MRFF Demand Results in Immediate Halt of Religious Greeting by Security Forces at Kirtland AFB Gates

September 2, 2026

MRFF President/Founder Mikey Weinstein was contacted via email early on September 2, 2026 by a representative of 34 clients (including 24 Christian clients, along with Jewish, Muslim, and non-faith tradition clients) regarding a religious greeting that had been in use by Kirtland AFB (Albuquerque, NM) gate guards:

From: (MRFF USAF Client’s email address withheld)
Date: September 2, 2026 at 9:10:31 AM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>
Subject: Blessings at the Gate

Mikey,

I’m writing because something is happening at the front gate of my base that is absolutely unacceptable, and frankly I’m stunned it’s been allowed to continue. For multiple days over the last couple of weeks, the guards have been greeting me with “God bless you” every single morning as I come through. Not once, not twice… repeatedly, consistently, as if it’s an officially sanctioned script.

I am not Christian. I should not have to be subjected to religious messaging at a U.S. military installation, especially from uniformed personnel acting in an official capacity. This is not a harmless pleasantry. This is a blatant violation of the separation of church and state and an inappropriate imposition of a specific religious worldview on service members and all civilians on this base.

It is exhausting, infuriating, and frankly alienating to be reminded every morning that some people on this base feel entitled to inject their religion into official interactions. I shouldn’t have to brace myself at the gate wondering what religious phrase I’m going to be hit with today.

I want this addressed. I want it stopped. And I want leadership reminded that religious neutrality is not optional. It is a legal requirement.

(Installation Commander and Command Chief Master Sergeant contact info withheld)

Thank you,

(MRFF Client’s ID info, rank, AFSC, unit, et al all withheld)

The recurring use of religious greetings at a government/military facility security checkpoint where professional efficiency is expected is contrary to the U.S. Constitution as well as existing USAF policies and leadership directives regarding proper professional greetings.

Soon after receiving our client representative’s email, Mikey was able to personally verify the use of religiously tinged greetings at Kirtland’s ‘Louisianna Gate’.  Mikey contacted Kirtland AFB security personnel demanding a call back “… by 14:00 to confirm that this hideous unconstitutional behavior has been terminated”.  Just over 2 hours after Mikey’s demand, MRFF’s client representative emailed the following update:

From: (MRFF USAF Client’s email address withheld)
Subject: Thank you for the fast action
Date: September 2, 2026 at 2:11:21 PM MDT
To: Michael L Weinstein <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Mikey,

I just wanted to follow up and thank you for everything you and MRFF did today. From the moment I called you at 1000, you were on it (even though you were at a doctor’s appt). The fact that you kept me updated every few hours, pushed the matter directly with Kirtland Base leadership and PA office, and treated it with the urgency it deserved says everything about how seriously you take these violations.

And the impact was immediate. It’s now 1400, and I have gone through the same gate a couple times without hearing the religious greeting. After dealing with it repeatedly for weeks, seeing that change happen within hours is honestly incredible.

I’m grateful for your responsiveness, your persistence, and your willingness to confront these problems head on. What you and MRFF accomplished today made a real difference for me and to anyone else on this base who doesn’t want religion injected into our professional lives.

Thank you again for everything.

(MRFF USAF Client’s name, rank, unit, and title all withheld)

Nick Mordowanec at Military.com reported on September 3, 2026:

MRFF and its founder, Mikey Weinstein, pointed to a specific provision that prove such greetings were not legally justified.

That is according to Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.16, which states the following verbatim:

Balance of Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment Clause. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for free exercise of religion and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. They must ensure their words and actions do not discriminate against any individual or group because of their faith, belief, or absence of belief, or extend preferential treatment for the same. Leaders must ensure that their personal expression is not reasonably associated with their government role, but may engage in such expression per DAFI 52-201, Religious Freedom in the Department of the Air Force.

Weinstein, an Air Force veteran who lives in Albuquerque, N.M., where the base is located, told Military.com on Thursday that he himself also went through the gates on Wednesday on two occasions and experienced the same “proselytizing” and greeting that others claimed in their own complaints.

Two hours later, and after personally contacting the 377th Air Base Wing Command Chain, Security Forces Squadron and Public Affairs office, he said he returned. The greetings had discontinued.

“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation salutes its 34 Kirtland Air Force Base clients—24 of them practicing Christians—for having the guts to stand up to fight the illicit, immoral and unethical fundamentalist Christian ‘greetings’ being spewed forth by armed, uniformed U.S. Air Force security forces at the various gates of entry to this installation,” Weinstein told Military.com.

He added that the situation represents a “win” not just for them but for the Constitution that all military and civilian members of the Department of Defense are sworn to support, defend and protect—rather than “somebody’s twisted, tortured, perverted, personally favored version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Gospel of anything else for that matter.”

Military.com reached out to Kirtland Air Force Base for comment on the complaints and reported ceasing of religious greetings, as well as questions regarding on-base protocols and a timeline of how long such greetings have been taking place. No response was received at publication.