Mickey Weinstein-Military Religious Freedom Foundation- Wreaths on Graves

Published On: December 9, 2021|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|1 Comment|

From: (name withheld)

Subject: Mickey Weinstein – Military Religious Freedom Foundation – Wreaths on Graves – Art Carter
Date: December 8, 2021 at 10:55:07 PM MST
To: [email protected]

Mickey,
Are you some kind of an Idiot?
“We have no problem if people reach out and want a wreath on their deceased veterans’ graves, but to put them everywhere, to blanket them without permission of the surviving families is unconstitutional, an atrocity and a disgrace,” MRFF Founder Mikey Weinstein said, according to the Gazette.

With all the challenges going on in America, and the world, the Foundations of America being shaken with this WOKE & CANCEL Culture, please keep your Atheism to yourself.
America was founded on Judeo/Christian Values and Principles. It has keeps us for close to 250 Years as a Nation through Trials & Wars. Many believe that because we have honored GOD, we are still here as a Nation, while Nazis are no more, etc.
If you don’t like America or our Judeo/Christian Principles in our Constitution, I am sure there is a place for you in Communist China, so move there,

(name withheld)


On Dec 9, 2021, at 7:17 AM, Martin France <[email protected]> wrote:

(name withheld), thanks for your kind and considerate commentary on this issue and MRFF’s valuable work to defend our fallen heroes and their survivors from being taken advantage of by a company that does little more than decorate graves–without truly helping the plight of veterans.  Let me share a response I sent to another writer, as it might illuminate the position with you a little more.  Here you go.  Check out the link, too.  Oh, and you say “please keep your Atheism to yourself.”  Well, please keep your Christianity to yourself, too.  We’re not all Christians.  Even in the military.

Mr XXXX,I occasionally answer emails like yours for the MRFF in my role as an Advisory Board Member.  First, let me thank you and your family for your dad’s service with the 29th ID.  I’ve been to the Omaha Beach and the US cemetery there twice and both times it was among the most moving experiences of my life.  Once, I was even honored to fold the American flag at retreat as, at the time, an active duty Air Force colonel (I served 37-plus years on active duty).  While many agree that covering every grave at an American veteran’s cemetery with Christmas wreaths may look beautiful, I disagree with your point that ALL of the surviving family members feel the same way.  Mine wouldn’t.  I’m not a Christian.  Not all of those buried in Arlington or on the bluff above Omaha Beach are Christians who observe Christmas, you see.  While I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who buy and place the wreathes, I also think it presumptuous of anyone to just assume that the surviving family members of all those fallen heroes are Christians who want a wreath on their hero’s grave.  What about our Jewish heroes?  Muslims?  Atheists? Others?The MRFF is not anti-wreath.  We are anti-presumption.  We think that anyone who wants a wreath on their loved one’s grave should be able to opt-in and have a wreath put on their grave–or be free to put one there themselves.  We don’t think it should be automatic.  Families can certainly opt in, but the burden shouldn’t be on THEM to opt out.  Remember, one person’s decorating is another person’s vandalism.  If you were Christian, would you want your loved one’s grave and all those in the cemetery decorated with a Muslim symbol by well-meaning donors?  How about a Menorah?  A Confederate Flag?  Something you don’t personally like?  Again, our point is that the mass decoration of a cemetery for veterans, on government property, done by a tightly intertwined for-profit company that established a charity through which people give money to buy wreaths out of their patriotism and goodwill and then funnel that money back into their own company to the tune of millions of dollars per year, shouldn’t be sanctioned and allowed for ALL graves.  If you want to pay a company to put a wreath on your father’s grave, that’s your right.  You do not, on the other hand, have the right to put a decoration of YOUR choosing on the grave of my dad, who is also a veteran–not without first gaining my (and my brother’s) approval.  Do you get that?Just because it makes YOU feel good and YOU think it looks pretty, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do for EVERY grave.That’s our point.  You may not like it, but if you just try to think about it a little from someone else’s perspective–someone who may not share your religious perspective–you may be able to understand.  While we share a common love for our country and took an oath to support and defend our Constitution, we don’t ALL like wreaths and the way this company profits from this program.Thanks again for your letter.  We’re not pathetic.  We’re empathetic–even to those that don’t share the same religious perspective.

Sincerely
Marty France, PhDBrigadier General, USAF (Retired) MRFF Advisory Board Member



Share This Story

One Comment

  1. A.L. Hern December 9, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    You seem to place a funny emphasis on the “Judeo” part of “Judeo-Christian” — by strange coincidence the same degree of emphasis that gun-nuts (among whose numbers I suspect you also belong) place on the latter two clauses of the 2nd Amendment while ignoring the first two, you know, the part that says “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state” because it inconveniently limits the “right” to keep and bear arms to members of government-run militias.

    “Judeo” is, then, just window dressing to you. The ones to whom it is not — real, honest-to-goodness JEWS — are actually just an irrelevancy, whose graves may be defiled and sensibilities outraged if it helps order the world the way that helps you and those like you sleep just a little sounder at night.

Leave A Comment