, but I also maintain that times are changing and the religious climate is one thing which is changing a LOT these days, and he really may not have seen very much of a problem back in the day. We had several members in our unit who were Muslim, and I was able to fend off some comments by “good Christians” about how “they” get to leave the office to go pray in private with things like, “Well ‘Fred’, if you want to go say some prayers every afternoon I’ll be happy to cover for you or go talk to the Colonel for you about scheduling some regular break time for personal prayer whenever you like!” All said with a pleasant smile of course, and all I got was a shrug and a grumble in response as you may well guess. (Let me say that our LtCol would have been very suspicious of his motives if such a point was made, and would have handled this attitude against our Muslim troop very properly! “Fred” would have gotten his prayer time scheduled, but his bigotry would have been exposed and he knew it.)
I want to say that I applaud all of your efforts to protect military members from any pressure to join any religion when it isn’t necessarily their choice to do so. I totally understand that you aren’t either for OR against any religion, or no religion, and that you are helping maintain that same freedom for all other military members. Thank you!
Deborah Kaczmarek, (name need not be withheld, or could be if that’s your norm)
Dear (name withheld)
I’d like to add a few thoughts to Blake’s excellent reply to your letter.
You say you are 77, and therein lies much of the problem of understanding today’s issues.
Most of the organizations that are behind this push for ultra-religiosity in the military did not even exist when your father was serving. Evangelicalism and fundamentalism are wearing very different hats today. I am 62 years old and grew up in a fundamentalist church; very old school ideas of how one should live the Christian faith. There were lots of rules – no drinking, smoking, dancing, swearing, card playing, or modern music. There were also lots of missions and charities that were supported, outreach to each other, and the community, in times of stress and trouble. They were a compassionate people that lived the best they knew how and minded their own business. They voted, but were not concerned with getting involved with politics because they believed their time was better spent serving people and the community. They taught the rules, but never tried to coerce people outside the church to live by them. They were simple folk who lived simple lives. They were loved and lovable.
I’d also like to add that my own brother served in the Air Force for more than 20 years. He was an atheist, a man of science who received a college education, including a PhD, while serving. He loved the Air Force and never experienced the problems of many of today’s service members. But it should be noted, he served during the 60s and 70s.
While your letter was quite polite, you should know that much of the mail MRFF gets from self professed Christians is loaded with hateful, filthy language, and death threats. Not ordinary death threats, mind you, but with gory details provided that could only come from the most disturbed minds imaginable. I think my old pastor would weep beyond consolation if he could see what passes for Christianity in some circles today.
Some of the most well known organizations in today’s Christian circles are also some of the wealthiest and most powerful. They push for their agenda to be adopted by the military at large, in state and federal legislation, and are even involved in politics overseas. These are not the Evangelicals of the 50s, 60s, or even the 70s. You may not be aware of the Dominionist movement or the Christian Reconstructionists. I would urge you to do a bit of research and learn what they believe and what their agenda is. I think you would see a lot of things quite differently once you understood who, exactly, is behind the problems, and why Mikey and the MRFF are so committed to helping our service members who are crying out and begging for assistance.
I suggest you also check out the MRFF web site, particularly the Advisory Board which can be viewed here:
https://mrff2.local/about/foundation-voices/
As you will see, Mikey works and consults with a huge array of highly qualified people, including retired military officers, professors, business leaders, religious leaders, and yes, even Christian ministers.
I am thankful for the many years of service that your father and family members gave to our country. Let’s work together to keep this country great.