What is MRFF’s goal?

Mikey Weinstein,

I think it would be helpful to have a MRFF article addressing what is the goal. At present it is mostly negative in opposing the clearly bad features of religious promotion and discrimination in the U.S. military. However, it is less clear to me what is the state of affairs in a military which is free of these bad features. Is there another national military that is the model? Military people must face issues of life and death, action and inaction in a earlier and more consequential way than civilians. It is not clear to me how we approach assisting them in dealing with these issues in the absence of the bad features. In this effort, you can be helpful to us all as well as to the military leadership presently floundering in bad features.

Thanks for your work.

(name withheld)

Hi (withheld),

Thank you for your note to Mikey Weinstein. He’s up to his ailerons with certain elements of the Armed Forces right now, I hope you don’t mind me sitting in for him.

MRFF’s goal is pretty clear cut; to guarantee religious freedom for all members of the armed forces irrespective of their belief or non-belief system. Nothing short of that guarantee is acceptable. We believe that America is a secular nation in which all religions may flourish but none dominate.

A growing Christian-based movement known as “Christian Dominionists” has targeted the U.S. Military for broad based coercive and command influenced proselytizing. Their declared purpose for this is to make new converts and elevate the level of existing Christian members to a more obedient and responsive all Christian fighting force. This force with proximity to weapons of immense destructive power and opportunity to deploy them would be a powerful tool in the global advancement of Christianity or at least their version of it.

Dominionist organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ Military Mission, Officers Christian Fellowship, Focus on the Family, The Navigators and others have become deeply entrenched in all branches of the Armed Forces and are responsible for often camouflaged proselytizing tools such as the “Spiritual Fitness” test, exclusive Christian concerts such as “Rock The Fort,” “Spiritual Fitness Centers” which are basically Christian Promotion centers, the exclusive operation of cult-like Christian groups on military reservations such as the “Warrick Paternal Shepherding group” known as “Cadets for Christ” at the US Air Force Academy and many more.

Since these groups are well entrenched and camouflaged the first reaction to MRFF’s efforts to dislodge them could well be mistaken for overt attacks on Christianity. Be that as it may, once the offending groups or persons have been “outed” and shown to be Dominionist in nature, most thinking people recognize the subterfuge and often join us in our efforts.

In addition to our remedial efforts we also undertake precautionary steps including distribution of information as how to recognize these groups and reporting procedures. Mr. Weinstein is active in the national and regional media and helps to keep MRFF a visible and recognized entity.

In addition to the more sensational cases we are currently addressing over 20,000 client case complaints from armed forces members who have found themselves in the grip of coercive and command centered proselytizing. Forewarned is forearmed. The word spreads rather rapidly in an intramural sort of way and information on the bad guys will reach those segments of the military as yet unaffected by Dominionism, giving them a heads-up.

Since our main concern is the United States Armed Forces I am not aware that we have attempted to connect with similar agencies in foreign militaries but are familiar with some similar efforts to advance militant forms of Christianity in other nations. Certainly religion is a big factor in Islamic countries.

Our best chance for success is to keep identifying the offending parties and bringing the stories to as much national exposure as we can while at the same time being very sensitive to avoiding unfair characterization of mainstream Christian practice.

May I suggest that you access us at militaryreligiousfreedom.org where you will find a wealth of information and current activities.

Thanks again for your message.

Rick Baker
Regional Coordinator
MRFF