Maj Steve Lewis

General,

As my wife points out of often, my powers of deduction tend to get overpowered by my Irish genetics when I get emotional (she has a masters in psychology but found out first-hand that Freud was right). I’m glad I went in with a civil tone and appreciate the depth of your response.

I too have seen extreme Christian reactions and better favor for those of the same religion while in the military. A little about me, since I got 3 generations of explanation from you. I’m a retired SNCO and a DAF civilian with a combined 26 years of service. While on AD, I’ve resided in more than one Muslim state for an extended period of time and know all too well how much a deployment bag weighs.

I have worked for nearly every religious denomination (including Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, Atheist). I am, at best, an agnostic. I have read the bible many times, the Koran once (not an easy read), and the Satanic Bible (thanks to my roommate in Germany and the pay of a 1-striper I had some extra time). The point is, I’m not offended by the specifics.

I’m sure there is more to this than a book. I hope so at least. This is why I chose to contact your organization. Mainstream media uses “news” as hooks and what I read off of Fox News eluded to the open bible on the desk being the reason for potential punishment. If it were more, like forcing views or punishing for religious reasons (like my ex-wife getting a 4 EPR for getting pregnant out of wedlock and her Captain reasoning it as “blasphemous”). That would be understandable.

However, the baseline religious training for AF members needs to be bolstered. It’s a touchy subject that we as AF professionals need to reassess as a whole. Unfortunately, based on the article, it has been spun as an attack by your organization against an allowed practice; and one that is critical to the mental wellbeing of the majority of military members.

Although you may not have been able to quantify suicide in a religious tone, religion can and does effect mental well being. I’m not saying an atheist is more apt to commuting suicide, but merely stating for those of faith, mental strength can be found via that faith. Taking away the right to read scripture in ones downtime (at work, in this case) would negate not only this Majors ability, but every Airman’s ability, to do so in the future. My fear is that AF policy change is usually a forced push that effects everyone. And, although I don’t choose to read the bible at my desk, I would never want to infringe on my fellow Airmen’s right to do so.

As to your direct questions, I have never been threatened by knowledge. Not by a bible, nor by a Koran. I have had supervisors who have referenced both in front of me. I have always been a “mind speaker”, so I would not have issue with questions no matter what literature you have out. This shows how shallow the military mindset has become. If you are threatened by passages, I would hate to see how you act in a foxhole in the Middle East. The chain-of-command is there for a reason, and it has worked for hundreds of years. It is my responsibility to inform my supervisor that I’m going up the chain with my concerns and voice my thoughts/feelings to the next person. This is thoroughly tonight throughout basic training.

I’m glad I didn’t use “shut up and color” in my message, but I wasn’t eluding to that. My message would be of acceptance and realization that only if that book is thrown at me, it can’t hurt me. If there is an issue, go to the next layer of leadership and explain why you’re uncomfortable about it. We are constantly taught tolerance, because we are a profession of arms. Intolerance forces us to resent our differences, instead of finding out how best to use our differences to better serve our country.

Thank you so very much for the response, I’m sure you’re entirely too busy to deal with the backlash you’ve received.

(name withheld)

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 Response from Sr. Active Duty Military Officer and  MRFF Supporter(name withheld), thank you for your note and concern about our Air Force men and women. Our current mental health problem is severe and I trust that all the services are working hard to alleviate this problem.

Please allow me a somewhat lengthy take, on your question of, “… what ill effect does it have?”

When I was stationed at (base and country withheld), at HQs (command withheld), as a Senior Officer and (position withheld), we had a boss, a 1-Star General, who kept a Bible prominently displayed on his desk, in direct violation of the United States Constitution and the oath he himself took.

I’m a Militant Atheist, which means I defend, with vigor and passion, all those who have others forcing their religion upon them, so it was disturbing to see this, every time I went into the Boss’s office.  As a result, I would become distracted, by this overt display of religious exceptionalism, and my attention would quickly shift to questioning the true motivation of his guidance and orders, and the influence of religion on his military decision-making process. That was quickly followed with thoughts about what actions I might need to take, to protect my troops, from what appeared to be a leader, true or not, that puts his brand of religion first, and may then discriminate against those who don’t share the same beliefs as him.  Believe it or not, what some would say is a “harmless display,” can result in some dangerous intended or unintended consequences.

