Skip Ash, the senior litigation counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, has stated that in its effort to appease Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, the Air Force actually committed the very violation it thought it was trying to avoid:

Despite the MRFF rantings, the chaplain committed no violation of the U.S. Constitution, federal law or military regulations by what he did. It was the commander at the base and his staff who actually wronged the chaplain by buying into the MRFF’s skewed view of what the Constitution and military regulations require. The commander was wrong.

The ACLJ also sent a letter (PDF) to Col Brian Duffy, the base commander who ordered Chaplain Kenneth Reyes’ article removed because of someone’s claimed “offense.”  The letter rightly notes Blake Page, Michael Weinstein’s “special assistant,” didn’t even get the basic facts of the situation correct, nevermind accurately apply the law [emphasis added]: 

In light of the MRFF’s factual and legal errors, the second purpose of this letter is to caution you and your staff from over-reacting in the future to periodic bullying by groups like the MRFF… The decision to immediately pull Ch Reyes’ article, based on the MRFF’s erroneous allegations of wrongdoing, has likely resulted in the commission by you and/or your staff of actual violations of Ch Reyes’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and equal protection under the law…

The MRFF’s position and demands are legally baseless…The MRFF’s allegation that such speech must be censored is an intolerable misstatement of the law. That JBER officials acted as they did compounded the injustice…

Mr. Weinstein is in reality a serial purveyor of religious intolerance who repeatedly propagates the despicable lie that Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians “would willingly, even eagerly, condemn, ostracize and even put to death their fellow citizens for praying to the wrong god.” He even asserts: “I know that they will stop at literally nothing to achieve their ends. That includes mass murder…”

Such assertions are not only outrageous — they are delusional.

In a final dig, Ash repeats what has been frequently highlighted here:  Without any citation or support, Weinstein frequently declares what these evil Christians believe [emphasis added]:

For example, without citing any authoritative source whatsoever, Mr. Weinstein claims that “Christian fundamentalist dominionists . . . believe that the Bible instructs them to eradicate all nonbelievers as a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ…

Such ludicrous assertions, bordering on paranoia, are commonplace in Mr. Weinstein’s writings and speeches.

In summary, Michael Weinstein’s claims are bullying, wrong, delusional, and border on paranoia.  Yet the Air Force listened to him.  The letter closes by noting the Air Force should react with “extreme caution” to Weinstein, or else they may become “unwitting pawns” in his vendetta against Christian troops.

Weinstein’s delicate disposition can withstand little criticism, and he has frequently had his lawyers fire off threats of legal action (and demands for insurance information) against people that have criticized him — even innocent soccer moms.  It will be interesting to see if he displays the same aggression against a foundation of trained religious liberty lawyers who, generously speaking, essentially called him an incompetent lawyer and activist bigot.  Weinstein declined last time.

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