Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 1: Quoting the Bible
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s lawyers once claimed ChristianFighterPilot.com was “obsessive” about Weinstein and his MRFF. Naturally, ChristianFighterPilot.com is about military religious freedom — and it is surely relevant when Mikey Weinstein, a public figure, makes a living by publicly attacking religious liberty, as he so frequently does.
Instead, it is Mikey Weinstein who is “obsessive” with a few individual US troops, veterans, and even a couple of civilians — most of whom are private citizens unknown to any outside their circle of friends. The actions by Weinstein and those associated with his MRFF have attacked and threatened them, their employers, their families — sometimes even their children — in ongoing campaigns of harassment that have sometimes spanned years.
This series will document Mikey Weinstein’s history of harassment — in his own words, with his own formatting, filled with his own invective.
Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 1: Quoting the Bible
In early 2014 a post entitled “There is but One Way” went up at ChristianFighterPilot.com saying one simple thing: John 14:6.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Duly offended that a Bible verse would appear on the internet, Mikey Weinstein fired a copy of the post up to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen Mark Welsh, complaining that it was the “Christian fighter pilot[]’s Way or the Highway.” Weinstein cc’d the email to other Air Force General officers, including Gen Janet Wolfenbarger (then-AFMC commander), Gen David Harris (then-96th Test Wing Commander), Gen Rich Harding (then JAG of the Air Force), and Gen Howard Stendahl (then-Chief of Chaplains):
Mikey Weinstein’s email was the source of great entertainment within the Air Force for several reasons. The first was its sheer lunacy: ChristianFighterPilot.com, a private website, has nothing to do with the Air Force, a government entity.
The second was its motivation: The post was a test designed from the start to demonstrate over just how little Mikey Weinstein would throw a fit. The post intentionally contained only a Bible verse to highlight the fact Weinstein would (and did) complain to the top-ranking General in the entire US Air Force because an anonymous blog posted a verse from the Bible.
The third reason Weinstein’s email was entertaining was the content of the post. The post contained a Bible quote with the intentional purpose of having the Chief of Staff of the Air Force receive a Bible verse in his email (via Weinstein’s predicted complaint).
Guess what? The leadership of the US Air Force was evangelized with a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith, courtesy of Mikey Weinstein — a man who would demand courts-martial and threaten lawsuits over people evangelizing over government email. (Unfortunately, though Weinstein addressed it to Gen Welsh, Welsh didn’t receive it. Welsh had long since blocked Weinstein’s emails because of Weinstein’s spam-level invective and harassment. That’s a topic for another time.)
But wait, there’s more.
Want an idea of how obsessive Mikey Weinstein is? Not only did he complain over nothing more than an anonymous Bible verse, but note the post he forwarded (which is still up) is dated 28 January 2014 — while Weinstein’s email, precisely copied in the image above, is dated 27 January at 11:50 PM. How could he complain before the post even went up? Time zones — but not that many. Weinstein sent the email to the Air Force leadership mere minutes after the Bible verse went live.
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein
It seems Mikey Weinstein is so “obsessive” about this site he monitors it to the minute. (Hi Mikey!) And he is so intent on harassing those with whom he disagrees that he will email government officials, general officers, and military leaders mere minutes after a Bible verse appears on the internet.
Of course, as pathetic as that harassment is, it’s important to remember he’s doing it for a purpose: Mikey Weinstein expects those military leaders to do something about that Bible verse. If they won’t do something today over this email, he’ll try again tomorrow with another, and the next day with another, and another, hoping that he’ll someday hit upon something they’ll act on, or hoping they’ll get so tired of him that they’ll act against his target just to make him go away.
In other words, Mikey Weinstein uses harassment as a tool to achieve indirect attacks on those with whom he disagrees. Why “indirect”? Because his frontal assaults fail, as his complaints, vitriolic though they are, are generally based only on his opinion and personal preference, and thus aren’t actionable by the military. Therefore, unable to get the military to react objectively, Weinstein needs someone else to act subjectively in his stead. (His failed frontal attack will be the topic of a future discussion.)
For somebody who claims to support “freedom,” Mikey Weinstein sure has a problem with others — read: Christians — having freedom, doesn’t he?
Stay tuned for more. This is just the beginning.
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Name-calling and bigotry is Weiner-stein’s only attack because he is too weak to attack in any other way.
Mikey, are you reading this? If you are, my middle-finger is pointing in your general direction!