Free Republic

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a religious liberty group focused on keeping religious influence out of the U.S. military, is protesting Wreaths Across America, a group that places wreaths at thousands of military gravesites around the country annually on Dec. 18 and 19, and calling their work an “atrocity.” “We have no problem if people reach out and want a wreath on their deceased veterans’ graves, but to put them everywhere, to blanket them without permission of the surviving families is unconstitutional, an atrocity and a disgrace,” MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein told the Colorado Springs Gazette on Saturday.

The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is facing backlash from both sides of the religious liberty debate after it planned a training session that was later canceled over the speaker’s background in Christianity -- fueling Congressional scrutiny of both the military and the nonprofit which appeared to prompt the cancellation. Air Force veteran Jay Lorenzen was slated to speak at an annual training for JAG reservists on Friday, but that came to a screeching halt after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) relayed its reservist clients’ concerns about Lorenzen’s beliefs influencing his talks. An MRFF press release boasted on Saturday that...

WASHINGTON — The US Veterans Administration will not replace three tombstones of soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany inscribed with swastikas in its military cemeteries, calling them “historic resources.” A group that advocates for religious freedom in the military on Monday called on the VA to replace two World War II-era POW headstones in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, inscribed with swastikas inside a German cross, and the phrase, “He died far from his home for the Führer, people, and fatherland.”

The blessing of what's being called "the official Bible for the new U.S. Space Force" at the Washington National Cathedral on Sunday is drawing an outpouring of criticism on social media and condemnation from a prominent religious freedom advocacy group. "The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) condemns, in as full-throated a manner as is humanly possible, the shocking and repulsive display of only the most vile, exclusivist, fundamentalist Christian supremacy," MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein wrote in a statement denouncing the Bible blessing. "The utilization of a Christian bible to 'swear in' commanders of the new Space Force or...

Selling Jesus-themed candies on an Air Force base is just one example of religious freedom in the U.S. being “under constant attack,” according to a watchdog group. Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) founder and president Mikey Weinstein is furiously calling out the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., for offering such products at its shop. “Peterson Air Force Base, located deep in the intolerant, fundamentalist Christian enclave of Colorado Springs, Colorado, has consistently been one of the most horrendous military installation abusers of the Constitutional mandate to NOT establish Christianity (or any other faith or even ‘non-faith’) as...

When Army Captain Russell Rippetoe was killed in action on April 2, 2003 -- the first combat casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- then-President George W. Bush spoke about how Rippetoe had on his dog tags "Joshua 1:9" engraved on it. For the past 20 years, military members have been able to wear dog tags with Bible verses on them, giving them light and hope in some of their darkest times. For some Gold Star families, this is one of their most cherished possessions to remember their loved one who gave the ultimate sacrifice. But all this could be coming...

In yet another unhinged rant, Mr. Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, founder and president of the inaptly named Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), has once again claimed that the sky is falling in the U.S. military. And, once again, he has moronically equated sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the military to violent Islamic jihadism. Mr. Weinstein has characterized sharing one’s faith in Christ in uniform as part of a plot aiming at “a systemic hostile takeover of the U.S. military by lunatic, fundamentalist Christians.” He has labelled Christian Service Members who simply wish to obey the Great Commission as...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 30, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — An open lesbian has been chosen to be the next commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to a USAF Academy report and other media. Col. Kristin Goodwin has a “wife” and two children. She will take charge of the USAF Academy pending approval by the U.S. Senate. If approved, she likely will assume her new position in May. That is usually a formality, but conservative opposition to her appointment might make it less so.

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey — An activist that often works to separate God from the military is seeking the punishment of an Air Force commander who responded to a recent interview question that Jesus is his guide and influences his decisions. The Incirlik Air Base in Turkey published the interview last month on its website, which recently decided to feature new faces to the base as an introduction to others. On Sept. 15, the focus was on U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Kersten, who serves with the 39th Medical Support Squadron. The unit provides “preventative and clinical health and...

