Tag Archives: dustin chalker

Atheist Lawsuit Against US Military Dismissed

Chalker v Gates, the lawsuit which pitted the MRFF and an atheist Soldier against the Department of Defense, has been dismissed.  The case was brought by Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and US Army Specialist Dustin Chalker.  The primary complaint was that Chalker was forced to attend formations at which Christian prayers were given, though Weinstein used the lawsuit as a forum to accuse the military of promoting Christianity.

According to various reports,

US District Judge Kathryn Vratil ruled Thursday that Chalker failed to exhaust all available remedies before filing suit.

Weinstein has said he will appeal the decision.

The ruling that dismissed the lawsuit (pdf) is slightly more complex than the media summary.  The ruling stated:  Read more

DoJ Moves to Dismiss Chalker/MRFF Lawsuit

The Obama Administration’s Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Specialist Dustin Chalker and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.  The lawsuit (discussed previously and available here) alleged that Chalker was forced to attend formations that had Christian prayers.  It asked that the Courts direct that the DoD not require Chalker to attend formations at which a prayer was given.

The motion to dismiss contains a variety of strong points (some of which have been mentioned on this site previously).  In particular Read more

MRFF Targets Army Suicide Prevention

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation recently “amended” its lawsuit against the Department of Defense.  It made one substantive addition, saying Army Specialist Chalker had

sought relief for his claims by invoking an intra-army administrative process. He has exhausted this alternative remedy but has obtained no substantial relief.

The premise of the cryptically vague statement (that Chalker used the Army’s in-place grievance systems) was already included in the lawsuit, so it does not appear that an amendment was judicially required.  The announcement of the changes to the lawsuit–which was only filed approximately three months earlier–did highlight the suit in the press for a short time.

The other changes, upon which the MRFF has focused attention, have been additions to the long list of allegations (unrelated to the primary complaint) of Christian endorsement in the US military, which founder Michael Weinstein says is a “national security threat:”

The military command and control of our nation’s nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and laser-guided weapons has been unconstitutionally compromised by a tsunami of unbridled fundamentalist Christian exceptionalism, triumphalism and proselytizing. Read more

MRFF Files New DoD Lawsuit

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has asked for two delays in the required timeline to file a response to the DoJ’s motion to dismiss the MRFF’s ongoing lawsuit.  Reasons for the requests included the “number of pages” of supporting material in the DoJ motion, and the requests have been unopposed by the DoJ.

It appears, though, that the law firm representing the MRFF actually had other work keeping them busy: they have now filed a second lawsuit (text).  Like the first, it takes a single “issue” (in this case, the requirement that soldiers attend events in which sectarian prayers are delivered) and lumps in every possible accusation against religion in the military.  Much of the lawsuit is verbatim from other filings.

For example, it once again includes unspecified accusations against Officers’ Christian Fellowship.  It also includes references to the Ft Wood “Free Day Away,” which, as noted, has already been investigated by the Inspector General and found to be in compliance with regulations.  It also still includes complaints about the 523rd Fighter Squadron, which no longer exists, and hasn’t for some time.

Unlike the first lawsuit, it does say that the primary plaintiff, Specialist Dustin Chalker, sought permission Read more

1 2 3