Air Force “Have a Bless day”
From: (name withheld)
Subject: Air Force “Have a Bless day”
Date: May 15, 2023 at 4:35:41 PM MDT
To: [email protected]
First off I don’t give permission to use my name or information. But I have to say something about this one. A while back I asked a question about a got good advice on it. Since then I have gotten to know two local Rabbi who run two different temples here. Once a week we get together and talk about ways to help veterans and active service members from the community along with a couple of others. At the end we always have a prayer and the Rabbi always says to me as I leave “have a blessed day”. I never thought much about it but now you’re saying he Christian? Huh? Really? I’m sorry but I think you are looking for problems were none exist. This is not a problem worth your time I am sorry but it isn’t. Okay great get them to stop using it. How is the world a better for it? I looked this up DoD says 70% of the military is identified as Christian so you want to stop 70% from practicing religion?Alright then when tomorrow when the Rabbi offers the Ha’tov ve’hametiv for good news in our work I am going to tell him that he can no longer give that or any other blessing because it is Christian Nationalism and not right.
(name withheld)
Response from MRFF’S Research Director Chris Rodda
From: Chris Rodda
Subject: Re: Air Force “Have a Bless day”
Date: May 15, 2023 at 5:07:19 PM MDT
To: (name withheld)
Mr. Williams …
I’m Chris Rodda, MRFF’s research director.
I must respectfully disagree with you. I did quite a bit of reading of posts on various websites and forums to see what the general consensus was about this phrase, and what I found was that it overwhelmingly made non-Christians very uncomfortable, and that it is absolutely seen by many, many people as code for “I’m a Christian.” No service member, civilian employee, or visitor should ever be greeted by a gate guard at a U.S. military with a phrase that makes them uncomfortable, especially a phrase that so many people take as an unwanted religious, particularly Christian, statement.
Chris Rodda
On May 15, 2023, at 5:51 PM, (name withheld) wrote:
But not to all and again I am going to ask again how is this going to make the world a better day? Let me ask you this. How many time you don’t have a great start to your day and someone says “Good Morning” or you greet someone with “Good Morning”? They may have had a flat tire, a sick child or was pulled over and they take offence over it? If they are annoyed with your greeting it’s just an clear over reaction right? If they explain why it isn’t a good morning then you apologize right? Like it was your fault for what whatever happen. I see this as an over reaction to something that is meaningless. Tell me how this caused them to be mentally damage? Tell me how they were physical harmed? Being uncomfortable is not enough of a reason.
In high school and in the military I and many others were uncomfortable undressing and showering with others in the same room. Yet despite our being uncomfortable with it we weren’t harmed by it or emotionally scared by it. So, how is this any different? No one that I have ever known has ever had night terrors cause of it. So, to me it’s no more a code for “I’m a Christian” than the phrase “Good Morning” is. This code that you speak of sounds more like a conspiracy theory that ranks right up there with Elvis was an alien that just went home.
(name withheld)
Response from MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein
From: Michael L Weinstein
Date: May 15, 2023 at 6:00:58 PM MDT
To: (name withheld)
Subject: Re: Air Force “Have a Bless day”
Why is it that you can’t understand that you talking with your rabbis is a private matter?… Having armed gate guards in uniform who decide whether not you get to come on the military installation saying a clearly sectarian Christian phrase to people that are in their cars trying to get on is a completely different kettle of fish, sport!!!!!… I don’t think you understand the basics of separation of church and state… Also take a good hard look at the Air Force instruction involved here… AF I 1–1 section 2.12… This is an absolutely clear violation… If you can’t understand that, that’s your problem, not ours…
Mikey Weinstein… Founder and President, Military Religious Freedom Foundation…
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“I looked this up DoD says 70% of the military is identified as Christian so you want to stop 70% from practicing religion?”
Firstly, because the Constitution of the United States says that no religious test shall be imposed for the holding of any office, the Department of Defense would not be within constitutional guidelines by inquiring as to the religious beliefs of service personnel. The data you quote is, therefore, bogus.
Secondly, you tell me how employing a sectarian catch-phrase while performing one’s duties in in the strictly secular sphere that is the U.S. military constitutes the “practicing of religion.”
“the Department of Defense would not be within constitutional guidelines by inquiring as to the religious beliefs of service personnel” WRONG!!!! DOD asks members what their religion is so that if a member is dying they can try to get a chaplain of the appropriate religion to give that religion’s last rites. That’s why religion is one of the pieces of info on military dogtags. There are probably other reasons too, such s helping to determine how many chaplains of various faiths are needed.
AL Hern,
No one wants to stop 70% (your numbers) of the military from practicing religion. You know that’s not the issue so stop gaslighting.
What we don’t want is that 70% forcing their religious views on others, which Christians, driven by their own insecurities, seem want to do.
Tom: the military doesn’t hire chaplains based on the percent of personnel with various beliefs. They have been and continue to be appointed with a heavy bias towards Christian chaplains. When the Navy decided to hire its first Humanist chaplain, who was very well qualified, VP Mike Pence and GOP members of Congress forced them to rescind the appointment. They argued, among other things, that non-theists can’t be chaplains. Of course, that is ridiculous and ignores the Defense Department regulations officially recognizing many non-theistic belief systems, including Humanism, Paganism, Wicca, etc. I pointed this out in my letters of protest, at the time. I also pointed out that the Navy already had Buddhist chaplains, so the argument about non-theist chaplains was not honest.