Regarding your note to Mr. Weinstein and your referenced Facebook post

Mr Weinstein, I have posted a FB post with the following: All I can say, that in reality, you have become the antithesis of religious freedom. We have personally chatted in the past. While I thank you for your uniformed service what you do now is totally unproductive and frankly embarrassing to me personally.

I will not list all the factual faults with your approach—but I would ask you to reconsider your perspective. We are close enough that you might benefit from a 1 on 1 recap of what is really going on and a line officer’s assessment of how things really are. I have retired from our last conversation, but I can tell you—some things don’t change.

Sincerely

(name withheld)
Albuquerque NM

Attached: copy of my Facebook Post.

With all due respect…….

Mikey Weinstein has gone off the rails. Mr Weinstein you continually and consistently line up on the wrong side of religious freedom. In 25 years of active duty service, from an organizational standpoint I have never witnessed the issues that you raise. There are and always be indivdual cases, of stupid behavior–but organizationally–NONE.

It saddens me, as an American Airman, that you and your group go out its’ way to pick on individual cases ( and they are isolated, by all accounts), to attempt to push your agenda. It also sadden’s me as a religious minority–I am a Jewish-American…..and I hate the hyphens….that you believe that to express your spiritual life in the community setting is antithetical to American tradition–let me advise you: You are wrong–that is exactly the venue that most American Warriors express their spiritual life. For they who lay their lives down every day for you, many draw strength from their God. Each individual is offered the opportunity, and the support from the Armed Services to express their beliefs in their way.

I have never been imposed upon, or embarrassed by my spiritual belief. I can also tell you that sharing these ideals amongst the Men and Women in harms way around the world has done more for fostering understanding amongst different beliefs than any other effort that I have observed. Your contention on National Day of Prayer, even to the individual group you cite, is odious…….and does nothing to support anyones spritual life. Nothing. You cited contact by “27 Senior Officials”; this is a euphemism for being a coward–both you and them.

I would suggest that you consider your efforts to actually support the religious freedom for our uniformed Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines–and encourage them to express themselves according to their beliefs–and share them. I for one do want to know how my fellow warriors sustain themselves. If they so choose to keep it private–that is their right as well………..

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Dear (name withheld),

My name is Akiva David Miller; I am a volunteer with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its Director of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Weinstein is currently busy and asked me to kindly respond to your message; further, he informs me that he has no memory of every meeting or conversing with you. Granted, Mr. Weinstein meets a great many service members and veterans in his work, so that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve never actually met.

I have to confess that it surprises me that you can even make such a generalization that there has never been a case of organizational religious misconduct when in fact so many have witnessed it so often. As a U.S. Navy Veteran who served with chaplains (I was an NCO and a Religious Program Specialist) I can personally attest to having witnessed such misconduct at the command or organizational level both within the military and within the Department of Veterans Affairs. What this tells me plainly is that either you’re hopelessly naive, willfully ignorant or simply a liar seeking to further your own religious bias through patently ludicrous denial; of course your problem here could reflect more than one of the three options, but your insistence on claiming the incidents in question are “…isolated, by all accounts.” makes clear that one or more of the three options are clearly at work. As someone who has personally experienced religious coercion / predatory proselytizing at the organizational level (which nearly cost me my life, by the way) and someone who has heard from countless veterans and service members about their experiences at the organizational and command levels, I can assure you that the problem is both widespread and systemic; predatory proselytization and religious coercion is a cancer that has metastasized within all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Ironically, even as a Jew (since the Jewish faith absolutely strands opposed to proselytizing) you clearly saw no problem in using your former position of power over others to share your religious convictions, which clearly demonstrates that you were part of the problem, and this of course further demonstrates why you are so dishonestly defending the problem today. I myself am an Orthodox Jew and I can promise you that having a senior officer using his position of power to “share” his or her faith with me is not only unwanted and deeply offensive, but contrary to good discipline and order, further it violates military regulations and the U.S. Constitution – the fact that you either don’t recognize this fact or deny it confirms for me that you were a seriously defective officer who willfully and purposely violated your oath to protect and defend the Constitution. You should have been counseled regarding your inappropriate conduct and if it continued you should have been court martialed. If you are being truly forthcoming about your inappropriate religious activity as an officer you most certainly did not serve our nation honorably. Quite honestly I am disappointed that a fellow Jew cannot seem to fathom the great opportunities for evil that you are advocating. I personally know from experience and have received far too many first hand reports of Fundamentalist / Dominionist Christian officers and NCOs using their positions of power over other service members (including Jews) to engage in religious coercion and activities that can best be described as spiritual/religious rape. It offends me that you, as a fellow Jew, would defend such conduct. Clearly you’re not much of a Jew; for all I know you may just be one more so-called “Messianic Jew”, otherwise known as a Fundamentalist Christian.

