Stop focusing on the Christian Faith

Published On: June 2, 2015|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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Would you STOP focusing on the Christian faith with this propaganda crap!
Service members of all faiths have Chaplains in their faith and at NO TIME are they approached outside the church.
You people disgust me.
If not for my Chaplains I would’ve been in bad shape. Don’t knock what you don’t understand.

(name withheld)


 

Dear (name withheld),

The military is not a seminary to train our soldiers to be “government paid missionaries” because there are laws against that.

 

“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 wording and meaning of the original First Amendment was several times upheld by the Supreme Court as an accurate description of the Establishment Clause:

Jefferson’s concept of “separation of church and state” first became a part of Establishment Clause jurisprudence in Reynolds v. U.S, 98 U.S. 145 (1878). In that case, the court examined the history of religious liberty in the US, determining that while the constitution guarantees religious freedom, “The word ‘religion’ is not defined in the Constitution. We must go elsewhere, therefore, to ascertain its meaning and nowhere more appropriately, we think, than to the history of the times in the midst of which the provision was adopted.” The court found that the leaders in advocating and formulating the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Quoting the “separation” paragraph from Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, the court concluded that, “coming as this does from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of the measure, it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured.

 

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.

Government action violates the Establishment Clause unless it:
1. Has a significant secular (i.e., non-religious) purpose,
2. Does not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and
3. Does not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion.

 

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

 

Parker v. Levy:

“This Court has long recognized that the military is, by necessity, a specialized society separate from civilian society… While the members of the military are not excluded from the protection granted by the First Amendment, the different character of the military community and of the military mission requires a different application of those protections. … The fundamental necessity for obedience, and the consequent necessity for imposition of discipline, may render permissible within the military that which would be constitutionally impermissible outside it… Speech [to include religious speech] that is protected in the civil population may nonetheless undermine the effectiveness of response to command.  If it does, it is constitutionally unprotected.” (Emphasis added) Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 1974

 

The Air Force has strict regulations on religious neutrality:

 

Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.12:

2.12. Balance of Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment Clause. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion, including individual expressions of religious beliefs, and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief.

A violation of this is a potential felony under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

 

The military has no intentions of doing away with all religions and to state so is a giant leap in that direction and a figment of your imagination.

 

You said “The Christian faith teaches us to spread the word of God no matter who pays your salary” but our laws say no you can’t.

 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that protects individuals from discrimination based on religion. Ex: making efforts repeatedly to “save the soul” of a fellow employee who is an atheist (or other religion).

http://www.workplacefairness.org/religious-discrimination#2

 

Majority rule is only applicable in elections and passing laws. “Majority rule is limited in order to protect minority rights (the smallest of upset numbers of people), because if it were unchecked it probably would be used to oppress persons holding unpopular views. Unlimited majority rule in a democracy is potentially just as despotic as the unchecked rule of an autocrat or an elitist minority political party.”

http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/term/majority-rule-and-minority-rights.

 

Our military is secular under our Constitution and anyone –regardless of their faith or lack thereof – is free to sign up. Just because Christians make up the majority of our military does not make our military a Christian one and they can’t be “government paid missionaries” without violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, Supreme Court rulings – especially the Lemon Test and Parker v. Levy – and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

 

We are not an anti-Christian group as the media and others deliberately portray us; they know the truth about us but that wouldn’t make you angry.

 

Mikey – who is Jewish – is the face founder and President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and prays 3 times a day to the same Father we do. There is also the Board, Advisory Board, volunteers and supporters that total 230 and 87% of them are Christians. A full 96% of our 41,600+ soldier clients are Christians – Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodist, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelicals, etc. We fight for Christians more than any others.

 

MRFF does not act on its own but at the request of soldiers’ complaints of the blatant disregard and trampling of the Constitution and the Military Code of Justice; blurring the lines between the separation of church and state. Every complaint is vetted by Mikey who was a JAG lawyer at the Air Force Academy for 10 years; worked in the West Wing under Ronald Reagan; and held positions in private practice.

 

We also rely on our military supporters for their expertise in all matters concerning the military and religion. To name just a few that you may heard of:

Board Member – Major William E. Barker

Board Member – Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV

Advisory Board Member – Lawrence Wilkerson – Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff (2002-05).

 

We understand exactly how the military and religion works; it’s the people that don’t.

 

Pastor Joan

MRFF Advisory Board Member


 

Hi (name withheld),

Sorry, but I’m afraid it’s you who doesn’t understand. We don’t focus on the Christian faith, we focus on the Constitution

and the law. When complaints come to us of inappropriate pressure to conform to a specific belief system or inappropriate

proselytizing, we respond to ensure that the freedom of religious choice is honored. If the complaint is about someone pushing
an atheist belief on his or her subordinates or about someone requiring attendance at a prayer service, we respond.Chaplains doing their jobs in the appropriate time, place and manner are of no concern to us. It’s the inappropriate behavior,
the sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle pressure to “get with” a particular belief that we help people deal with.

It’s great that your chaplains have been helpful to you. We applaud that.

If you find something about the above disgusting, perhaps I can try to explain it further. We certainly mean you no harm
and we have no beef with Christians. In fact, over 95% of our clients, staff, members and supporters are Christian.
I hope this helps.
Mike Farrell
(MRFF Board of Advisors)

Dear (name withheld),

Thank you for writing us.

As a veteran myself I can tell you with certainty that service members are often approached outside the church for purposes of evangelism.  I was personally approached by chaplains and offered unsolicited evangelism at three separate units.  In basic training I was given an order to take a bible from the unit chaplain after declining the offer several times, while being told that I would need religion (and what religion needs that book?) to make it through training.  While serving in Korea I had a family emergency that required me to take emergency leave to address the issue.  Prior to being allowed to leave I was ordered to see a chaplain who offered bizarre guidance regarding my salvation being key to solving those problems.  As a cadet two separate chaplains told me that without filling the hole in my heart that exists because of my lack of faith I would never be able to become an effective leader.  If it weren’t for the massive volume of corroborating stories I’ve heard over the years I might consider my experiences atypical, unfortunately they are commonplace.

As to every spiritual group having chaplain representation, that statement is patently false.  If you would, please take a moment and research our recent efforts at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes.  Minority faith groups are regularly denied equal representation by the military in all branches.  Also consider the severely disproportionate representation of chaplains by faith group. Please see the attached presentation.

We definitely understand what we’re “knocking.”  I hope this helps clear things up for you.

Cheers,

Blake A. Page
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Special Assistant to the President
Director of US Army Affairs

 

 

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