Tag Archives: Group: Military Religious Freedom Foundation

Missouri Family Policy Council: Members of Congress are sending correspondence to Pentagon officials expressing concern about the rising tide of anti-Christian hostility in the U.S. Armed Services.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart:The Obama-Hagel Pentagon is trying to minimize Breitbart News’blockbuster story last week of top brass meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein, whom we reported calls Christians “monsters” imposing a “rapacious reign of theocratic terror” and says sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military an act of “sedition and treason” that must be punished.

Joe LaRue went on radio to discuss the situation: Pentagon backtracks on evangelization comments, investigation launched. | The Vicki McKenna Show —– MP3 audio 14:20 mins | WAVA Radio with Don Kroah —– MP3 audio 13:25 mins | The Zeb Bell Show —– MP3 audio 13:04 mins

Citizen Link: Actually, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), uses some form of the word “monster” to describe Christians 12 times in this diatribe. Now to be fair, Weinstein is only talking about “fundamentalist Christian monsters,”  whoever those are. But since he mentions Focus on the Family’s founder, Dr. James Dobson, then that pretty much brings all evangelicals within the “monstrous” realm of Mikey’s imagination.

Sally Quinn at the Washington Post: Weinstein told me after the Pentagon meeting that military leaders need to understand that “there is systematic misogyny, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the military.” He said it is all part of the same culture. “This is a national security threat. What is happening [aside from sexual assault] is spiritual rape. And what the Pentagon needs to understand is that it is sedition and treason. It should be punished.”

Todd Starnes at Townhall: Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to “rape” and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has posted the letters here.

he Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, an organization of chaplain endorsers representing more than 2,000 current chaplains actively serving the armed forces, expressed both gratitude and concern Tuesday over the Air Force and a new “religious tolerance” policy.

Breitbart: “Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

Fox News: The U.S. military ordered soldiers to remove a cross and a steeple from atop a chapel and to board up cross-shaped windows at a remote American forward operating base in Afghanistan.

Religion Clause Blog: In a Huffington Post essay on Monday, West Point cadet Blake Page announced that he is resigning from West Point 5 months short of graduation in protest of the school’s promotion of religion . . .

Christian Fighter Pilot: Michael Weinstein, the self-described “litigator and agitator” who has managed to have every one of his 5 lawsuits dismissed in the past few years, now finds himself on the receiving end of legal action: [A former Navy chaplain has filed a] defamation lawsuit against the militant anti-Christian activist Mikey Weinstein, who got served yesterday. Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD, just filed the new legal complaint in New Mexico State Court, citing multiple counts of defamation and malicious abuse of the legal process by Weinstein and his openly anti-Christian organization the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Inc.

Indy Blog: Often accused of a bent toward fundamental Christianity, the Air Force Academy will hold its Biannual Religious Respect Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. But its biggest critic, Mikey Weinstein, won’t be there.

Christian Post: Why would anyone not want every resource available to help our military personnel? This press release is one more example of intolerance toward faith that runs counter to everything we hold dear in this nation,” Chaplain (Col.) USAR retired Ron Crews, executive director for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, told The Christian Post on Tuesday. “I sincerely hope that military leaders will not bow toward this intolerance.”

God and Country: The investigation into the burning of Islamic religious material confiscated from an Afghan prison was reportedly completed, with no one criminally charged or court-martialed.

Marine Corps Times: Two national atheist groups, and one advocating religious freedom, have complained to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus that officials at Camp Pendleton, Calif., continue to deny them access to the base while giving “preferential treatment” to Christian religious organizations, including a controversial church they say is steeped in “doomsday theology” and embroiled in sexual-abuse scandals.

Huffington Post: The long-smoldering debate at the U.S. Air Force Academy over the role of religion in cadets’ lives has reignited, just as a new class arrives on campus for basic training.

One News Now: ol. Ron Crews (USA-Ret.) served as a chaplain for 28 years and now serves as a spokesman for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It just seems that every time Mikey Weinstein sends an e-mail over to the Pentagon that they just cater to his every whim,” Crews says. “This one individual has that much influence in the Pentagon. They just cave in.”

