“What’s truly impressive about MRFF is that you get results – every week, the results of your efforts are made clear […] Huge thanks to you and the MRFF!” — Civilian Employee of the Department of the Air Force.

From: (NAME / EMAIL WITHHELD)
Date: December 27, 2022 at 12:11:16 PM MST
To: Michael L Weinstein <[email protected]>
Subject: Huge thanks to you and the MRFF!

Dear Mikey,

I wanted to express my profound appreciation for you, Chris Rodda, and others at MRFF, and for your efforts to ensure that the US DoD honors the letter and spirit of the Constitution when it comes to religious expression. As you have so consistently documented, there is a well-funded, organized, dedicated, and systemic movement among military and civilian members to turn our military into a Christian Nationalist force, in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of the Constitution they pretend to uphold. Nobody is addressing this problem as effectively and consistently as MRFF.

I am a civilian employee of the Department of the Air Force. Earlier this year, I attended a retirement ceremony, widely attended by civilians and military and the local Junior ROTC, during which the United States was frankly described as “a Christian nation.” This was during a flag-folding ceremony, which Air Force regulations permit to be customized individually, I assume with the expectation that the personalizations not directly contradict the Constitution..

While it is appropriate that the language is tailored to the values and experiences of retirees, there was something extremely unnerving about seeing a stage full of senior military officers and civilian staff taking part in a ceremony, in front of Junior ROTC, that declared the US to be a Christian nation and the American people to be a Christian people. This is, to state the very obvious, completely false and in direct contradiction to the language of the Constitution and every bit of training we receive on this topic. No thoughts given to the Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, or people of other faiths and beliefs who attended, who entered that room believing we were one fighting force under the Constitution and who left it an hour later knowing that some senior leaders believe that we are not.

What’s truly impressive about MRFF is that you get results – every week, the results of your efforts are made clear. This is a sign of how uninhibited some military members and civilian leaders feel about promoting Christian nationalism, but also a sign of how effective your organization is at combatting this sickness. I know that you also provide assistance to military members facing personal crises, and that your results here – by necessity – cannot be as widely shared, but are just as important.

I wanted to say thanks to you, Chris, and the rest of the MRFF staff for your incredible contributions and have a wonderful holiday season!


Best regards,

NAME / BASE / EMAIL WITHHELD