Finally, I would like to address the issue of you calling my dear friend, Mikey Weinstein a coward. Mr. Weinstein quite literally saved my life, and he risked much to do so. Daily he risks his own life to continue the fight to defend the religious freedom of service members and veterans; daily he receives hate mail and ignorant screeds like your own, along with death threats and assaults on his personal property. Even as a supposed Jew you call him a coward after he had the front window of his home shot out during the Days of Awe a couple of years back. He’s had his tires repeated slashed, his house defaced and even marked with Nazi symbols and yet you dare to call him a coward. The irony is rich here, Mr. Greenblatt, because you are the coward for living in denial, not to mention defending the very Fundamentalist / Dominionist Christians who are engaged every day in predatory conduct that targets, among others, your fellow Jews, along with individuals of many other noble faiths and no faith at all. You are the coward, Mr. Greenblatt. While Mikey Weinstein is sacrificing much to Tikkun Olam, you are working to defend those who would tear down and destroy service members and veterans good order and dignity. You should be ashamed of yourself; however, I fear you have become corrupted beyond that point.

You claim to believe the strength that religious service members gain from their beliefs sustain them, but in reality you choose to defend those who would trample and marginalize the individual faiths of many through coercive religious practices. So, it seems clear that in fact you’re not only a coward, but a traitor to cause of individual religious freedom, human dignity and the U.S. Constitution you took an oath to defend, and that, sir, makes you my enemy, as well as the enemy of all people of good will.

Sincerely,

Akiva David Miller
Director of Veterans Affairs
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

P.S. For a former officer it’s shameful how poorly you write and spell.

