{"id":19305,"date":"2012-08-27T02:24:55","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T05:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=19305"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:13:04","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:13:04","slug":"weinstein-sticks-foot-in-mouth-over-west-point-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/27\/weinstein-sticks-foot-in-mouth-over-west-point-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"Weinstein Sticks Foot in Mouth over West Point Survey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Weinstein, of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has threatened to “file a federal lawsuit<\/a>” if the US Military Academy at West Point doesn’t stop using a survey that “violates…constitutional protections.”<\/p>\n

West Point is currently in direct violation of Clause 3, Article 6 of the United States Constitution’s absolute prohibition against the utilization of any “religious test”…<\/p>\n

West Point has grievously transgressed against and is in clear violation of the Constitution of the United States of America, period.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You know its serious when he spells out “period.”\u00a0 Further, Weinstein asserted that his “clients” were anonymous because they “gravely” feared reprisal:<\/p>\n

Our 42 MRFF clients at West Point gravely fear the distinct possibility that they could be the target of nontrivial direct or indirect reprisals and\/or retribution if they were to voice their concerns and demands to their superiors at the Academy…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Weinstein’s main points — West Point violated the Constitution and its cadets and faculty are cowering in fear — are fairly easy to debunk:<\/p>\n

“West Point Violated the Constitution”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most honest Constitutional historians would likely admit Weinstein is misusing the “no religious test” clause.\u00a0 (Even Weinstein’s own research assistant, Chris Rodda, would probably acknowledge he is stretching it.)\u00a0 At the time of the writing of the Constitution, some states had “test oaths” which required public office seekers to swear they believed in any number of religious doctrines.\u00a0 The effect was that a person could not be a legislator in some states unless he swore that he believed, for example, in the “Holy Trinity.”<\/p>\n

To prevent that restriction from applying to the federal government (since the Constitution at that time did not restrict the states) some drafts of the Constitution specifically used the phrase “test oath” in Article 6 as the government action to be prohibited.\u00a0 The version that passed ultimately said simply “test.”\u00a0 Since then, the Supreme Court has upheld the clause — as it applies to persons seeking public office who run into a law requiring them to state a specific religious belief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is a far cry from asking volunteers <\/em><\/strong>to anonymously <\/em><\/strong>rate the statement “My faith makes me who I am” from “Very much unlike me” to “Very much like me.”\u00a0 No public office is offered or prevented; no specific religion — or even religion in general — is promoted, endorsed, or required by the presence of questions on a voluntary, anonymous test.\u00a0 Anyone offended by the questions has a simple, risk free path: Don’t take the survey<\/em>, as apparently 75% of the West Point class has “chosen” to do.\u00a0 (The faculty who are included in Weinstein’s complaint weren’t even offered <\/em>the survey.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further, the 89-question survey has a half-dozen questions making some reference to religion or faith.\u00a0 All<\/em> of the content — even the headers — is standard, verbatim text from behavioral science personality assessment banks.\u00a0 For example, every single question with which Weinstein took issue has been found — word for word — in the VIA Strengths Scale from the VIA Institute on Character<\/a>.\u00a0 Notably, VIA says of its own work:<\/p>\n

As a scientific institute, VIA offers well-validated psychological assessments and develops new strengths assessments related to the science of character development.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems they’re fairly confident in their scientific method of data collection.\u00a0 As to how the questions ended up in the West Point survey:<\/p>\n

Its questions were compiled by a computer program from a broader pool of questions, the official said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, these weren’t West Point’s questions, and they weren’t “government speech.”<\/p>\n

Weinstein, a former Air Force JAG, fails to explain how non-governmental questions on an anonymous <\/em>survey no one has to take <\/em>can be a “test” of any<\/em> sort, never mind a Constitution-violating religious one.<\/p>\n

“The Complainants Fear Reprisal”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Weinstein has lost court cases (actually, he’s never won<\/a>\u00a0in his anti-religious freedom crusade)\u00a0simply because his “clients” failed to use the military’s internal<\/a> grievance systems.\u00a0 His answer to that has not been to encourage his “clients” to use those systems — it has been to have his clients write letters that say “I can’t go to anyone because I’m afraid.”\u00a0 He’s trying to create the perception that his “clients” — and oddly, only the people that contact him <\/em>— are too scared to use the military’s internal systems.\u00a0 If it works, it would enable him to file a court case that survived the first motion to dismiss — something he has yet to do.<\/p>\n

At this point, Weinstein’s assertion he was contacted by West Point cadets or faculty who fear official reprisal seems to fall flat.<\/p>\n

