Want to know what Michael Weinstein and his\u00a0self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation stand for?\u00a0 Ask his staff and supporters.<\/p>\n
GodDiscussion.com, which has a close relationship with Leah Burton — one of two members of Michael Weinstein’s MRFF board — recently hosted a fundraiser for the MRFF in coordination with the Fort Bragg “Rock Beyond Belief<\/a>.”\u00a0 They were bringing in money for three reasons, in their own words:<\/p>\n (1) the soliders [sic<\/em>] at Ft. Bragg who face potential legal challenges in having their Rock Beyond Belief secular alternative to Frankin Graham’s Rock the Fort proselytizing concert<\/p>\n (2) legal representation of service members nationwide who face discriminatory “Spiritual Fitness Tests” and<\/p>\n (3) the general fight against Christian extremism within the Armed Forces.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It’s interesting they’d raise funds for (1) “potential legal challenges” for “Rock Beyond Belief,” since RBB’s organizers have already demurred on any lawsuit in favor of simply following the same guidance as every other organization<\/a>. Still, it is probably the most well-known military\/religious controversy right now, making it an excellent fundraising vehicle, if nothing else.<\/p>\n Over the past six months there have been little more than insinuations about a “potential lawsuit<\/a>” over\u00a0the US Army’s Global Assessment Tool<\/a>, which critics have characterized as a (2) “religious test.”\u00a0 This remains one of many <\/em>open Weinstein legal threats<\/a>; again, useful for fundraising, but there is no public indication it is actually going <\/em>anywhere.<\/p>\n Finally, the (3) “general fight against Christian extremism.”\u00a0 Notice “religious freedom” isn’t mentioned anywhere\u00a0in the fundraising effort — despite being in the name of Weinstein’s “charity” —\u00a0and Christianity is the only\u00a0faith mentioned.\u00a0 Weinstein and his crew\u00a0like to use the “I have friends that are…<\/em>” argument (his claim that “96%” of his “clients” are Christians<\/a>) as a defense against critics who say he is targeting people of a certain belief (Christians).\u00a0 However, it would seem even his fundraising supporters\u00a0<\/em>are rallying around the “Christian” theme evident in Weinstein’s tilting crusade — so it’s not\u00a0just the critics who see the truth in the trend.<\/p>\n As to “extremism,” it is defined by Weinstein as it fits his personal agenda at the moment.\u00a0 For example, Weinstein apparently thinks US Marines are extremists<\/a> when they\u00a0choose to be baptized, as he loudly criticized <\/em>(rather than defended<\/em>) their religious freedom when\u00a0they participated in that religious act.<\/p>\n Naturally, funds raised by these staff and supporters are bound for Weinstein’s MRFF:<\/p>\n Funds are going to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), legal counsel in these matters, a non-profit organization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How badly does the MRFF need these funds?\u00a0 They said<\/p>\n Defending the First Amendment Constitutional rights of our active duty service members runs about approximately $65,000 per month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Interesting number, as four years ago Weinstein (inaccurately) claimed it was $75,000 a month.\u00a0 Still, $65,000 per month is annually $780,000 — nearly a quarter of a million dollars more<\/em> than the MRFF expenses have actually<\/em> “run” for each of the last three years.<\/p>\n Would\u00a0Weinstein’s agenda really be harmed that much\u00a0if they used\u00a0real<\/em> numbers\u00a0verifiable with\u00a0publicly available documents?\u00a0 For those who struggle with higher order math, expenses of $549,000 a year (Weinstein’s actual <\/em>2009 costs) are “approximately” $46,000 a month, not $75,000 (even rounding up).<\/p>\n Of course, it is also worth remembering that “approximately” $25,000 per month <\/em>goes directly to Michael Weinstein’s personal compensation<\/a>.\u00a0 That’s “approximately” how much\u00a0one MRFF military “client” made in an entire year<\/em>.<\/p>\n