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Sir,
>
> Mikey and the MRFF asked that I please reply to you about your email. Please do not take this as I am being rude, or shooting down your beliefs or thoughts.
>
> First I would like to say thank you for your service, it is always nice from my stand point to meet an Officer of your caliber. Currently I am a Captain in the Guard here in New Mexico. I also am as you said a Jewish-American, I too hate hyphens, so let’s dispense with them in the rest of our conversation. I am an American, that happens to be Jewish. I have also had dealings with the MRFF and if not for them I would not be an Officer in the Guard any longer, but not for the reasons you might think.
>
> I was targeted by my upper command because I was Jewish and not Christian. I was subjected to being denied Kosher MRE’s because it caused problems to ask for it. I was told to learn the Bible in 24 hours, and then as I would enter meetings with other Officers’ and Enlisted men, comments would be started about how their were people in the room that did not believe in G-d. I would be tormented by the very people I was supposed to not only work with but people I had to lead.
>
> Now I served on Active Duty with the US Army as an enlisted man, where I was subjected to discrimination. I had learned that the idea of Judaism was not something that one should bring up or admit to. I came back to the Guard after being out for 12 years, when I returned I thought things had changed. I was right and I was very wrong.
>
> From the very beginning that I was sworn in as an Officer, I had been targeted. I barely made it down the hallway to my new office when a LTC approached me and yelled out, “I hear you are Jewish” and from there it went downhill. Before this was all said and done I was ordered to stop calling my self a Jew as it was racist and was the equivalent of a black person calling themselves a “NIGGER”. Can you imagine being told that in the Air Force? The person that told me this the first time was a MAJOR and the second person to back it up was a full bird COLONEL. This was done on Hanukkah of 2013
>
> I was further told that if I dropped my complaint I could maybe keep my rank and not be put out of the Guard. That was told to me by a Brigadier General.
>
> Now before I go further with this I would like to ask you a question. What would you have done, had this been done to you?
>
> I contacted the MRFF and Mikey on a Saturday night around 2100hrs. Within 20 minutes I was already being responded to by Mikey. I then spent another 2 hours on the phone with Mikey and talked about not only what had happened, but what I wanted to see happen to make this right. If not for Mikey and the MRFF I would have resigned. By Monday morning Mikey and I were having lunch with The Adjutant General of New Mexico BG Andrew Salas. The wheel started to turn and when it was all said and done, 2 BG were fired, 1 MAJ was fired, 1 MAJ was demoted, 1 COL was taken out of command until further notice.
>
> I will say this, if not for Mikey and the MRFF, that you so angrily put down in your Facebook post, I would no longer be an Officer and the Guard would be being run by people that should not be in an Army uniform, but in a uniform that would befit a person that looked good in white, complete with hood and robes.
>
> I can honestly say that I am once again proud to not only put on my uniform, but I am glad to call myself a Jew again. The Guard even made me an offer to pay the expense of me getting a Masters Degree in Theology and becoming a Rabbi. The MRFF is here to make sure that the lines that were put in place to protect all Americans in this country from discrimination continue to exist and protect us. You Sir are an Officer in the Military, you took an Oath to Uphold and Defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic. Not just the parts you like, the whole thing. Please remember what has happened to me in the Guard before you go getting upset that Mikey has once again trampled on someone else’s beliefs and remember that sometimes, somewhere, some little guy is looking for help and that finally there is a strong voice that says “This far and no further”
>
> I know I may have sounded angry on the last part and I believe I was, however sometimes we all need reminded that we took that oath and we swore before G-d himself that we would defend it. Not the parts we liked, but all of it.
>
>
> Very Respectfully,

> Eric VasConselles
> CPT (NM) G-3

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Dear (name withheld),

Mikey Weinstein has asked me to respond to your email, as he is so busy defending the religious rights of individuals in our military, including protecting — or, rather, rebuilding — the critical “separation of church and state”, there.

As I understand your email, you think Mikey is doing just the opposite of that. How unfortunate.

You wrote, “With all due respect… Mikey Weinstein has gone off the rails.” That, sir, does not sound respectful at all.

The mere fact that you have not observed the violations of UCMJ, general laws, and, most importantly, Constitution, that Mikey is fighting against doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Have you ever suffered homelessness?… extreme and prolonged hunger and malnutrition?… strategic blocks to acquiring an education?… Well, sir, these exist, as well, and their impacts, individually and collectively, are unimaginable, no matter how many times one might read “The Hunger Games” trilogy. You admit to your ignorance based on your personal experience. The shame of it is, you don’t recognize your ignorance.

Finally, as one former USAF field grade officer to another, it appears the errors in your writing skills mirror the errors in your view of how to support the troops. Both are on a grade school level not yet ready for college, and I say this as an educator, today, in real time. Your FaceBook post suggests you would not even know where to start, to support the moral of your troops, were it not for religion. If you cannot support them in a way that includes all troops, regardless of religion, you are/were guilty of divisiveness in the ranks, the antitheses of unit cohesion.

While I thank you for your service, I admit it is a good thing you have retired. Your troops can do better, under a more inclusive and civil rights/Constitutionally protective leader.

Sincerely,
A staunch MRFF supporter who has both seen and experienced, on a grand scale, what you apparently have not.

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Dear (name withheld),

I’d like to address some of your concerns on behalf of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. MRFF’s position is grounded firmly in the ​US Constitution: in the No Religious Test Clause, the Establishment Clause, and the Free Exercise Clause.

The No Religious Test Clause in Article VI, para 3 declares that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Therefore, MRFF is opposed to the religious test requirement for appointment to the chaplaincy. MRFF is opposed to “Spiritual Fitness” testing and required spiritual training. MRFF is opposed to commanders and supervisors judging the religious or spiritual beliefs of their subordinates in evaluations and counseling.

