February 2011          

Message From MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein

Greetings MRFF Supporters!

I'd like to fervently thank every single MRFF follower who sent us countless notes of encouragement related to our recent highly-publicized appearance in Federal District Court in Denver, Colorado. As you'll see in the post-hearing statement from our esteemed civil-rights attorney Darold Killmer featured below, MRFF forced U.S. Air Force Academy officials to begrudgingly appear in court, and be defended by Department of Justice attorneys in an attempt to defend their unconstitutional policies. This represents an unequivocal victory for the cause of separation of church and state in the U.S. military. We look to our military to protect us, and many have asked recently, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who will guard the guards?) Clearly, we at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (with our indefatigable lawyers and law firms as the tip of the spear) are the ones doing so.

Please pay careful attention to the fantastic featured article just released by "The Nation," the longest continuously-running weekly magazine in the United States, founded in 1865. This stunning tour-de-force article by journalist and author Stephen Glain gives an exhaustive account of both the background of our feverish fight for the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of our honorable and noble servicemen and servicewomen, as well as a summary of many of the most prominent specific incidents and victories that MRFF has been integrally involved in fighting for and against. If you read just one article linked within this newsletter, please make it this one.

I'm honored and delighted to announce that veteran and combat-decorated retired U.S. Marine and U.S. Air National Guard aviator John Whiteside has just agreed to join the MRFF Advisory Board. Please see below for a link to his full biography. Mr. Whiteside has also generously agreed to organize and subsidize my upcoming speech event at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, NV on February 27th. Please see below for a link to more information on this free public event.

If we're going to continue holding the U.S. military accountable in the courts and in the media, we need your generous donations. Help us push back against those that would turn our armed forces into a 21st century crusade! No donation is too small - please donate today.

Your Eternal Ally,

Mikey

Mikey Weinstein

MRFF Featured News
February 2011


2/10/11 - THE NATION - Feb 28th Issue Featured Story - Backward, Christian Soldiers

2/10/11 - KKTV 11 News - Prayer Luncheon Goes On As Planned

2/10/11 - WESTWORD - Air Force Academy Prayer Luncheon Goes On,
But Advocate Who Sued to Stop it Declares Victory

2/10/11 - CS INDY - Weinstein targets Gazette

2/10/11 - USAFA's "Falcon Clips" Newsletter Features Four Articles on MRFF's Lawsuit (PDF)

2/9/11 - AP & WASHINGTON POST - Judge Dismisses Air Force Academy Prayer Lawsuit

2/9/11 - DENVER POST - Judge Rejects Bid to Stop Air Force Academy Prayer Luncheon

2/9/11 - CBS DENVER - Judge Dismisses Air Force Academy Prayer Lawsuit


Post-Hearing Statement from Darold Killmer, MRFF's Attorney

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It is obvious that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's message of separation of church and state was heard by the Court and by the Air Force Academy. The Court took special effort to urge the Academy to walk more carefully in this area, and to make clear that such religious activities are not officially endorsed by the command structure of the Air Force Academy. While we respectfully disagree with the Court's ruling on jurisdiction, we are gratified with the overall outcome of these proceedings. The USAFA 10th ABW Chaplain, Lt.Col. Dwayne Peoples, specifically thanked us at the conclusion of the proceedings "for the excellent education" we had provided through the course of this trial. The Chaplain of the Air Force gave us his firm commitment that he will redouble his efforts to make it crystal clear that the Prayer Luncheon is sponsored solely by the Chaplain, and not by the Command Structure of the USAFA. That was the very goal of this lawsuit, and we have accomplished that goal.

The Air Force Academy also knows that we will not go away. We will continue to serve as a watchdog to ensure that the constitutional rights of everyone at the Academy are zealously guarded.

Darold W. Killmer
KILLMER, LANE & NEWMAN, LLP
Denver, CO


Hear Mikey Weinstein Speak at Upcoming MRFF Events:

Temple Beth Or, Dayton, OH - 2/13/11

Boston College, Boston, MA - 2/15/11

Rio Hotel, Las Vegas, NV - 2/27/11

Click here to visit the MRFF Events Page for more information


MRFF is proud to announce that John Whiteside
has joined our esteemed Advisory Board

Whiteside is one of only a few military aviators to possess both Senior Command
Air Force wings and aircraft carrier qualified Naval Aviator wings, in addition to having been
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in combat during Operation Desert Storm.

Click here for John Whiteside's full biography


Nightline logo
MRFF's Inbox

Featured Inbox Posting: Neither a detractor nor a supporter, but I do have a question...

AFA religion crisis

Impossible Without MRFF and Its Lawsuit

Click here to read many more emails MRFF
has received in the "MRFF's Inbox" archive


MRFF Needs Your Constant Vigilance to Uncover
Unconstitutional Religious Incursions in the Military

The constitutional violations occurring in our military are so numerous and widespread
that we can't possibly find all of them ourselves. MRFF counts on its supporters and volunteers --
the indispensable "eyes and ears" who alert us to everything from the most egregious of constitutional
violations to articles we might be interested in.

So, keep the emails coming, and never think that anything is too insignificant or assume
that we might already know about it. You never know -- you might have stumbled into the
next bombshell of a story and not even realize it.

Please report anything that may be of concern to:
[email protected]



You can see the above stories, as well as much more,
on the dynamic new MilitaryReligiousFreedom.org

And don't forget that you can join the discussion by posting
your own comments on every story on our website!

The media outlets referenced in the links above have no affiliation with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, nor have expressed endorsement thereof.
While we make every effort to ensure that news articles pertaining to our Foundation remain available for you to access, we are unable to guarantee that the articles linked above will remain online and unchanged indefinitely.