Earlier last week, West Point Cadet Blake Page posted a screen capture of the survey to Facebook<\/a>, saying:<\/p>\n

I think you guys might like this. A study being done at the United States Military Academy to assess the development of the future leaders of our Army. I wonder if I’m religious enough to be a good leader….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That comment is snarky — not scared.\u00a0 It would seem this is one cadet who doesn’t “fear” his leadership on this topic.<\/p>\n

Cadet Page, who will be Lieutenant Page in a few months, “shunned anonymity<\/a>” in May of this year when he criticized West Point for having crusader imagery on a cadet shield, saying<\/p>\n

[West Point] has a legal and ethical obligation to modify the shield and motto to comply with constitutional law and Army policy, and an ethical obligation to support an environment which does not endorse religious and Christian exceptionalism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His “story” was featured by atheist Jason Torpy<\/a> on the MAAF site in May, and he was also a speaker at the Secular Student Alliance<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t sound like a cadet living in fear of reprisal, especially when he posts another religiously-themed Facebook image a few months later.\u00a0 Of course, he might not be one of the 42 scared West Pointers Michael Weinstein claims.\u00a0 Then again…<\/p>\n

Page’s post was on August 22nd at 4:22PM.\u00a0 The next day, at 11:42AM MDT, Michael Weinstein received an email from an “anonymous” cadet — an email that was obviously the latter part of an ongoing conversation.\u00a0 The email had obviously been coached — a practice to which a prior MRFF\u00a0“client” has confessed.\u00a0 The cadet also forwarded an email from\u00a021 August, which was only the day before Page’s original Facebook post, despite the fact the survey has been ongoing for some time.<\/p>\n

Only\u00a0hours <\/em>after the “anonymous” email, Weinstein had already mailed his demand letter to West Point.\u00a0 In other words, he had probably already been working on that demand letter based on prior correspondence; the cadet’s email was just the version intended for the press release.<\/p>\n

In short, if 42 people at West Point feared reprisal, they could all watch what happens as a result of Cadet Page’s Facebook post.\u00a0 Instead, they probably want anonymity for another reason.\u00a0 Weinstein’s motivation for their anonymity is obvious: He\u00a0knows he can increase his numbers if he promises anonymity, and bigger numbers sound more significant.<\/p>\n

Heads Weinstein Wins, Tails West Point Loses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incidentally, Weinstein also created a sure-fire win for himself, no matter what happens:\u00a0 The survey is scheduled to end on 31 August, and the subject class will be graduating, which will end the four-year study.\u00a0 In other words, if West Point ends the survey as it always planned to, Weinstein will claim victory.<\/p>\n

There are indications West Point may have ended the survey already.\u00a0 If true, a Weinstein victory dance is already in the making, and no matter how West Point paints it, it will be seen as a validation of his accusations.\u00a0 The fact it changes nothing — the survey was still used, the data has still been collected — will likely be ignored.\u00a0 West Point has two far better options: Ignore Weinstein (a method USAFA learned works surprisingly well<\/a>, as Weinstein craves attention — stop giving it to him, and he sulks away); or forcefully rebut him (another method USAFA used with surprising effectiveness<\/a>).\u00a0 Come to think of it, the USMA could probably do well just to call USAFA up and ask for its Weinstein Reaction Checklist (WRC).<\/p>\n

Michael Weinstein loses nothing in this endeavor.\u00a0 He’s already viewed as a self-aggrandizing opportunist by those who oppose him, and as a meta-hero who can do no wrong to those who support him.\u00a0 The only people affected by this are the 42 “clients.” Weinstein’s pawns, as usual, will suffer the indignities while he milks the publicity for his own advantage.\u00a0 The “clients,” were they to be known, would be seen as petty grumblers who are offended by voluntary, anonymous questions like “I am a spiritual person.”\u00a0 That <\/em>is why they may want to be anonymous, not because they fear official retribution from their chain of command.<\/p>\n

The situation is not as Michael Weinstein so assertively claimed it was.\u00a0 But then, that should surprise no one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Weinstein, of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has threatened to “file a federal lawsuit” if the US Military Academy at West Point doesn’t stop using a survey that “violates…constitutional protections.” West Point is currently in direct violation of Clause 3, Article 6 of the United States Constitution’s absolute prohibition against the utilization of any “religious test”… West Point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3731,175,82,19,85,2,5218,7,10,171,3549,65,231,3548,3547,101],"class_list":["post-19305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-blake-page","tag-chris-rodda","tag-constitution","tag-government","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-religious-test","tag-usafa","tag-usma","tag-via-institute-of-character","tag-via-strengths-scale","tag-west-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}