The First Amendment requires that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

The Supreme Court has ruled that this prohibition is not limited to Congress, but to all bodies which exercise rule-making power delegated by Congress, including the military. This absolutely prohibits any official endorsement or favoritism toward any religious sect over others, or to religion over non-religion. Religious neutrality is an absolute requirement of all persons acting in their official capacity and exercising authority over others. The establishment of a “Day of Prayer” shows official government favoritism of religion over non-religion, and it is a violation of the Establishment Clause.

The First Amendment continues, “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

Religious freedom means the right to believe whatever you wish, and free exercise means the right to voluntarily practice those beliefs, individually or in voluntary group settings. (And in the military, free exercise must occur within some limits imposed by military necessity.) The right to free exercise DOES NOT include a right to be given a captive audience, tax-funding, official resources, or endorsement. Free exercise, not assisted exercise! We oppose ceremonial prayer because it’s an abuse of power to force a captive audience to listen and stand in silent submission to your religious practices. If a Wiccan chaplain, for instance, cast a spell on a formation of Jewish and Christian soldiers while they were forced to stand in silent, submissive respect, perhaps you’d understand? Free exercise does not entitle you to impose your practices onto others.

MRFF will not be changing its stance on these issues. We will continue to advocate for religious freedom, as guaranteed in the US Constitution, and oppose the abuse of power that follows from the misguided notion that “freedom” means freedom to dominate your subordinates.

Sincerely,
Dustin Chalker
MRFF Non-Religious Affairs Advisor

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Dear (name withheld),

Mikey sent me your FB post and asked if interested in responding with an opinion. Couldn’t pass it up.

Quick background on me…retired LTC, 25+ years USAF, enlisted in the late 1980s, aircraft maintenance, commissioned in early 1990s, pilot, F-16s, and AT-38 instructor in the Fighter Fundamentals program. Served in all “branches” of the USAF: AD, ANG, AFRES/AGR. I had an amazing career and lived through even more amazing USAF transitions—the USAF trying to “transition” itself from the Air Force of that moment, to what it thought it should become tomorrow. ‘What uniform should we wear’?….’what is our REAL physical fitness standard’?….’what is religious accommodation’? What should we become as Air Force people? Core Values?—-are they meaningful or rhetoric? I served in an Air Force that was okay with commanders being drunk and playing grab-ass with young enlisted women, then one day was okay becoming the One Mistake Air Force. Both are unacceptable extremes, and was glad to see the pendulum slow its repetitive swing, lose energy, and seek the middle. The USAF is doing better defining itself…with one exception—limits of religious accommodation.

Regarding my take on religion, well, I’m a spiritual person, find more comfort in a Co-Exist bumper sticker than I do the Bible, I think the majority of religious folks confuse belief and faith with knowledge, and the notion of evangelical-this-or-that is an excuse to push a belief system on those that believe differently. The most religious and/or spiritual people I know don’t have a bumper sticker stating it, or a Bible in their hand, or an attitude that drives them to proselytize. They just live it…in their own quiet and humble way…they practice and live what they believe, without the need to force it on someone else.

That said, your FB dialog clearly tells me you are ignorant about religious accommodation problems in the USAF, and entire DoD. I don’t know you, so I can’t say you’re an idiot, but your words imply, at the very least, you are ignorant…or maybe its more like you’re an enabler? Some would say being ignorant and /or an enabler are the same thing? Not sure….but I do know this—for sure—when it comes to religious accommodation in the USAF, DoD, and any organization governed by the premise of separation of church and state, you’re either part of the problem, or part of the solution. On every USAF base, there are operations buidlings, and chapels. DoD didn’t build the operations building with steeple, bells, and stained glass, and the chapel doesn’t have a concrete ramp in front to park jets. Get it? Honestly, do you understand why that is?