A Bible was removed from the waiting room of a Chillicothe Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Athens, Ohio after a veteran complained. “Our government is secular, and must remain secular,” the unidentified veteran wrote. Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, fired off a letter to the medical center on behalf of the veteran – alleging that the presence of the Bible inside a government facility is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Weinstein, a fussy little man with a strong aversion to our Lord, said the Bible’s placement in the waiting room was “illicit and...

The U.S. Military Academy is launching an inquiry into a prayer led by coaches following Army’s opening-day victory over Temple last week. Video of the post-game invocation was pulled offline on Monday after West Point officials received a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Mikey Weinstein, who heads the MRFF, said he received complaints from six members of the football team, two of whom he said identified as Christians, as well as dozens of Army graduates and staff who took exception to the religious expression. He said the video showed head coach Jeff Monken directing an assistant coach to...

The Air Force Reserve Command is threatening to censor a report about a reservist and his family who spend their Christmas holidays each year on humanitarian trips – most recently visiting Guatemala and providing medical treatment for indigenous people. The threat is drawing outrage from the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, which has dispatched a letter to the military that not only is the article acceptable, to censor it would be to allow a “heckler’s veto” to control expression, “something that the Supreme Court has explicitly rejected.” (the article) features Senior Master Sgt. Larry Gallo, who with his wife, Yvonne,...

  So help me, me. In a victory for the tombstone-dancing Military Religious Freedom Foundation (whose name implies the opposite of what they actually believe), the Air Force reversed its 2013 legal opinion requiring recruits to recite the entire Oath of Office when enlisting or receiving a commission in the U.S. Air Force.  By entire oath I mean including the part where “So help me God” is said at the end. The issue was originally raised back in 2013 when the MRFF found that the Air Force was enforcing the Federal laws requiring the entire oath as written.  I never...

The Internal Revenue Service said it will monitor churches and other houses of worship for electioneering in a settlement reached with an atheist group. The settlement was reached Friday (July 18) in federal court in Madison, Wis., where the initial lawsuit was filed in 2012 by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist advocacy group that claims 20,000 members nationwide. The suit alleged the IRS routinely ignored complaints by the FFRF and others about churches promoting political candidates, issues or proposed legislation. As part of their tax-exempt status, churches and other religious groups are prohibited from engaging in partisan...

Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to “rape” and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing. President Mikey Weinstein and others from his organization met privately with Pentagon officials on April 23. He said U.S. troops who proselytize are guilty of sedition and treason and should be punished –...

A small, coastal town in central California has settled a lawsuit regarding prayer at City Council meetings, ultimately agreeing to no longer hold any form of prayer, whether sectarian or non-sectarian, ahead of the local government meetings. City officials say they decided to settle the lawsuit to avoid further legal costs paid by taxpayer money. Pismo Beach city officials announced their settlement earlier this week, nearly six months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF] and the local chapter of Atheists United San Luis Obispo filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that it had violated the U.S. Constitution's separation...

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.. – Matthew 10:22 Todd Starnes opened up a can of worms last week by reporting the actions of Christian hater Mikey Weinstein, director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. “Mikey the Intolerant” demanded the Air Force Academy remove a Bible verse posted on a cadet’s whiteboard. Academy stall determined from Mikey’s complaint that Galatians 2:20 created a hostile academic environment. Though Mr. Weinstein claimed that 29 cadets and four faculty and staff members complained to him about the...

NSA whistleblower Russel Tice – a key source in the 2005 New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping – told Peter B. Collins on Boiling Frogs Post (the website of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds): Tice: Okay. They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial. But they went...

<p>The Marine Corps Times reports today that a controversy has erupted over religious expression in the military pitting the Department of Defense between....</p>

The U.S. Air Force Academy has pulled out of a Christian-sponsored children’s toy drive after commanders were accused of religious intolerance. Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the academy’s participation in Operation Christmas Child is inappropriate because of its evangelical Christian roots. Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham — the son of evangelist Billy Graham. It packs toys and other items into shoe boxes and sends them to needy children around the world, along with a Christian message in each gift. “This is arrogance beyond measure,” Weinstein...