Tag Archives: MRFF

MRFF: Military Required to Have Chaplains for Everyone

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was recently interviewed about the Navy’s decision to ban civilian volunteers from leading religious services during boot camp. In the course of the interview, he was asked:

Host: Is the military required to provide a leader of some sort, to make sure that whatever somebody’s faith is, there’s somebody there — a chaplain, a volunteer, there — is that something that’s required…?

Weinstein: Yes, yes. That is a requirement from the chaplain’s corps.

Weinstein’s response digressed into converting people from one faith to another, so the hosts asked the question again:  Read more

Chaplains Group Joins MRFF in Complaint Against Navy

Retired US Army Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty recently teamed up with Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to send the Navy Recruit Training Command a joint letter (PDF) complaining about the Navy’s decision to ban civilian volunteers from leading religious services:

We have testified before the same Congressional panels. We have spoken out on the same incidents in the services. And, we are always on opposing sides, but in this instance it is easy for us both to say that the Navy went too far and is clearly in violation of the Constitutional religious liberty rights of American sailors at the Recruit Training Command.

While the MRFF said pigs must be flying for the MRFF and the Chaplain Alliance to be working together, it’s really not that dramatic. For one thing, Weinstein Read more

MRFF Joins Lawsuit Against Memorial Cross

The Bladensburg Cross, ca 1920-1950.

In what is presumably an effort to prove that it is not “anti-Christian,” Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF has joined a lawsuit (PDF) with the American Humanist Association demanding the removal of the Bladensburg, MD, “Peace Cross.” The Peace Cross was erected in 1925 by the American Legion.  Weinstein says (PDF)

The Bladensburg Cross is a Christian symbol on government property…

Because the Bladensburg Cross is a Christian symbol, it sends a message to all of our non-Christian MRFF clients that they are outsiders and unwelcome in the Town of Bladensburg. This message is particularly harmful in the context of a war memorial. It sends Read more

Chaplain Becomes CGO of the Year, Mikey Weinstein Target

US Air Force Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez was recently selected as the AFLCMC IMA CGO of the year.

Two days after the announcement, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein slammed the chaplain as “homophobic [and] anti-Semitic.”

Why Weinstein was monitoring the AFLCMC CGO ranking is a mystery. It’s possible he knew of Chaplain Hernandez from the chaplain’s time at USAFA, which was his last assignment until November of last year. Weinstein also has family in the Wright-Patterson area, which is where the 445th Airlift Wing is based and where the announcement would have been made.

Finally, Weinstein came to his conclusions about Chaplain Hernandez from viewing the publicly available sermons he gave to his home church. (As an IMA Reservist, the Chaplain’s primary job is civilian.)

Weinstein slams the chaplain for “putrid, bigoted Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s Lawyer Botches Complaint

A week ago, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein complained to US Navy CAPT Douglas Pfeifle that he was “essentially spiritually raping” his recruits after civilian chapel volunteers were summarily banned from the base earlier this month. CAPT Pfeifle replied to Weinstein the next day, saying he’d get back to him. A week later, with no response, Weinstein attempted to up the ante by having an actual lawyer write a letter to CAPT Pfeifle, claiming there was a “constitutional question” with the Recruit Training Command’s action [emphasis added]:

There is a constitutional question whether denying similarly situated individuals under your command substantially similar rights to exercise religious freedoms violates the right to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

You don’t even have to crack out your high school American government books to see the error from Weinstein’s presumably high-brow lawyer. The Fifth Amendment contains important protections of citizens’ rights, but it has nothing to do with “equal protection.” That’s the Fourteenth Amendment.

The writer is Mr. Robert Eye of Kauffman-Eye, who Read more

Lord Knows: Mikey Weinstein Threatens Suit over God-talk

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is the sole paid employee of a self-founded “charity” that claims to protect religious freedom in the US military. In fact, though, Weinstein pays himself more than a quarter million dollars per year while doing nothing more than attacking anything remotely approaching an expression of or an association with Christianity.

One of his most recent targets was sentries at Robins AFB who dared to say “have a blessed day” to those entering the base.

Because we can’t have people wishing others well, apparently. (Weinstein laughably asserted this was an attempt by the gate guards to convert people to Christianity.)

Then, Weinstein targeted a Wing Commander who Read more

Navy Cancels Some Boot Camp Chapel Services

In early April, the Navy commander of Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes — the basic training site for all incoming Sailors — told civilian volunteers they were no longer permitted to conduct religious services for recruits.

On the orders of Capt. Doug Pfeifle, the commanding officer of RTC, civilian volunteers for seven minority religious communities have been asked to stop conducting services.

An RTC official who spoke on background said the volunteers were asked to leave in accordance with Navy guidance, which stipulates that a uniformed chaplain or a religiously accredited military member should conduct the service before the service pursues other avenues.

Viewed optimistically, it appears to be a sincere action poorly executed or communicated. It seems the volunteer system had “gotten away from” the RTC leadership, and they found themselves unable to justify the program under Navy guidelines. It seems the RTC program was suffering from some logistical issues, including a formal way to control who could and could not conduct recruit services.

To be clear, the US military is not Read more

Homosexual “Christian Embassy” Unlikely to Face Criticism

A few years ago, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein filed a complaint about a promotional video for Christian Embassy, a ministry that seeks to serve senior level government officials, including military leaders. The gist of the “problem” was that uniformed military officers appeared in the video speaking positively about the role of Christian Embassy in their lives.

The result was an investigation by the Inspector General that determined the officers improperly implied military endorsement of Christian Embassy because they appeared on camera, in uniform, and spoke highly of the organization.

While Weinstein was disappointed that his primary complaint had been ignored (he claimed the officers were illegally promoting religion, and the IG disagreed), he was pleased that they’d been found ‘guilty’ of something. He and his assistant Chris Rodda would continue to cite this case and the ‘wear of the uniform/endorsement’ mantra for the next several years. Each time, they made the case that a Christian could not speak of his faith in uniform, because to do so was to imply government endorsement.

In the intervening years, another organization has arisen that has discovered the power of the military uniform.

The American Military Partner Association (AMPA) has used uniformed military members to advocate for legislation as well as “endorse” Read more

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