Is a maintenance squadron commander opening a Bible during a staff meeting and quoting verses a problem or solution? Is an operations officer wearing a Christian symbol velcro’ed patch on his flight suit—then a dozen Captains installing the same patch on their uniforms—a problem or solution? Is a group of instructor pilots, some of them Evaluator pilots, guided by a junior officer base chaplain, hosting weekly Christian prayer meetings in the operations building—with students invited and present—-a problem or solution? When 10 field grade officers responsible for hiring new members in their reserve squadron violate Privacy Act and Article VI of the US Constition by entering a candidates VMPF record and knowingly view the personal data called “religious preference”, then hiring accordingly, is it a problem or solution? I personnally experienced, and fought against, all those abuses of power in the name of fair and reasonable religious accommodation. Eric, if you don’t think that type of crap goes on nearly every day (or if you acknowledge it does, and accept it), you are foolish.

Clearly, MRFF, its leaders, board members, founders, and clients are part of the solution. Because of MRFF, and Mikey, more people in DoD have the right to express their belief in appropriate forum, and more people feel comfortable to raise the bullshit flag when abuse of power occurs, or religious accommodation is violated. Some day, I hope you realize their efforts will protect everyone, even you. One day, you will thank MRFF, and maybe even Mikey, for their ferocious efforts to protect everyones rights, and right to practice a belief without feeling oppressed—–or feeling its okay to oppress others. MRFF protects religious accommodation…Mikey and MRFF, working with the Pentagon, made it very clear via appropriate military/DoD instructions, directives, and policy, what religious accommodation means. They not only defined what religious accommodation is, (and what it is not) they established a legal avenue to enforce such via the UCMJ and did it without compromising the US Constitution.

What have you done lately to protect your US Constitution?

Jeffrey Rumminger, LTC, USAF(RET.)
Fighter Pilot, forever.

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Dear (name withheld),

I am client of the MRFF and feel that I should reply to your email. Our lives have some parallels; I served as an AF cadet and officer for 26 years and now during ten years as an AF civilian employee. I too was brought up Jewish. After these parallels, our experiences differ. You claim to have not witnessed the actions that Mr. Weinstein describes. I have witnessed and been targeted by it. Worse, I have had commanders and peers turn a blind eye to it.

Mr. Weinstein supports religion as well as the right to have no belief. It is the minority that bring religion into the military workplace and embedding it in military culture that he opposes. We have the opportunity to practice our beliefs or to hold none at all. These beliefs, as with much of our personal lives, should not be broadcast during our professional lives. There are commanders who place bibles prominently at their desks, crosses on the walls, and tell people this is the basis of their lives and their service. There are officers who openly urge others to attend bible studies. There are supervisors of all ranks that base relationships on who they see in church, give prayer in public settings, and profess those who hold different beliefs are ignorant, stupid, and damned. And, although I shall shy from other personal examples, had a subordinate who claimed my authority as an officer was nullified by the subordinate’s serving the higher authority of his religious beliefs.

I could list a number of incidents of what you claim to not see but that would not convince you. These are not isolated accounts. The MRFF would not exist without a clientele. I can’t quote numbers, but invite you to have an open mind and to read the MRFF’s web site as it cites statistics and events that should give you reason for concern.

As a retired officer you know the importance of a cohesive team. The way many bring religion into the military is divisive, counter to unity and discipline — and illegal. The military has many means to enhance and to practice religious beliefs. That is why there are chaplains and chapels in every location that our compatriots serve. The expression and sharing of belief — as well as non-belief — is welcome in the proper setting. On duty, in uniform, in public, and especially as a superior, is improper.

The MRFF supports all belief systems. The MRFF simply wishes them be reserved for the proper place and time.

I ask one question. Your emails stated that Mr. Weinstein and the MRFF are embarrassing to you. Why?

Richard Krakoff

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Dear (name withheld),

Mikey Weinstein has asked me to respond to your email, as he is so busy defending the religious rights of individuals in our military, including protecting — or, rather, rebuilding — the critical “separation of church and state”, there.

As I understand your email, you think Mikey is doing just the opposite of that. How unfortunate.

You wrote, “With all due respect… Mikey Weinstein has gone off the rails.” That, sir, does not sound respectful at all.

