Religious freedom during boot camp
From: (name withheld)
Subject: Religious freedom during boot camp
Date: March 14, 2024 at 3:05:53 PM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>
Hello,
Today I found out your organization exists through an article on Daily Kos.
I haven’t taken the time to go through all your articles or archived articles. But I wanted to say I appreciate what you’re doing. And I hope you’re fighting to remove religious indoctrination from boot camp training.
Both my son and his wife joined the Air Force around 24 years ago. They’re both retired now. I only know that due to what I can find on the Internet. They haven’t spoken to me in over 14 years.
During both their boot camps they were given the choice of cleaning the latrines or going to church on Sunday. They both were not religious. If they chose to clean the latrines everyone in their boot camp group called them names linked to latrines (you can imagine what they were). It wasn’t long before they went to church instead.
After boot camp they were also pressured by their sponsor couple to attend church with them. My son and his wife gradually became Evangelical christians and cut off all ties to their families.
Parent’s shouldn’t risk losing their children and grandchildren in their life due to religious interference. When I encouraged my son and his wife to join the Air Force, it never occurred to me that I was encouraging them to become religious extremists.
Anyway, thank you for what you do and I’ll read more about what your organization is doing on your website.
“A heartbroken Mom and Grandma”
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Dear Friends,
I am very sorry to hear of your isolation from your family. I know from experience the grief that comes from abandonment by family members because they view those who do not hold the same faith as they.
I can only encourage you to keep an open heart and open mind and prepare yourselves to be receptive to embracing your grandchildren when they come of age to decide to reach out to you in the future – and perhaps their parents will also come to have a change of heart and ask your forgiveness.
Until then, you may consider this an opportunity to provide guidance and kindness and dignity to other children in need – I have found great personal reward volunteering a couple days each week to children in our local Boys and Girls Club after school tutoring sessions. A little homework, friendly conversation and sharing smiles and occasional hugs. Don’t deprive yourselves an opportunity to share with young people who not only desire – but need such kindness.
With Kindest Regards you to both
Any church that would coerce and bully people — especially members of the military obligated to accede to the orders of their superiors — into “accepting” their faith is the REAL latrine.
It’s surely part of that church’s cynical calculation that if they can just keep captives breathing in the toxic fumes from that latrine long enough they will eventually lose the ability to distinguish between those fumes and free air.
At Easter dinner my mother reminded me of a conversation she and my late husband had back in the day. While in the Marine Corps he said on Sundays one could either go to church aka Christian like one’s superior or clean latrines. For four whole hours. He was seventh generation Asatru which meant he wasn’t EVER going to convert so they punished him until in his words he was ‘rotten to the Corps’. In my opinion the top brass were dumber than a box of rocks, loyal not to the Constitution but to their specific flavor or Christianity.
There was no MRFF for him back then but I’m here now to ensure those who serve our country get to worship (or not) as they see fit. He taught me much but not all of what he learned in his counter terrorism classes. For this I am eternally grateful for I would not do well as a soldier. I’m too… hippy.