Colo. Springs Independent: An Air Force lawyer at the Pentagon has essentially cleared Brig. Gen. Dana Born, the Air Force Academy’s dean of faculty, of ordering a counterinsurgency against the Military Religious Freedom Foundation

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty expresses disappointment over a decision by Department of Defense officials to remove military edition Bibles from the shelves of military exchange stores. This is one more case of Department of Defense officials bowing to political pressure to create a “religion free” zone in the military.

U-T San Diego: But in a heartless move, two hypersecularist groups – the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation – are now threatening to sue if the U.S. Marine Corps refuses to take down the crosses. They say the crosses establish a religion and they want to see the crosses put into “a private church.”

Religion Clause Blog: MSNBC reported Wednesday that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has sent a letter (full text) to the Secretary of the Navy and Commandant of the Marine Corps objecting to a commanding officer’s decision last month to reinstate the name “Crusaders” as the label for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122 . . .

Christian Fighter Pilot provides some additional background on the controversy.

Religion Clause Blog: Military.com reports that last week, after receiving a letter from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Air Force dropped a required reading from its online Squadron Officer School’s course.

Casey Law Office: A Dallas district judge Monday upheld prayers posted on a personal website as protected free speech, not a conspiracy to harm, as an anti-religious activist claimed without any supporting evidence . . . The Alliance Defense Fund assisted with funding for the defense of free speech principles in the case.

OneNewsNow.com: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) teamed up with the liberal veterans group VoteVets.org and with anti-Christian crusader Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to petition West Point to disinvite Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (USA-Ret.) from the February 8 event.

God and Country : The band Aiden has announced it will be playing the atheist festival “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg in March 2012, as the lead-in act to Richard Dawkins, the main attraction at the “concert.”

Religion Clause Blog: God and Country blog reported yesterday that the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) has convinced the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) to change the logo on its official patch which, like many, apparently contain “in-jokes.”

Chaplain endorsers, representing more than 2,000 military chaplains, commend the commander of Travis Air Force Base and his legal team for their decision to keep the traditional manger scene as part of the 17-year tradition of displays during the Christmas season.

Mercury News: ravis Air Force Base will not meet the demands of a group trying to take down the nativity scene and menorah displayed at a main intersection on the base.

Military.com: California Rep. Duncan Hunter has waded into the battle over the so-called Camp Pendleton cross — put up by leathernecks in honor of four buddies killed in Iraq — by asking the commander of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to let the cross stay.

Mercury News (AP): The December culture wars are here again and this year’s target sits squarely on Travis Air Force Base. At issue are a nativity scene and menorah sitting amongst a host of secular Santas and holiday signs at the corner of Travis Avenue and Skymaster Drive. The religious displays are the subject of a letter from a group called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Christian Post: Perkins’ comments came after the two, along with Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund, discussed a recent incident in which the Air Force Academy apologized for promoting the ministry Operation Christmas Child on campus.

Colorado Springs Gazette, CO: Academy critic Mikey Weinstein accused commanders of crossing the line by promoting “Operation Christmas Child” a program sponsored by an evangelical Christian group that sends toys and toiletries in shoe boxes to needy kids around the globe. The group includes a Christian message with the gifts.

The New American: The Air Force appears to be on an intense crusade to sanitize religious content from its training courses. As reported by The New American, in late July the Air Force suspended a course entitled “Christian Just War Theory” after a group of missile launch officers complained to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that the ethics course included the Bible and other Christian-themed material. Barely three weeks after the original incident, another Air Force instructor forwarded Power Point slides from a second class to the secularist watchdog group, complaining about that course’s Christian content.

CNN.com Blogs: The Air Force’s use of Christian religious messages goes beyond those used in briefings for missile launch officers, as reported by CNN last week, and extends to training for ROTC cadets.

Religion Clause: Controversial reporter Jason Leopold in a posting Wednesday on Truthout says that U.S. Air Force training for missile officers includes a mandatory session led by chaplains discussing St. Augustine’s Just War Theory . . .