The mere fact that you have not observed the violations of UCMJ, general laws, and, most importantly, Constitution, that Mikey is fighting against doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Have you ever suffered homelessness?… extreme and prolonged hunger and malnutrition?… strategic blocks to acquiring an education?… Well, sir, these exist, as well, and their impacts, individually and collectively, are unimaginable, no matter how many times one might read “The Hunger Games” trilogy. You admit to your ignorance based on your personal experience. The shame of it is, you don’t recognize your ignorance.

Finally, as one former USAF field grade officer to another, it appears the errors in your writing skills mirror the errors in your view of how to support the troops. Both are on a grade school level not yet ready for college, and I say this as an educator, today, in real time. Your FaceBook post suggests you would not even know where to start, to support the moral of your troops, were it not for religion. If you cannot support them in a way that includes all troops, regardless of religion, you are/were guilty of divisiveness in the ranks, the antitheses of unit cohesion.

While I thank you for your service, I admit it is a good thing you have retired. Your troops can do better, under a more inclusive and civil rights/Constitutionally protective leader.

Sincerely,
A staunch MRFF supporter who has both seen and experienced, on a grand scale, what you apparently have not.

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Dear (name withheld),

I criticized you for not approaching the morale of your troops from a secular perspective. I set an example of such secular stance by not mentioning, in that email, that I, too, am Jewish. Perhaps you never saw religious bias during your service, but I can tell you, I saw it in spades, starting with Jews who insisted on keeping their religion hidden because they had seen too much before meeting me. The bias wasn’t against Jews, alone, though we were particularly targeted. It was against everyone who didn’t fall into lock step, or at least look as though they might, with the commander’s version of religion, which required constant proselytizing of others, either subtly or blatantly. That religion is considered by its adherents to be a form of Christianity. It is considered by others to be a perversion of it, like a wolf in sheeps’ clothing, hiding among and manipulating the true faithful. It is called Dominionist Christianity or just Dominionism. I suggest you google it, and google “Seven Mountains” — indeed, view a video of a Dominionist explaining their “Seven Mountains” program. It will enlighten you to what is really going on, and not just in the military, though the military is MRFF’s sole focus.

Sincerely,
A staunch, Jewish, MRFF supporter

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Dear (name withheld),

Your recent communication to Mikey Weinstein was misinformed, incorrect and offensive.’

You assert that Weinstein (and presumably the MRFF of which he is the Founder and President) “…have become the antithesis of relious freedom.” Were you to read the MRFF website, the books he has authored, the briefs he has filed in the numerous lawsuits on behalf of servicemen and woman you would not with any degree of intellectual honesty, logically conclude that his work is the antithesis of religious freedom. The language he uses, the concepts he espouses, the arguments he presents are all singularly directed at proving religious freedom is under insideous and continuous attack by right wing Dominionist Christian fundamentalists who seek to impose their religious viewpoints on subordinates through the power of their superior rank.

Your claim is an accusation by assertion. But simply saying something doesn’t make it true.

You say you “…will not list all the factual faults with (his) approach,” but how else can you prove your point? Facts must be presented in the court of public opinion to convince others of your assertion. Weinstein has done exactly this since he decided to help protect his children’s rights while at the Air Force Academy and later ALL service men and women against the insidious onslaught of a prejudiced self-possessed minority

You say “some things don’t change” which is only true if no one tries. Weinstein has given up a successful and lucrative law and business career and put his and his family at risk to preserve the religious rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and the rules and regulations of the religious services. His efforts are proving successful of exactly what you don’t see: making signiifcant changes. How else would you characterize the fact that he and MRFF have assisted over 37,000 service members who asked for help in protecting their religious rights? Amazingly, about 96% of them are practicing Christians themeselves. Further, the MRFF has been nominated six times for the Noble Peace Prize and is still the only New Mexicio organization to ever be nominated even once.

The fact that Weinstein’s work embarasses you suggests you would not stand up for a principle or protect the rights of others if taking such action went counter to those in a superior military position. On this day of remenberance of all those who perished in the Holocaust, consider that is exactly how such a horrid and evil activity of historical proportions could take place.

As a former Jewish-American junior Army officer, who has supported Mikey Weinstein for many years, I ask you to reconsider your assertions, your lack of evidence and why you are embarrassed.

Sincerely,

David M. Miller