Air Force Academy

Mr. Weinstein,

I am very disappointed that filed a complaint against the Air Force Academy because of a post by a cadet there. The cadet wrote the passage from Galatians 2:20 on the whiteboard outside his room. “I have been crucified with Christ therefore I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…”

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a post like that. It someone does not agree with it that is fine. I read and hear stuff I disagree with all the time both in public and private places. Why do we have to abandon our beliefs just because someone says they are offended? What about the thousands of others offended by being forced to remove their posts?

I am a Christian and I love sharing about Jesus. He paid the penalty for my sin upon the cross and gave me his righteousness in exchange. That is all I want to talk about because it is so amazing that He would do that for me out of His great love.

However, I love hearing from others about what they believe, whether atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon, etc. I may disagree with them, but I still love them and love dialoguing about what we believe. I am not offended if they post something their faith. Why do we have to keep silent about the most important thing in our life? After all we all have questions about what comes after this life whether we believe in God or not. Isn’t it good to have those conversations rather than ignoring the reality of death that we all face some day? This is especially true for military personnel since they may be in a battle someday that may cost them their life.

I like what atheist Penn Jillette says in one of his videos: “If you believe there is a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell, or not get eternal life, and you think it is not really worth telling them this, because it would make it socially awkward … how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

I wish that everyone would understand the Gospel and realize that Jesus loved them so much that He came to the earth to take the punishment we deserved. He literally died in our place. However, I can only share that out of love. I can not force someone to surrender their life to Christ nor would I. I simply am concerned for their eternal fate and out of love I want them to at least hear the Gospel. What some one does after that is up to them. The same is true when someone of another faith shares with me. I am thankful that they care about me enough to share what they think is the truth.

I am just disappointed that people of all faiths are being silenced when it is such an important topic. If someone does not believe in God or a certain religion, why are they offended? I am not offended when someone talks about the Easter Bunny even though I don’t believe in it.

Please stop these endless attacks on people of faith.

In Christ,
(name withheld)

Dear (name withheld),

Thank you for contacting the Military Religious Freedom Foundation with your concerns.

Mikey has asked me to respond to you because he is very busy helping our soldiers.

The first thing I need to clear up to you is that we are neither anti-God nor anti-Christian. Mikey is Jewish and prays 3 times a day to the same Father we do. A full 75% of the Board, Advisory Board, volunteers and supporters with the MRFF are Christian. Out of our 36,000+ military clients (1 can represent 50 and 1 represents 100) are Christian – Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelicals, etc. If anything, we represent Christians more than any other religion but that doesn’t make the news.

We Christians with the MRFF take God’s Word on obeying our “governing authorities” very seriously.

The media, spokesmen for organizations and politicians know full well exactly what we do but choose not to give the full story. They also know the laws regulating the military but ignore them in order to write a story that will incite anger from the Christian base.

Christians listed above are under emotional distress and persecution by an extreme fringe of Christianity better as known Dominionists. Though this sect only makes up about 10% of the Air Force Academy, they are the most vocal and allowed to run roughshod over the other 90%. They crave media attention in the hopes of drawing in those mainline Christians – which THEY persecute – outside of the academy to come to their defense and it’s working very well.

This is what the military thinks of the faith of those Christian denominations listed above:

US Army chaplain MAJ James Linzey, who, in a 1999 video, described mainstream Protestant churches as “demonic, dastardly creatures from the pit of hell “that should be “stomped out.”

This is the thinking in our military all the way up the chain of command towards mainline Christians; they should be stomped out.

This is the hostile environment the mainline Christians deal with on a daily basis. Their Constitutional rights of religious freedom are being trampled on without any help from those in the chain of command.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment (Establishment Clause) of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise (Free Exercise Clause) thereof . . . “(1st Amendment)
The Establishment Clause comes before the Free Exercise Clause for a reason; the Free Exercise Clause is subservient to the Establishment Clause – not the other way around as some Christians would like it to be.
The Supreme Court heard the Lemon v. Kurtzman case in 1971 and ruled in favor of the Establishment Clause.

Subsequent to this decision, the Supreme Court has applied a three-pronged test to determine whether government action comports with the Establishment Clause, known as the “Lemon Test”

Lemon Test:

1. Any law or policy must have been adopted with a neutral or non-religious purpose.
2. The principle or primary effect of any law or policy must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion.
3. The statute or policy must not result in an “excessive entanglement” of government with religion.

If any government entity’s actions fit into one of these three, then it is a violation of the Establishment Clause.

The Air Force has strict rules on religious neutrality. This is binding on everyone at the academy.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE
Air Force Instruction 1-1
7 August 2012

2.11. Government Neutrality Regarding Religion. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for an individual’s free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. For example, they must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion. Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectivity. The potential result is a degradation of the unit’s morale, good order, and discipline. Airmen, especially commanders and supervisors, must ensure that in exercising their right of religious free expression, they do not degrade morale, good order, and discipline in the Air Force or degrade the trust and confidence that the public has in the United States Air Force.

AFI 1-1 passes the Lemon Test because it is a religious-neutral policy within our government entity; the military.

The Cadets just went through training on religious neutrality (AFI 1-1) but this one Cadet decided to ignore it. Twenty nine Cadets and four staff at the academy recognized the blatant disregard (insubordination) of the rules and came to us for help because the academy failed them.

When one joins the military, he/she gives up some rights in order to have cohesion and good order in the unit. They are not allowed to speak back to their superior or disparage the President. They are not to speak about politics or religion in public while in uniform. They are to obey every rule and command even if they disagree with it.

Our military is secular and must remain religious-neutral.

No Cadet has to give up their Christianity. They are still free to talk about it in the hallway with a friend, go to chapel, attend a Bible study, bow their head in prayer at meal time, etc. We encourage this. But they are not allowed to post religious things in common/secular areas (hallways) especially on a whiteboard owned by a person in authority.

The reason it appears that we are attacking Christianity is because it is the ONLY religion that disregards our laws. Every other religion works within them and if they didn’t, we would be on it.

The Commander spoke with the Cadet and he erased it according to the AFI 1-1 regulation.

Please go to our website www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org click on “About” and then click on “Foundation Voices.” Scroll through and see the honorable and distinguished military personnel that we rely on for their expertise in military law.

Your sister in Christ,

Joan Slish
MRFF Advisory Board Member