This is an administration that has told servicemen and women that they cannot share their faith or risk discipline.  This is an administration that has reprimanded an Air Force chaplain in Alaska for writing in a blog post “there are no atheists in foxholes.”  Now, mind you, he was quoting President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, I might note, has some passing familiarity with the military…

“The Administration” can either be interpreted as a broad swath of people that includes the Secretary of Defense, or potentially a direct reference to the President.

It is exceedingly difficult — though it has been tried — to blame the President when an individual in the US military does something wrong, because the President can’t possibly control the actions of 3 million individuals (reference Abu Ghraib). When it comes to the institution of the military enforcing policies, it might seem “easier” to blame “the Administration” because, as the Commander in Chief, the President can direct military policies directly and through his Secretary of Defense (reference the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). Indeed, President Obama has weighed in on the House’s responses to accusations like those Senator Cruz quotes by saying the Congressional language would have a “significant adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.”

To Senator Cruz’s statement: To be fair, the Department of Defense issued a flurry of statements on the religious “sharing of faith” during May of this year.  Ultimately, the DoD “clarified” its statements by saying there simply isn’t a DoD policy on “proselytizing.”

To correct the second example Senator Cruz used, there is no public information saying Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes was “reprimanded.” In fact, his commander Col Brian Duffy specifically said he wouldn’t do so. One might say that the Air Force reaction — pulling the chaplain’s article in response to accusations it violated the Constitution and AFI 1-1 — gave the impression of punishment, though Col Duffy ultimately reversed himself a few weeks later and re-posted the article.

You can read the text of President Eisenhower’s message referencing “no atheists in foxholes” here.

Senator Cruz’s remarks were given at the Values Voters Summit — in fact, they were within the first few minutes of his speech.  Interestingly, these comments were completely ignored in the press, in favor of others.

In a fairly obvious publicity move, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has been trying to coattail the publicity surrounding Senator Cruz for a couple of weeks now.  Given that the removal of the Chaplain’s article was the direct result of MRFF action (and the article’s return was one of the MRFF’s more stinging defeats), more is likely to follow.

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