I’m sure my boss was aware of my atheism, because I refused to attend ANY optional event where the Chaplain was present and was there to make some sort of prayer to the attendees.  As a result, I missed numerous events, such as monthly, quarterly, or annual awards ceremonies and banquets.  I did explain, to my award nominees, in advance, that I didn’t agree with the religious presence at the event. I told them, that while I lauded their accomplishments, by writing their award packages and supported them financially, by paying for the meal they would eat at the event, I could not, in good conscience, attend an event that violates the Constitution, by clearly favoring one religion over another and establishing that religion as the norm for our command and de facto, our Air Force.

My troops understood my rationale and decision, to not attend these events, because I was open and honest with them.  In fact, many of my division were either atheist or agnostic and not afraid to say so, because they were confident that I would fairly grade believers and non-believers alike, by their performance and production, and not by their religious or non-religious affiliation.

I always asked myself why I should have to feel excluded, in the name of religion, when I’m serving in a secular military, as an extension of a secular government, and in a country that was founded on secular principles.  This in itself shows how wrong and spineless our Air Force is, by not taking immediate action to fix this obvious Constitutional violation. The Chaplains and their praises of religion, which were almost exclusively to the, “Lord Jesus Christ,” have no requirement or purpose, at these events, and all they accomplish is to alienate believers and non-believers, alike.

Most disturbing, was what I witnessed during a unit Thanksgiving luncheon, with the families of our military members in attendance. We were treated to a lengthy prayer, more like a sermon, by this 1-Star General, about how God is “real, good and we’d best get in step.”  If I said that his passionate display was uncomfortable, it would be a severe understatement.  The silence, immediately afterwards, was deafening.  It was totally a display, of Christian arrogance, upon a captive audience, who had no recourse, but to sit there and take it as the price for their turkey lunch. I hadn’t learned about the MRFF yet, and they would have been my first call, after that event.

The detractors who say, “He was just professing his faith (or reading his Bible), what is the harm in that?” simply don’t understand the military environment.  First off, it is against military regulations (to do that at work) and that should be enough to prevent these occurrences from even happening. Next, this religious exceptionalism can quickly damage good order and discipline, the foundation of our military.  Perception is also reality and when the subordinates see that the Boss is openly professing a faith and allegiance to something that they don’t, these subordinates will begin to question the motivation of that leader’s guidance and orders and may then live in fear, justified or not, of negative performance reports, reprisal and out-right retaliation, if they don’t profess the same.  Again, perception is reality, in our world, and this can tear a unit apart and critically damage their performance and operational capability.

Now, for the Christian apologists out there. Military leaders, who are Christian Dominionists, Religious Extremists, Non-Religious, and anything in-between, can easily, disguise their disdain for their subordinate’s religious or non-religious affiliation, in carefully worded performance reports.  Words mean everything in the military and any fundamentalist, in a leadership position, can torch a career, in a heartbeat, with zero fear of reprisal.  This lack of accountability is why extremist leaders are so dangerous and why there needs to be an uncompromising separation between church and state, in not only our military, but in our schools and government, both which influence the military’s education, training and regulations.

Fortunately, I was a Senior Officer l and I knew there was nothing my boss could do about my non-belief, on my performance report or otherwise, that would affect my current rank or my impending retirement, at that same rank, so I could easily avoid the situations that disregarded all Constitutional-sense.

But what about those lower-ranking service members who didn’t have my security and couldn’t avoid the numerous situations, where they were openly proselytized to, against their will?  How is that fair?  Why should they be subjugated to this religious extremism and not be able to defend themselves, without fear of reprisal and damage to their careers?

The religious extremists, in our military, are bullies and they prey on those who can’t fight back and the basic tenants of the military, such as rank structure, chain of command and unquestioned obedience to orders, gives them plenty of opportunities and victims.

This is why the MRFF exists and why their mission is so critical.  The MRFF serves and protects our troops in uniform and our DoD Civilians.  The MRFF gives them a powerful voice, a voice of action, and a voice of reason and sanity, to fight the extremists,  when their own voice will  get them in trouble for standing up for the Constitution, which,  they swore/or affirmed, to defend, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

All the best,

A Retired Senior Military Officer