US Air Force Lt Zac Crippen has a unique perspective on Michael “Mikey” Weinstein — Weinstein published his name for all the Internet to see back when he was a cadet in 2011.  Crippen recently talked about this at The Federalist in an article entitled The Sorry State Of Religious Freedom At The Air Force Academy:

When I was a senior at the Academy, I was an approval authority for emails disseminated to the student body. One of these emails — written by a fellow senior of mine — was collecting support for a charity campaign called Operation Christmas Child (OCC)…

MRFF filed an immediate complaint, and the next day I received an email from one of my superiors instructing me and my classmate to retract the email, which we did.

As he routinely does, Weinstein credited this a “victory” in his battle — a battle he has long waged against religious freedom in the military:

Mr. Weinstein touted the incident as a huge victory for the rights of conscience, and proudly posted the original “offending” email on his website, choosing not to redact the names of me and my classmate. One Air Force official in my chain of command called Mr. Weinstein and asked him to remove our names for the sake of our safety and privacy, but Mr. Weinstein refused to do so…

Crippen cites his personal experience as one example in a “long string of incidents involving Mr. Weinstein and the Air Force Academy.” In truth, it is but one example in a “long string of incidents” between Weinstein and the Air Force — and the military — in general.

Astutely, Crippen expounds on the growing intolerance that has arisen in the name of…tolerance:

Ironically, the pursuit of perfect tolerance has uncovered the uncomfortable truth that tolerance cannot exist without intolerance, as the political philosophers John Rawls and Slavoj Žižek have both recognized. So where do we draw the line? How can we protect the free exercise of religion for everyone?

Crippen’s article does attempt to be balanced; he does not categorically disagree with what Weinstein says he wants — though how Weinstein acts does not always align with what he says. In the case of the USAFA cadet Bible verse, though, which seems to have inspired the article, Crippen takes issue:

In the present scenario, there is clearly no actual or apparent use of a position to promote any beliefs. Two sentences on a personal whiteboard located in a residential area could not possibly be construed as an abuse of authority or an official communiqué…

Crippen makes quite a few valid observations about Weinstein’s …inadequacy…as a student of the law and history. However, he declines — potentially wisely — to make a final observation. Regardless of the nature of Mikey Weinstein’s public tirades, he is an American citizen free to make a fool of himself. If Weinstein’s bloviating was the sole issue, it could be — and would be — easily dismissed.

However, the greater issue is not that Weinstein says things, but that the US Air Force — or occasionally the US military — may seem quick to react favorably to Weinstein, even when it is not necessary, almost as if he bears some kind of authority over them, as observed by the Family Research Council.

As bad as Weinstein is, his bluster is worthless unless the US military reacts in a way that legitimizes him. Crippen subtly acknowledges this when he notes the “long string of incidents involving Mr. Weinstein and the Air Force.” When Weinstein gets such a response from the military, it may potentially create the perception that the Air Force allows, shares, or supports Weinstein’s view — which is a particularly vitriolic hostility toward military religious freedom.

General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, is frustrated at the perception of hostility toward religious freedom in the Air Force.

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