MRFF Victory! MRFF gets offensive basket of Christian proselytizing items next to check-in counter at VA clinic removed in under 24 hours! Read Veteran’s thank you to MRFF on behalf of at least ten other concerned veterans and MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein’s statement
athens-VA
From: (Veteran’s name withheld)
Date: July 13, 2023 at 1:18:23 PM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>
Subject: THANKS! Christian religious articles at the Athens VA Clinic
Dear Mikey,
I contacted you yesterday afternoon about a religious display I had just seen at the Athens VA clinic. I am astonished that despite other urgent matters affecting MRFF, you had VA management remove that offensive display in less than 24 hours – and you were assured such displays are prohibited.
Thank you on behalf of at least 10 other concerned veterans (seven I believe are Christian) who are patients at this excellent clinic.
Sincerely,
(Name withheld)
LTC USAF (Ret)
Statement by MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein:
“After receiving the complaints of 11 honorable veterans, 7 of them Christians, I was able to contact a senior VA official at the Athens Georgia facility… In the phone conversation, that official asked to put me on hold… The official went out to the lobby, spotted the offending basket, that is routinely filled with sectarian Christian, proselytizing material and came back and told me on the phone that it had been IMMEDIATELY removed pursuant to our MRFF complaint…… The official told me that VA staff had indicated that somebody comes in from the outside and fills the basket every week with Christian proselytizing material… The VA staff was allowing it… The senior VA official told the staff that this illicit activity is no longer allowed so this is a wonderful victory for our 11 veteran clients!”
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These VA official’s really need to go to the source of this, >Imaginary religious intrusionCovertly Infiltrate<.
Another MRFF and freedom-preserving victory!
Oorah!
Man, yea, totally offensive. 🤦♂️
and yet everywhere I go I see Join the Army pamphlets littered about. hmmm
They probably come in looking like they’re official and nobody questions them. Only by reporting these incursions can we get a handle on them. We are watching!
Ndjsj: the MRFF didn’t take action because the religious material was deemed offensive. The organization took action because the materials violated the legal rights of VA patients, and because they violated military regulations.
But now that you brought up the issue of the materials being offensive, yes it certainly is offensive to many to be subjected to materials lying out in plain view where they must go for medical care that impart the message that their religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs, are not as true, or as good, as other religious beliefs.
The VA’s own regulation prohibits it, specifically, VHA 1111, 1st paragraph, takes about 2 seconds to look it up and read for yourself.
The bottom line is that Government Agencies, organizations, activities are not supposed to favor one religion over another because, by way of common sense (and our secular constitution), the Government is supposed to represent ALL citizens. It’s obviously kind of hard to represent all citizens if you’re favoring one particular flavor of religion.
Does it happen? Of course, it happens all the time. Most city council meetings, for example, will include an invocation and because most people in this country are Christian, the invocation will be Christian. And Christians (normal Christians) don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. They’re simply sharing and paying homage to their Lord and Savior. What’s wrong with that (other than there’s more empirical evidence for the tooth fairy than the Christian God)?
My quiet protest, or reminder to them, is to simply opt out of the invocation. In other words, sit down during the invocation, pull out your cell phone, or remain in your seat when they ask you to stand for the invocation.
I usually get a few looks but the world turns and life goes on. I simply don’t participate. Done and dusted, too easy, no big deal. No one, to date, has accosted me for not sharing their mythology. I spend money with “In God We Trust” on the currency. Does it mean I trust in the Christian God? No! But I can’t take it off, obviously. I’d rather see currency with an AR-15 on it and an exploding head to remind us that 48,830 died in one year in the U.S. from gun-related injuries (2021 numbers). Six times the number of military deaths in 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan!
Regarding a “basket” at a V.A. center with Christian proselytizing material in it, drop a few atheist leaflets in the basket! Or Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc, you get the picture.
And then call the MRFF!
The V.A. is there for healthcare, not the Sermon on the Mount!