{"id":28647,"date":"2014-03-20T00:21:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T03:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=28647"},"modified":"2016-09-26T12:07:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T15:07:12","slug":"weinstein-uses-atheist-complaint-as-proof-of-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/20\/weinstein-uses-atheist-complaint-as-proof-of-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"Weinstein uses Atheist Complaint as Proof of Equality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update<\/strong><\/span>: Todd Starnes at FoxNews covers ‘the rest of the story<\/a>‘ (via the PatriotPost<\/a>) left unsaid — or unknown — by Mikey Weinstein.\u00a0 He notes, for example, both the staff tower announcement at Mitch’s and the wing-wide email, which the Academy defended — though it didn’t defend those same actions by Christians against Weinstein’s attacks in 2011<\/a>. Also<\/a>, [formatting original]<\/p>\n

The Cadets who contacted me about the atheist event indicated that they were not objecting to the promotion of that event, but to the hypocrisy of that promotion, versus a fellow Cadet being asked to remove a Bible verse from his door. Obviously, only the Christian expression of faith is the target of AFA discrimination, and it is Johnson\u2019s \u201creligious impartiality\u201d which should be in contention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jason Torpy and the MAAF — Weinstein’s erstwhile ally — took issue with his characterizations <\/a>of their activities (though they supported removing the Bible verse).<\/p>\n

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Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF has said he filed a “complaint” about atheists<\/a> at the US Air Force Academy — and this is proof that he’s an equal opportunity critic:<\/p>\n

Weinstein said an atheist cadet announced at the academy’s chow hall on Wednesday, while everyone was at attention, that Wednesday and Thursday would be “Ask an Atheist” days.” Weinstein said a group of the cadets set up a display on the third floor of Fairchild Hall, which includes classrooms, lab and research facilities and faculty offices.<\/p>\n

“Replace ‘Ask an Atheist’ with ‘Ask a Christian,’ ‘Ask a Jew,” or “Ask a Muslim,'” said Weinstein, and the problem is obvious. “This is unlawful.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The first question: Is Weinstein’s accusation accurate?<\/p>\n

Simply, no. Weinstein appears to take issue with both the announcement and the actual “event.” The former is an announcement, nothing more. The US Air Force Academy is a campus of 4,000 cadets. When a group wants to get together and offer opportunities to others, they have to be able to communicate that somehow<\/em>. USAFA currently allows such announcements in various forms.\u00a0 Whether the announcement is about the chess club, the atheist club, or the religious club, it should make no difference.<\/p>\n

To the latter — the event itself — it is a non-issue. The academic buildings are routinely used for cadets to gather for a variety of reasons (some more nefarious than others). There is no law, regulation, or policy that restricts the use of the building specifically based on the content of the discussion the cadets are having.<\/p>\n

Weinstein is flatly wrong.\u00a0 Cadets are free to share their ideologies with their fellow cadets as they wish, whether they are atheists, theists, or anything else.\u00a0 It is no more “unlawful” than having a Hispanic Heritage Month announcement and event in the same place.<\/p>\n

While Weinstein appears to be consistent in his constitutional and legal ignorance, the second question remains: Is he being consistent in his treatment of ideology, as he claims?<\/p>\n

Let’s compare this with his reaction to other cadets:<\/p>\n