Mission

Greetings;

I am writing you to express my utter outrage at your organization’s mission to completely erase all traces of Christianity from America’s military. For over two centuries, the Bible and Christianity has been an important component of all branches of the military. While other faiths – and yes, even atheists – have been a part of that military, those of the Christian faith have been by far the major contributors to america’s military prowess. Where do you folks get off telling people in the military to keep their faith “in the closet?” Further, why is it only Christians being harassed, and not Muslims or Jews? You may mot like or agree with another’s faith, but you have no right to stifle their free expression of that faith. Hiding behind your distorted view of the constitution – which tens of thousands of the Christians you despise have died to defend – is nothing short of cowardice. Your claims of extreme fundamentalist Christians in every corner trying to force their faith on others is akin to Chicken Little drying “The sky is falling!” I close with two questions: What are you afraid of, and Why do you fear the Christian message so much?

Sincerely and in anger,
(name withheld)

Good Afternoon, (name withheld) –

Thank you for writing to MRFF to share your concerns. Mikey Weinstein has asked me to reply to your email — I am a volunteer who supports MRFF in a number of ways, including sharing my thoughts with folks like you who write to the organization. To give you a sense of my background — I am a Christian, a USAFA graduate (’85) and a former AF officer. Because of my background, I think I can offer a pretty good ‘insider’ perspective about the whiteboard situation specifically, as well as what MRFF is about in general. In both cases, your email suggests to me that you may have an honest misunderstanding of both things.

With regard to the ‘whiteboard’ situation at USAFA — I don’t know if you have a military background or not, but if not then the first thing to understand is that, upon joining the military, each of us who signed up to serve also agreed to surrender some amount of the freedom of expression that we enjoyed as civilians. This is not a new concept, some of these rules go back to the mid-20th century and perhaps even further. One of the areas where military leaders are obligated to balance their personal expression with what is required of them under military rules is religious expression. There is no limitation whatsoever on what any military leader or member can believe — that aspect of religious freedom is sacrosanct. The expression of that belief, though, can be limited by the military in terms of its time, place and manner. Air Force Instruction 1-1 says that a military leader must avoid “the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates.”

In this case, the cadet posted the Scripture verse in the squadron hallway, on a board next to his name and position. While I’m sure his intentions were good, doing it that way changed it from a ‘personal’ statement to a ‘public’ statement. Had it been in his room, it would have been rightly protected. Consider that a similar act by, say, an atheist cadet who might post “There is no God” on a board outside his room would be violating the same rule. Keep in mind that the cadet dorm at USAFA is actually a working squadron duty area, so in that regard those quarters differ greatly from the dorms of a civilian college. The other important difference from a civilian college is that cadets are not just “neighbors” — they have real military reporting relationships to one another.

Personally, I love Galatians 2:20. But I must agree with Academy leadership that the manner in which this cadet expressed his belief in this case was not appropriate.

As to MRFF generally, I can assure you that we are not an ‘anti-Christian’ organization. In fact, if you’ve read any of the recent news about MRFF in the days after the whiteboard story was first reported, you will have heard that Mikey Weinstein and MRFF made another challenge to USAFA after receiving requests for assistance from some cadets and permanent party — and in this case, the group that MRFF challenged was a Free-Thinkers club that was doing some of its own ‘proselytizing’ in a manner that was inappropriate. As I tell people regularly, MRFF is not anti-religion, it is pro-Constitution. And both the Constitution and Air Force regulations say that military leaders must remain neutral on religious matters. As I said, that does not mean any individual is limited in what he believes; it also does not mean that an individual is prevented from ever expressing his religious expression. But the time, place and manner must be appropriate.

Also, I share your appreciation for the service and sacrifice of all military members, past and present… and of all faiths and beliefs. But if you are suggesting that Christianity has some sort of place of primacy or prominence in the US military, I would respectfully suggest that you are mistaken. People of all beliefs, including no belief, have made amazing and heroic sacrifices throughout American history. But it is true that there is a subset of Christians who believe fervently in Christian Dominionism — a good term to google and read about if you are unfamiliar. These folks do, indeed, believe that Christianity should be the guiding force of our military and our government. The mere fact that someone, even a military member, may hold such a personal belief is their right, and that right is Constitutionally protected. But if they act on that belief in a way that leads to the actual or apparent use of their position to advance a specific religious agenda, then they are wrong and must be challenged.

Thanks again for writing. I feel that I’ve answered your two closing questions in your email, but if you disagree I would be more than happy to continue this dialogue.

Peace,

Mike Challman
Christian, USAFA Graduate (’85), AF Veteran, MRFF Supporter