COLUMBUS DISPATCH – Fighting for Religious Freedom for Fighters

Selected Article Excerpt:

The author makes clear that the MRFF has the Constitution on its side. Even before the amendment guaranteeing religious freedom was passed, the founders put into the unamended Constitution that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office of public Trust under the United States.” The letter writers here are not having any of that Constitution stuff. They have the backing of many in power in the military. In the last section of the book, Weinstein lists some of the causes for which the MRFF has gone to work. A general decided that he wasn’t having any unbelievers in his Air Force and insisted that they say “so help me God” at the end of their reenlistment oaths. Rifle scopes engraved with biblical verses were ordered for our troops to use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military emblems have had Crusader crosses on them. Soldiers were punished for declining to attend a Christian concert. An officer told gathered Muslim soldiers that America is “at war with Islam and you are a Muslim.” A congressman called for Muslims to be purged from the military. Christian teachings about a “just war” were included in a course on Nuclear Warfare. A unit commander asked everyone in his charge if the person had “come to Christ yet.” There is strong documentation that there are generals and government officials who think that the nation and the military should be run by a conservative Christian understanding of the Bible.

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