MRFF REBUTTAL – MRFF Volunteer Mike Challman Killer Response to Chuck Wooten

Chuck Wooten’s article in the Arizona Daily Independent

Nuance. Some people just don’t get it. For these folks, the world only exists in stark contrasts. If you’re not with them, then you must be against them. The subtle meaning of an idiom like “wearing [something] on your sleeve” goes right over their heads.   And if you say something with which they don’t agree, then you are disingenuous, weak and “stunningly stupid”. A squawker. A liar. A thug. A hater.

Nonsense.

While this sort of personal attack is easy to make, it only serves two purposes that I can see. First, it reveals the individual to be mean-spirited and churlish. Second, and more critically, it provides camouflage for a line of thinking that is equal parts faulty and scary.

Such is the case with the opinion piece penned by Chuck Wooten in response to Larry Wilkerson’s essay, “The ‘Taliban’ in Our Midst”. To characterize Mr. Wooten’s screed as uncharitable would be, well, charitable. But, apparently, when ones religious worldview consists only of extremes, then those who do not capitulate to Mr. Wooten’s sectarian perspective can only be hard-hearted Christ-haters.

Utter nonsense.

Let’s start with the most obvious of Mr. Wooten’s fallacious claims – that Col. Wilkerson and other supporters of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) are opposed to “Christianity itself”. How can that be, when the vast majority of MRFF’s supporters and clients are people of faith, nearly all Christians? I present myself as Exhibit A – a lifelong, committed and active Christian. I cherish my Christian faith; I’m fiercely protective of it. Most of all, I know that protecting my own religious freedom demands the protection of every American’s religious freedom, including those whose beliefs don’t match my own.  This is a lesson that seems lost on Mr. Wooten and others like him.

What else does Mr. Wooten get wrong? Plenty. Chief among his misleading arguments is that MRFF objected to Maj Gen Olson’s appearance at the NDP Task Force event simply because he made an “open profession of his faith.” Not only is it not the case, but virtually every public statement by MRFF makes it clear that it’s not the case. It would seem that getting the facts right may be less important to Mr. Wooten than pushing his defective claims. Do the errors end there? Nope. They continue with Mr. Wooten’s dismissive rejection of Col Wilkerson’s observation that military officers have an obligation to avoid even the appearance of extending preference to any particular sectarian religious belief.

But rather than continue with chapter-and-verse of Mr. Wooten’s other missteps, it may be more illuminating to touch upon the disconcerting line of thinking that Mr. Wooten camouflaged with his spurious ad hominem attacks.

Specifically, I refer to Mr. Wooten’s insistence that Maj Gen Olson’s appearance at the NDP Task Force event was benign and harmless. Unlike the frankness demonstrated by Col Wilkerson, who highlighted key facts about the NDP Task Force, little has been mentioned by conservative media sources about the true nature of the Task Force and its events. In fact, even those directly involved with the Task Force seem to want to encourage the misapprehension that they represent the National Day of Prayer in some official way. The reality, however, is that not even all professed Christians can actively participate or volunteer with the NDP Task Force. That privilege is reserved only for those who will assent to the Task Force’s specific statement of belief – which excludes a large percentage of Christians, notably those who align with the more ancient, liturgical Christian churches. And of course, it certainly excludes even the most sincere and committed Americans of non-Christian faiths.

The MRFF would not presume to deny the religious rights even of a group such as the NDP Task Force. But it seems eminently reasonable to expect an accomplished and intelligent senior Air Force officer such as Maj Gen Olson to recognize the private, sectarian nature of such a group and take steps to ensure that his participation was clearly as an individual and not conflated with his official position. By participating in the manner in which he did, Maj Gen Olson not only opened the door for our enemies to assume that his personal religious expression had official sanction, he also allowed his USAF subordinates to question his impartiality by encouraging prayer that the Defense Dept and US troops would come to “depend on Christ.”

To close in the manner of Chuck Wooten — Know this, Mr. Wooten: we who support the US Constitution are also willing and able to tell those who hate us, we hope one day you’ll understand and appreciate that Constitutional freedoms are not a ‘zero sum’ calculus. Ensuring the rights of those who don’t share your beliefs does not infringe in any way upon your own rights. Even more importantly, it’s entirely possible to be both a good American and a good Christian. I invite you to wrap your mind around that.

*Mike Challman is a lifelong, committed and active Christian, a USAF Academy graduate (’85) and veteran USAF officer, and a staunch MRFF supporter.