Your email to MRFF

Dear Mikey,

I cannot believe that your org. would go after a young cadet over his posting of a bible verse and after it being taken down your representative wanting him to be punished. I have always been sympathetic toward your faith and the persecution of your people. I just cannot believe what I just read and what your rep. said. This in no way was an attack on your faith and the hate that generates from your org.
actions puts a new light on your faith. I hope this is just one person speaking and that your org. is not this full of hate toward others.

(name withheld)

> Good day, friend –
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> Thanks for your note to MRFF. Mikey Weinstein has asked if I’d respond with my thoughts. It’s significant that he has asked me because he knows that he and I don’t see exactly eye-to-eye regarding his comments about punishment for the first cadet in the whiteboard brouhaha…. which goes straight to your question about whether there is room within MRFF for more than one opinion. There is room galore.
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> It’s also significant because it serves as a great example of one of the core values of MRFF — that the organization’s goal is not to stifle anyone’s individual opinions or to prohibit someone from holding any belief that is important to them. Just as Mikey is comfortable with me representing MRFF with a response that differs from his own thoughts, so he and the entire MRFF organization are firmly committed to the right of every individual military member to hold his own beliefs, particularly in the area of religion.
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> The majority of supporters and clients of MRFF are Christians — but that doesn’t make it a “Christian organization”. Nor does Mikey’s faith tradition make it a “Jewish organization.” I describe MRFF as a Constitutional organization, not focused on promoting any dogma but working to ensure fair and equal Constitutional protections for all military members.
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> It’s really not fair to suggest that MRFF meant to “go after a young cadet” with regard to the whiteboard scripture verse. It was not a personal attack, although I see how the cadet could have felt like it was one, at least initially. But based on statements out of USAFA, it seems the cadet recognized after discussion with peers and leaders that the verse was not appropriate in light of Air Force Instruction 1-1 which says, among other things, that leaders “must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates.” Even if the cadet had good intentions, by posting a Scripture verse in the hallway outside of his room, on a board that is adjacent to his name and squadron position, it’s easy to see how that isn’t appropriate based on AF guidelines.
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> As for calls to punish the cadet, as I said, I would not make such a demand without having more information. Like many people, my lifelong faith journey has not been flat – there are periods when I have been complacent and periods when I have been ‘on fire’. During the fiery periods when I was younger, I could become quite zealous and want to proclaim the Good News to everyone, in all situations. On at least one occasion, as a young 2LT, I crossed the line in a manner similar to what this cadet did. Someone whose opinion I value and trust pointed out that it was potentially sending a message to the enlisted troops in our squadron that was inappropriate for me to send. I considered it, agreed, and corrected my error.
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> I didn’t become any less fervent in my belief, I just needed to balance my personal freedom of expression with my obligations as an AF leader.
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> In the case of this cadet, then, my own predisposition is to give him the benefit of the doubt and use the situation as a “teachable moment.”
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> I’d also say, though, that the second wave of cadets who rushed to post various things outside their rooms might need more than just a moment of teaching. At the least, they demonstrate a tremendous lack of maturity. At worst, they reveal themselves to be more interested in Christian Dominionism than in professional military comportment. The former is easily addressed by a few hours on the tour pad. The latter is a much bigger problem and is one that has been evident at USAFA on more than one occasion in recent years. In my view, a military member who believes they have a right to violate AF regulations and Constitutional protections because they believe that their religious dogma is the only one that matters need to be strongly reprimanded and should not be in any position of leadership.
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> Thanks for writing to MRFF and sharing your thoughts.
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> Peace,
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> Mike Challman
> Veteran, Christian, MRFF Supporter
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