MRFF Action Results in Immediate Removal of Illicit Religious Proselytizing Material from Athens (Georgia) VA Clinic Patient Check-In Counter

July 13, 2023

MRFF President/Founder Mikey Weinstein was contacted by a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel on behalf of themselves and at least 10 other concerned veterans regarding the Athens (Georgia) VA Clinic ongoing display of sectarian religious material located at the clinic’s patient check-in counter.  

Mikey detailed his actions and immediate results achieved after being contacted:

“After receiving the complaints of 11 honorable veterans, 7 of them Christians, I was able to contact a senior VA official at the Athens Georgia facility… In the phone conversation, that official asked to put me on hold… The official went out to the lobby, spotted the offending basket, that is routinely filled with sectarian Christian, proselytizing material and came back and told me on the phone that it had been IMMEDIATELY removed pursuant to our MRFF complaint…… The official told me that VA staff had indicated that somebody comes in from the outside and fills the basket every week with Christian proselytizing material… The VA staff was allowing it… The senior VA official told the staff that this illicit activity is no longer allowed so this is a wonderful victory for our 11 veteran clients!”

Mikey received a follow-up email from the Athens VA Clinic:

From: <Senior VA Official at the Athens, Georgia VA medical facility>
Subject: Removal of the Basket With Christian Items in Athens CBOC Lobby
Date: July 14, 2023 at 10:04:47 AM PDT
To: “[email protected]” 

Good afternoon Mr. Weinstein,

Please accept my apologies for not getting this email sent out to you on yesterday after we spoke on the phone, but as you may or may not know, this clinic is one of our busiest clinics for the Augusta VA Medical Center. 

As you requested, and on behalf of the Veterans in our service area, I have removed the basket with the Christian items in it from our waiting room in the Athens Clinic. I also informed the Screener as well as the other MSAs in the Clinic to let the one lady who has been bringing those items in and leaving them, that she can no longer leave anything like that in the lobby per VA Regulation. We love our Veterans, and we are here to provide a service to them unconditionally no matter what the religion.

Thank you for being an Advocate for our Veterans, and please be sure to thank them for me for their service to our Great Nation and thank you for your service as well.  Please reach out to me if there is anything else that I can assist you with.

Respectfully,

<Senior VA Official at the Athens, Georgia VA medical facility>

In response to the rapid resolution of this matter, MRFF’s client emailed:

From: (Veteran’s name withheld)
Date: July 13, 2023 at 1:18:23 PM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>
Subject: THANKS! Christian religious articles at the Athens VA Clinic

Dear Mikey,

I contacted you yesterday afternoon about a religious display I had just seen at the Athens VA clinic. I am astonished that despite other urgent matters affecting MRFF, you had VA management remove that offensive display in less than 24 hours – and you were assured such displays are prohibited. 

Thank you on behalf of at least 10 other concerned veterans (seven I believe are Christian) who are patients at this excellent clinic. 

Sincerely,

(Name withheld)
LTC USAF (Ret)

It is this type of repeated and ongoing rapid success upholding the U.S. Constitutional provisions of ‘Church/State Separation’ and ‘No Religious Tests’ within the U.S. Military that are the basis of “other urgent matters affecting MRFF” such as Rep. Mike Turner’s (R-OH) unconstitutional Christian Nationalist driven ‘Bill of Attainder’ amendment tied to the FY2024 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act). Rep. Turner’s amendment would make this type of interaction with Mikey/MRFF illegal.  Rep. Turner’s amendment is a naked attempt to violate Article I, Section 9 that Congress shall pass “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law.” The Supreme Court has described a bill of attainder as “a law that legislatively determines guilt and inflicts punishment upon an identifiable individual without provision of the protections of a judicial trial.”