Oh come on!

Published On: January 14, 2020|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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Are you kidding me? With all the problems this country faces you devote such furor over a simple Bible blessing of the Space Force?
A majority of Americans, including myself, don’t necessarily believe in Christianity ‘by the book’ but this country has always used the Bible and religious blessings in many official capacities.
And the same majority and others of other faiths just accept this fact at these type of ceremonies.
Maybe if all of us get over the minor bickering that all of us Americans are doing and join together in the real issues affecting this country we can save America.
America is falling and China is rising. Time we get off this division and unite.
Thank You for accepting my comments.
Respectfully,

(name withheld)


Response from MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein

…..OMG, (name withheld), did u REALLY just say “and others of other faiths just accept this fact at these type of ceremonies.” to me??!!……shame on you, sir…SHAME!!!!…..you are so ignorantly blinded by your Christian privilege, sir…..tragic indeed….Mikey Weinstein, MRFF


Response from MRFF Advisory Board Member Mike Farrell

On Jan 14, 2020, at 5:13 PM, Mike  wrote:

 

Hi (name withheld),

No, we’re not kidding. We agree that there are many problems in our country that need to be addressed. While those of us associated with the MRFF are doing everything we can to deal with many of those problems, we also believe that maintaining the freedom of religious choice is one of the bedrock issues that undergird our nation. Like too many, the fact that it is under attack seems to have escaped your attention.

Perhaps the below message from Col. Wilkerson will help you better understand.

Mike Farrell

(MRFF Board of Advisors)

The USAF Is At It Again by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson  MRFF Advisory Board Member, January 14, 2020

This was a Washington National Cathedral tweet on Monday:

Today @WNCathedral blessed the official Bible for the new @SpaceForceDoD, which will be used to swear in all commanders of America’s newest military branch.

This tweet on some websites was accompanied by a photograph of what was supposedly the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains holding a Bible while functionaries from the National Cathedral “blessed” it (as if the supposed word of God needed such blessing).  Unless the purpose was ribald humor – and in even that purpose was abject failure and potential sacrilege – this might be the most ridiculous stunt the USAF has ever staged, and that is saying something given that Service’s record for such affairs, particularly when they relate to religion.

Simply the facts destroy the message in the tweet:

First, commanders don’t take oaths as commanders.  They stand at attention while guidons or flags are passed, they exchange salutes – incoming commander to outgoing commander, and perhaps to both’s mutual higher commander – they say a few words, and the command is assumed (and surrendered if a former commander exists).  Operative phrase here is: they don’t take oaths.

Second, no Bible is necessary for assumptions of command or changes of command.  One can be present if one of the officers desires it, but it should not be “on display” because a change of command or an assumption of command is an official event and should not be seen as favoring one religion over another, or religion over none.  That’s regulation; that’s the Constitution – the latter document, by the way, the one that military personnel do in fact swear an oath to support and defend.  Not a Christian Bible.  Not an Islamic Qu’ran.  Not A Jewish Talmud or Torah.  Not anything else.

Third, military commanders, of any stripe, type, or kind are not sworn in.  This might seem a mimicking of the first point above, but it’s not.  It is simply a statement of fact separate from oath-taking so there is no mistaking what military commanders do.  They assume command, period.  There is no swearing whatsoever, unless of course in a person’s remarks after the assumption of command he or she wants to swear to do good, or to uphold the law, or some other personal commitment that the individual believes will seem more powerful if he or she swears to it.  But even if this were to occur, no text should be used to make it seem to favor one religion over another, or religion over no religion.  That’s the Constitution and USAF regulation.

So, one might rightly inquire, why all the publicity for an act that is wrong at best and absolutely bizarre at worst?  Why stage such a farce in the first place?  And why of all places stage it at the venerated National Cathedral, totally unconnected to the U.S. Armed Forces?

For show, of course.  You see, the USAF has an entire group of American taliban in its ranks – commissioned officers, including generals, non-commissioned officers and enlisted ranks.  These people, by self-avowal, want to take over the Armed Forces for Jesus.  And staging and photographing stunts such as this one at the National Cathedral are the way they call attention to themselves. I’m an active member of the Advisory Board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).  Sadly, we at MRFF see these egregious violations of church-state separation on an almost daily basis from all of the DOD branches of service, but especially from the U.S. Air Force.

The best recourse for the rest of us who know better is to call them out as the confused, even demented people they are.  But we must also ensure that they don’t succeed – ever.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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