Wreaths Across America

From: (name withheld)
Subject: Wreaths Across America
Date: December 14, 2021 at 4:27:58 PM MST
To: [email protected]

I want to let you personally know of my feelings toward you and your organization in reference to your protest against Wreaths Across America.
Our country was founded on the backs of patriots and very often those patriots gave their lives in the service and protection of our country.  They asked very little of their country other than the love and respect of its citizens for their country as they so loved and respected it.  Those that served and did not lose their lives in the service of their country most often felt the same way.
I am a veteran of the Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, deployed 5 times to the Mediterranean and Red Sea, got out of the military after 14 years of serving my country above all else.  I am a disabled veteran and am proud of the fact that I served with pride and dignity.  I served to protect all people of this country knowing I might be asked to give my life for it and you.
Your protest is tasteless and disgusting to the honor of all who have served and are buried with the dignity they deserve.  You protest as a right given you by our constitution, and with that right comes responsibility.  Responsibility to represent each man, woman and child in this great country of ours.  You and your organization do not represent the values of we who served.  
I know your organization represents those of the Jewish faith.  I understand your faith does not recognize Christmas but celebrates Hanaka.  But the act of mistakenly laying a wreath on a soldier of the Jewish faiths grave is not an act of disregard for their faith, it is an act of honoring them for their service, although a mistaken one.
I have a couple of questions for you. Did you serve in any branch of our country’s military?  Have you ever thought of the honor it is to serve your country and protect those you love?  Have you ever gone, in person, to a military funeral, to a military cemetery, watched the changing of the guard at Arlington or comforted someone who has lost a loved one in the service of our country?
If you answered no to any of these questions you may want to rethink your organizations goals and ridiculous protests.  We the people are watching and listening.

(name withheld)

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Response from MRFF Board Member John Compere

On Dec 14, 2021, at 6:26 PM, John Compere wrote:

(name withheld)
First & foremost thank you for your military service.
Please be advised some families of deceased military veterans do not want a religious organization to which they do not belong or adhere profiting, promoting its religion version & marketing itself by presumptuously putting its religious wreaths on the graves of their loved ones without permission. Those families consider it uninvited & unwanted intrusions on the personal burial site of their deceased family members.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (composed of 85% Christians) represents, when requested, the religious freedom rights of those families to object & prevent what they sincerely believe to be thoughtless trespasses on the graves of their deceased military veterans. We do so because we respect the wishes of those families & the religious group responsible for the religious wreaths does not. Religious freedom is a shield of protection & never a sword of privilege. For more information, see militaryreligiousfreedom.org.
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 Advisory Board Member James Currie

Dear (name withheld)

 Thank you for your service to our country. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation honors all those who have worn the uniform, especially those who like yourself have given more than most and suffered debilitating injuries as a result. I am also a veteran (U.S. Army service) and have been asked by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to respond to your recent email, which is unfortunately based on a number of misconceptions about MRFF and what it stands for. First of all, MRFF was founded by a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy who was commissioned into the Air Force. Second, MRFF is not a Jewish organization. It represents all servicemembers of all faiths, as well those in uniform who do not profess a religious faith. It is a matter of record that most of MRFF’s clients are professed members of the Christian faith, though it has clients who claim many different religious beliefs, including no belief at all.

MRFF was founded to protect the religious rights and freedoms of all those in uniform, and it does so in accordance with the Constitution of our country. In the course of your uniformed service you took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Among those domestic enemies that MRFF constantly fights are those who would undermine the Constitution. I’m confident that you are familiar with the First Amendment to the Constitution, that wonderful part of the document that places restrictions on our government and guarantees what most of us would consider basic citizens’ rights. The first sentence of that amendment is the key here, as it says the following:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Perhaps you have never thought about what this means, Mr. Gomillion. It doesn’t just mean that our government cannot establish a state church or religion, though such a prohibition is certainly included in its meaning. No, it is much more expansive than that. Here’s what President Thomas Jefferson said about that part of the First Amendment in a letter to the Danbury, CT, Baptists in January 1802:

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people [that is, the First Amendment] which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

Please note that President Jefferson, who knew the men who drafted and proposed the First Amendment, refers in his letter to a “wall of separation” between church and state. What this has meant for more than 225 years is that our government—the government that was organized under the Constitution that you and I both swore an oath to defend—is supposed to be totally neutral when it comes to religion. It is prohibited by this amendment from favoring one religion over another and from granting special privileges to any religion. Such privilege would include that of going into a government-run cemetery and placing a religious icon or symbol on the grave of a veteran who is buried there.

Now, you may think that such a symbol—in this instance the Christian Christmas wreath—is perfectly okay. But how would you feel if a Muslim group were to decide—with U.S. Government permission—to enter a VA cemetery and start placing Muslim religious symbols on all the veterans’ graves there? Would that action be satisfactory with you? I somehow think that you might pose an objection to it, and let me tell you something, Mr. Gomillion: the MRFF would lodge the same objection against such a Muslim group’s actions as it does against those who place Christian symbols on veterans’ graves. MRFF stands for the Constitution, and not for any particular religion.

The men who wrote our Constitution and then amended it to include prohibitions against government involvement in religion undoubtedly saved us from the kind of sectarian strife that has plagued so many countries around the world. You say that you served in the Middle East. I cannot imagine a more apt place to learn a lesson about what state-sponsored religion can lead to. I ask you to contemplate what our own country might be like if our Founders had not been so prescient. Yes, we have nutcases who murder their fellow citizens because of the religion they profess, but these incidents are not government-sanctioned, as is the case elsewhere in the world. We have been spared such regularized religious conflict, and we can thank the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, for that protection.

In answer to your last few questions, (name withheld), I can say that I have attended many military funerals. I’ve watched the changing of the guard at Arlington and have even been privileged to present a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers there. The distinction, (name withheld), was that this wreath was presented on Memorial Day on behalf of one of the uniformed service branches. It was not a religious wreath or symbol. And I assure you that many of us associated with MRFF have comforted those who have lost a loved one in the service to our great country. So, (name withheld), I ask you not to make unsubstantiated assumptions and statements about the MRFF and the men and women who stand behind it. Its goal is freedom of conscience for all who serve, nothing more and nothing less. That’s why it does what it does.

Col. James T. Currie, USA (ret.)

Board of Advisors, Military religious Freedom Foundation

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On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, 07:45:17 PM CST, (name withheld) wrote:

I totally understand a families wishes and respect those above all else.
I believe these families should advise the organization they do not want a wreath on the grave of their loved one and go from there.  I do not believe everything that occurs in this country needs to be protested or tried in the media.  Everything seems to be “Let’s see how much publicity this can bring to our cause or opinion.”
That is how I feel.  I was not trying to create a war with the president of your organization, but calling someone a name, such as Sport, as he did me shows their ability to put forth their opinion in a logical and constructive manner is lacking.

(name withheld)

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Response from MRFF Board Member John Compere

On Dec 15, 2021, at 7:48 AM, John Compere <[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you for the civility of your response. Please try to understand when a fellow American veteran who leads a military religious freedom foundation is attempting to protect the religious freedom of American veteran families who have requested assistance & is besieged with barrages of anti-American racist hate mail & death threats to himself & his family, it is sometimes difficult to choose the right words. May your winter holidays be safe & blessed.

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