Seattle Times: Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and a vocal critic of the academy, criticized the scope of the review as it was outlined in the Air Force statement. The problem at the school is not with any restriction on the free exercise of religion, but with unwanted proselytizing by fundamentalist Christians, a violation of the constitutional concept of the separation of church and state, he said.

The Sun News: “A Fort Bragg soldier canceled a concert with a secular theme and no ties to religion, saying Thursday that base leadership failed to honor promises to support his show as it had a Christian rally last fall.”

“A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block a prayer luncheon at the Air Force Academy.”

Denver Post: “Four Air Force Academy officers defended an upcoming prayer luncheon in court filings Monday, after a lawsuit alleged the event is unconstitutional because it appears to be sponsored by commanders and some faculty members feel pressured to attend.”

Yahoo (AP): “Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder Mikey Weinstein says the choice of Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary shows superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould is tilted toward evangelical Christianity and tolerates an environment where proselytizing is accepted.”

Military Religious Freedom Foundation: “Albuquerque-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has demanded that the United States Air Force Academy rescind their invitation to former Marine Lt. Clebe McClary to speak at the Academy’s upcoming National Prayer Luncheon. ‘Egregiously sectarian statements like [those] from former Lt. McClary blatantly exclude not only non-Christians, but also the many Christians who do not subscribe to a particularly fundamentalist view of Christianity,’ said Michael ‘Mikey’ Weinstein, President and Founder of MRFF.” | Via Religion Clause.

OneNewsNow: “Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.), a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and now a Pentagon advisor, has followed Weinstein’s complaints over the years . . . ‘The fact that you have a large group of evangelicals [on campus] who are open about their faith — there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s not against the First Amendment, and it’s certainly not against any military regulation,’ he adds.”

Religion Clause: “The Military Religious Freedom Foundation announced yesterday that it has sent a letter (full text), co-signed by the heads of nine other groups, to the Secretary of Defense making three demands for changes to deal with the allegedly worsening situation involving Christian proselytizing at the Air Force Academy.”

Religion Clause: “Talk To Action reported Thursday on a series of Commanding General’s Spiritual Fitness Concerts at Fort Eustice and Fort Lee, both Army bases in Virginia. Supposedly attendance is voluntary, but soldiers feel pressured to attend.”

Colorado Springs Gazette: “Weinstein, 55 . . . founded the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation . . . The broad outlines of Weinstein’s approach: Condemn in the strongest language possible. Publicly embarrass. Sue if necessary. Each new step raises the pressure on his publicity-averse targets . . . Responsible Christians, he said, recognize ‘time, manner and place’ restrictions on proselytizing . . . Today, Weinstein saves the hellfire-and-brimstone rhetoric for new targets, excoriating as ‘clueless’ and ‘shocking’ the people he accuses of placing their religious beliefs ahead of the Constitution. ‘Make no mistake: They are a national security threat,’ he said.”

Foreign Policy: “Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein shares his hate mail with both friends and strangers the way elderly people show off photos of their grandkids. He has plenty of it to share. For the past four years, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has been doing battle with a Christian subculture that, he believes, is trying to Christianize the U.S. armed forces with the help of a complicit Pentagon brass. He calls it the “fundamentalist Christian parachurch-military-corporate-proselytizing complex,” a mouthful by which he means holy warriors in contempt of the constitutional barrier between church and state . . . ”

Hat tip: Religion Clause Blog

God and Country: “Michael Weinstein is truly the gift that keeps on giving. His latest attempt at infamy is to say that a red cross appearing on a military hospital’s emblem.”

AP: “The Military Religious Freedom Foundation asked the Army this week to change the emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs.”

“Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, in 2001 described Islam as evil. More recently, he has said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins.”

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on True News with Rick Wiles to discuss the attack on Franklin Graham’s invitation to speak at a Pentagon event. They also discuss the National Day of Prayer Ruling. | The MP3 runs just under 25 minutes.

“Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, a self-described pagan who sponsors the group that worships there, said the incident was . . . a hate crime.”

Catholic League: “We need to know why hypersensitivity to non-Christians has evolved into insensitivity to Christians.”

