cowards

From: (name and e-mail address withheld)
Subject: cowards
Date: April 16, 2025 at 12:56:19 AM MDT
To: [email protected]

Please explain what is cowardly about wanting to restore a picture of Jesus to its historic location.

(name withheld)

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Response from MRFF Board Member John Compere

On Apr 16, 2025, at 11:22 AM, John Compere wrote:

The definition of cowardly includes not having the courage to stand up for what is right. Those who take the sworn oath to support, defend and bear true faith and allegiance to the United States Constitution (e.g. Amendment 1) do not cheer when someone claims it should be ignored, disrespected and violated.

For your additional information, attached is my article on American Religious Freedom published on the MRFF website.

Brigadier General John Compere, US Army (Retired)
Disabled American Veteran (Vietnam Era)
Board Member, Military Religious Freedom Foundation

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Response from MRFF Supporter Mike Challman

On Apr 16, 2025, at 3:24 PM, Mike Challman wrote:

Hi Tom – Mikey Weinstein has asked me to share my thoughts.  I’m a long-time supporter of the MRFF, a USAF Academy graduate, an Air Force veteran, a Blue Star Dad, and a lifelong, ardent and active Christian. 

What I think is cowardly about the effort to move the Jesus painting back to an administrative conference room at the USMMA is akin to your own rationalization;  that there is some sort of justification based on “historic location.”  

It is cowardly, in my opinion, for anyone (even my fellow Christians) to hide behind a weak excuse like that to mask what I firmly believe is the true intention – the improper promotion of a specific religious belief by a government institution. 

The fact is, its “historic location” no longer exists as when it was first installed. 

When the painting was first relocated from the chapel at the USMMA Basic School in San Mateo, California and installed in Wiley Hall, the room in which it was installed was a chapel. It stopped being a chapel many years ago, yet the painting remained there even as the room was dedicated to other, decidedly non-religious, purposes… including Honor boards for midshipmen accused of violating the honor code. 

Simply, it came to be a religious icon in a location that is not religious, and where such an expression of a particular religious belief is inappropriate due to its time, place, and manner. 

The solution to move the painting to a location in the current chapel was entirely appropriate.  

The assertion by the Secretary of Transportation that the painting was put “in the basement,” suggesting it had somehow been put in storage or otherwise abandoned, is misleading at best and an outright falsehood at worst.  It was relocated to the Mariners’ Memorial Chapel and hung where it is immediately adjacent to the Protestant and Catholic chapels. 

I’m curious to hear from your thoughts on this question   —   Why is it inappropriate for the painting to be located in the actual USMMA Chapel, close to the places of worship of the Christian denominations? 

Peace, 

Mike Challman

Christian, Veteran, Blue Star Dad

MRFF Supporter and Volunteer