MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda responds to detractor offended that MRFF’s 4th of July Facebook post was about American history

From: (Name withheld)
Subject: Your fourth of July message
Date: July 4, 2024 at 8:22:57 PM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>
Mister Weinstein
This is in regards to your posting for the Fourth of July. Instead of that history lecture from General Compare why didn’t you just simply post a message of thanks and appreciation to our veterans and active duty military who have really fought for our freedom and who fight for freedom right now and wish them a good day. You should have posted thanks to them especially the ones who can’t be with their families. Why don’t you show them some gratitude and stop making it all about you?
Also, and I promise not to use foul language or be hateful like so many others, but I didn’t appreciate that graphic of Jesus saying “where is everyone going” when you were talking about that officer that tried to force chapel attendance. that is the second time you have mocked Jesus with graphic (the first one had him saying “WTF”) and I think that is blasphemy and you should take those down. I was a chaplain’s assistant in the Gulf War and I am one of those old fashioned people for whom God and country, the flag and the cross go hand in hand. To close let me quote Ronald Reagan “If we EVER forget we are a nation under God we will be a nation gone under!”
I wish you and everyone at your organization the best but could you please post a belated July 4th message and thank our troops and veterans?
An old Soldier who believes in God
Response from MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda
From: Chris Rodda <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Your fourth of July message
Date: Jul 5, 2024, 4:17 PM
To: (Name withheld)
So, let me get this right, Mr. (name withheld). You’re accusing Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Compere, who is himself a disabled American veteran (Vietnam era), of not appreciating veterans and service members because he wrote a piece about American history for the 4th of July? Are you serious?
Have you read Brig. Gen. Compere’s pieces for the holidays that, unlike the celebration of Independence Day, are specifically intended to honor veterans and service members?
Why don’t you start with his last Veterans Day piece, “Remember Our Veterans for Their Service.”
And then you can move on to the pieces he wrote during the month of May for Military Appreciation Month, starting with his piece explaining the six significant dates in this month designated by Congress to honor our men and women in uniform, “May is Military Appreciation Month,” and his individual pieces for Armed Forces Day – “We Salute Our US Armed Forces” – and Memorial Day – “Remember and Honor.”
If you’d bother to read Brig. Gen. Compere’s bio on our website, you will see that he is not only a veteran and a patriot but also a Christian, serving in various positions in the United Methodist Church and as a Protestant lay leader at the Dyess Air Force Base Chapel. In fact, 95% of MRFF’s clients are Christians as are about 80% of our staff and volunteers.
As for our graphics, they are in no way intended to be denigrating of Jesus. Their intended message is that Jesus would be appalled by what some so-called Christians are doing in his name, as our Advisory Board Member Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Marty France has already explained to you in his response to your previous e-mail. Since yours has been the only complaint about these graphics, it would seem that everybody else is taking them as we intend them to be taken.
And, lastly, your statement that you are “one of those old fashioned people for whom God and country, the flag and the cross go hand in hand” really tells us all we need to know about you. Those are the words of a Christian nationalist and fundamentally at odds with MRFF’s mission of protecting the separation of church and state for our men and women in uniform and our veterans.
Chris Rodda
Senior Research Director
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
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Chris Rodda was more polite than I probably would have been to someone who clearly doesn’t understand what the constitution and military regulations say about keeping government out of the religion promotion business and who also does not believe everyone in our military deserves the religious freedom granted to some. No doubt Name Withheld foolishly believes that their own religious group will be the dominant one forever in the USA, so they can’t imagine why the separation of religion and government is imperative to safeguard their own rights as well as the rights of others. They cling to that delusion to their own peril in the near future.
I understand where Name Withheld is coming from; he might have been one of many veterans in my or my husband’s families of origin, or the spouse of one.
What he doesn’t seem to understand is that the constitution that he swore to defend is a secular document. It doesn’t equate his or anyone else’s deity with the US. I appreciate that if you’ve thought about God and country being closely intertwined for a long time, it’s hard to let go of that idea. But in a time when so many people are not only seeing the two intertwined but doing their best to usher in a harsh theocracy in the US, all thoughtful people must see the distinction.
As regards the Jesus graphics, I admit I agree with the messages. I don’t think it’s disrespectful to Christians to use modern, not necessarily polite language to convey what Jesus might have thought of some over-the-top proselytizing. While the Bible doesn’t share that he used coarse language (and would the writers in the original Greek know 60- to 100-year-old coarse Aramaic slang anyhow?), Jesus was recorded as being very forthright in his statements.
I appreciate that some Christians feel an obligation to share the Gospel. That’s hugely different from coercing, or using peer pressure to coerce, people who report to you to engage in your preferred religious rituals. Jesus said to love one’s neighbor, not strong-arm them.