LA Times: “In a statement, [Lt. General Michael] Gould said, ‘We absolutely will not stand for this type of destructive behavior. I consider this no different than someone writing graffiti on the Cadet Chapel.’”

CNSNews: Trijicon’s “outrageous practice” of stamping Christian references on rifle scopes used by the U.S. military ‘was an unconstitutional disgrace of the highest magnitude to our military and an action that clearly gave additional incentive and emboldenment to recruiters for our nation’s enemies,’ Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) head Mikey Weinstein said, after Trijicon Inc. announced it would now stop the practice.”

Boston Globe (AP): “The academy superintendent, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, says the improvements are the result of a topdown campaign to foster respect and a commitment to accommodate all cadets, even nonbelievers and an ‘Earth-centered’ religious group that needed a place for a stone circle so it could worship outdoors.”

Dallas Morning News: “Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields … seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.’ . . . Weinstein said he also hopes to cripple the Chaplaincy financially and to have the organization stripped of its status with the Department of Defense.”

Hat tip: Religion Clause Blog

PubRecord reports: “The U.S. Army’s suicide prevention manual advises military chaplains to promote ‘religiosity,’ specifically Christianity, as a way to deter distraught soldiers from taking their own lives, according to an amended federal lawsuit filed last week against Secretary of …

The AP reports: An atheist soldier suing over prayers at military formations claims a larger pattern of religious discrimination exists in the military, citing attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and an evangelical bias in a suicide prevention …

The AP reports: Attorneys for an atheist soldier at Fort Riley said Monday that they plan to amend their lawsuit against the Department of Defense to include new allegations about evangelizing in combat. The evidence is in videos discovered by …

The AP reports: An atheist soldier who accused U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Defense Department of violating his religious freedom dropped the lawsuit Friday, citing his plans to leave the Army next spring. But the Military Religious Freedom …

PR-USA.net carries this press release from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation: “A nonreligious Kansas soldier today sued his boss, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, after being forced to attend mandatory military events where fundamentalist Christian prayers violated his constitutional rights …

The AP reports: “An atheist soldier sued Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday, alleging he was forced to participate in public prayers and that the military systematically violates the religious freedoms of its personnel. Spc. Dustin Chalker, who has served …

A faith-based book for military personnel has given opponents of Gen. David Petraeus more fuel for protests though the author claims to have been the one who made the mistake.

The Religion Clause Blog reports: Military.com reported yesterday on the controversy surrounding the endorsement by high army officials of a book written by a military chaplain offering spiritual guidance to soldiers. The book is Lt. Col. William McCoy’s, Under Orders: …

Chris Rodda has this article in the Huffington Post.  She writes: Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), often points out in his appearances and interviews that the overt promotion of fundamentalist Christianity in and …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “This week’s Dayton (OH) Jewish Observer carries a story on Christian proselytizing in the military at Fairborn, Ohio’s Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says he has …

The AP reports: “An atheist soldier who claims the military violates religious freedoms should have complained through the chain of command instead of civilian courts, the government said in arguing that his lawsuit should be dismissed.” The suit was filed …

The Religion Clause Blog reports “the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is objecting to a portion of a program scheduled to be re-broadcast on July 4 and 5 on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.” The program features a Lt. General in the …

The Forward, Jewish Daily reports: But Schwartz, one of only a few Jews in the top ranks of the military, will also have to face off with the difficult questions of religion at his alma mater. During the past decade, …

Israel News reports: David Miller, right, an Orthodox Jew, says he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City. At left is Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who is planning …

This year, however, voices are being raised to challenge the religiously exclusive nature of the task-force effort, which is coordinated by conservative Christians who have encouraged government leaders’ involvement in their events but rejected direct participation by other faith leaders.

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he’s been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn’t believe in God.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said in a statement Wednesday that the documentary is “a propaganda film that trashes Catholicism.” . . .

A top Navy chaplain who wrote a book several years ago attacking Islam, calling the religion “evil,” and urging the United States to launch a “jihad” against the faith, has been fired from a prestigious theological institute after officials at the school recently became aware of the chaplain’s controversial book . . .