{"id":20943,"date":"2013-01-08T03:29:23","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T06:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=20943"},"modified":"2016-11-26T02:01:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T05:01:16","slug":"atheist-soldier-mrff-member-goes-anonymous-for-jesus-manga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/08\/atheist-soldier-mrff-member-goes-anonymous-for-jesus-manga\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Soldier, MRFF Member Goes Anonymous for Jesus Manga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has long relied on “anonymous clients” to support its ends (to their detriment, thanks to Chris Rodda<\/a>). Conveniently, the lack of detail\u00a0helps Weinstein obfuscate\u00a0the appearance of being a self-licking ice cream cone — of creating and then “saving” his own clients — and it sometimes helps his numbers, as when supporters provide both attributable and anonymous support to his cause.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Weinstein has been caught in these machinations before, as in 2010, when the USAFA pagan lay leader, TSgt Brandon Longcrier, was quoted publicly in the local paper<\/a>, and then suddenly those same quotes appeared in an “anonymous” message to the MRFF.\u00a0 Longcrier was already <\/em>associated with the MRFF.\u00a0 In other words, the complaint originated from within the MRFF, despite Weinstein’s efforts to portray it otherwise.<\/p>\n

Similarly, a band of brothers teamed up with Weinstein to protest the USAFA invitation given to retired Lt Clebe McClary.\u00a0 All but one of those participating in the public outcry<\/a> were already <\/em>activists associated with the MRFF — a fact they conveniently omitted, an obvious attempt to make their movement seem more “broad.”<\/p>\n

In April of 2010, Akiva David Miller — also of <\/em>the MRFF — wrote a letter to <\/em>the MRFF complaining about religious symbolism in NASCAR<\/a>.\u00a0 Again, a member of <\/em>the MRFF was writing a public letter to<\/em> the MRFF — all for public show.<\/p>\n

In other words, these aren’t forlorn, helpless troops calling out to Weinstein to be their savior.\u00a0 They’re already “clients” of Weinstein, and they’re either volunteering or being solicited to pen diatribes that come across as pathetic and plaintive cries for help from the “repressed<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Now, Weinstein’s done it again.\u00a0 In fact, Weinstein may have gone a step further and actually manufactured <\/em>a complaint to fit his needs.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Weinstein released a message complaining about a “Jesus Manga” comic book<\/a>, calling it “anti-Semitic” and saying it “may” be homophobic as well.<\/p>\n

The accusation itself is weak even for Weinstein.\u00a0 He provides no specifics, saying only that “Manga Messiah<\/a>” comic books appear <\/em>to be available to some <\/em>US troops at some <\/em>unspecified bases — which shouldn’t be too unexpected, given they’re published by Tyndale and available even on Amazon<\/a>.\u00a0 The letter even admits they don’t know where the books came from — nor do they care.\u00a0 They object to their mere existence<\/em>, and if they happen to be found within the military, more the worse.<\/p>\n

Like the diatribes of his erstwhile research assistant, Chris Rodda, Weinstein provides no proof of anything.\u00a0 He doesn’t even cite an event that precipitated the complaint.\u00a0 He does include, however, a fascinating “anonymous” email in his letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.<\/p>\n

The letter is dated only two days ago, and, like many of the other examples, is written in a pitiful tone by a presumably persecuted troop, crying out to Weinstein for help:<\/p>\n

HELP! I am an active U.S. Army soldier. Service members are receiving this dreadful \u2018Manga Messiah\u2019 Japanese comic. This thing goes way beyond your standard tract, it depicts homophobic and racially bigoted hatred…<\/p>\n

Please, Mikey, you\u2019ve gotta do something. Nobody understand just how WRONG this thing is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The troop describes how he came to be offended:<\/p>\n

I personally received a copy under my bunk in the transient area of Camp Arifjan, Kuwait…It was in a plastic bag bundled with other standard tracts that you find in stacks on every chaplain\u2019s desk…I’d hate to see one of them fall into the hands of a local Muslim…<\/p>\n

Every day I showed up, more and more pamphlets were piled on my desk, and only on my desk. It was because of a Chaplain. He zeroed in on me because I requested he stop giving me pamphlets, as I am not a Christian. He said he \u201creserved the right to evangelize the unchurched.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that’s where many readers will find a very familiar refrain.\u00a0 You see, one of Weinstein’s own clients <\/em>has been repeating this story <\/em>for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Like the persecuted troop in the email, US Army Sgt Justin Griffith — atheist coordinator of Rock Beyond Belief<\/a> — is a non-Christian who has been deployed to Camp Arifjan<\/a>\u00a0(twice, actually<\/a>).\u00a0 He, too, found<\/a> the “manga<\/a>” in a bag with other tracts<\/a>\u00a0while he was there.\u00a0 He, too, lamented what would happen if the comic ended up in the hands of a local<\/a>.\u00a0 He, too, complained of a chaplain piling tracts up on his desk — a chaplain who he said “reserve[d] the right to evangelize the unchurched<\/a>” (a refrain Griffith repeats repetitively<\/a>).\u00a0 Griffith recently told the story — again — in an atheist podcast interview<\/a> (in which he also complained about ChristianFighterPilot.com).<\/p>\n

Of course, Griffith said he responded by putting the “proselytizing” tracts from the chaplain — and a New Testament that came with them — most of the way through the shredder<\/a>.\u00a0 So, in his words, he “won the pissing contest<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Surely an atheist who proudly retold the story of shredding a New Testament to “win a pissing contest” with a chaplain long ago wouldn’t suddenly write an anonymous letter to Weinstein\u00a0years later complaining of persecution…would he?<\/p>\n

Is it possible there’s another <\/em>Soldier with such a strikingly similar story?<\/p>\n

For the coup de gr\u00e2ce<\/em>, its worth noting\u00a0the “scandal” is\u00a0yet another example of\u00a0the “circular evidence” for which the MRFF is known.\u00a0MRFF ally Bruce Wilson<\/a>, American Atheists, Justin Griffith, the\u00a0MRFF\u00a0— all were cited\u00a0as if they were independent sources adding support to a claim.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, each was\u00a0a link in a chain email dependent on but\u00a0one common source<\/a> within the same circle.\u00a0 (For his part, Wilson simply re-hashed his own article from 2008<\/a>, when he unsuccessfully tried to attach a political storyline to the scandal. It seems now he’s trying the military angle.)<\/p>\n

Weinstein uses US troops as pawns in his cause.\u00a0 He polls his own clients for an outrage index and coaches his pawns in writing letters for him to publish.<\/p>\n

It seems likely he isn’t above essentially manufacturing a “persecuted Soldier” to fit his needs.<\/p>\n

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