‘Jesus candy’ on military base violates religious freedom, group claims

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 the de facto armed forces State Religion,” Weinstein told Crooks and Liars. […]

First Liberty Institute lawyer and director of military affairs, Mike Berry, told Fox News Weinstein’s complaint doesn’t hold any legal ground.

“This is just the latest publicity stunt by a bunch of activists. A real constitutional expert — or any first-year law student — knows that selling candy canes at Christmas is perfectly legal,” Berry, a Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Afghanistan, said. …

Even in Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, the phrase was “a wall of separation between church and state”, which is not the same thing as separation of church and state. The notion of such separation appeared in the USSR’s constitution:

In order to ensure to citizens freedom of conscience, the church in the USSR is separated from the state, and the school from the church. Freedom of religious worship and freedom of antireligious propaganda is recognized for all citizens.

— 1936 “Stalin” constitution, Article 124

Citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of conscience, that is, the right to profess or not to profess any religion, and to conduct religious worship or atheistic propaganda. Incitement of hostility or hatred on religious grounds is prohibited.

In the USSR, the church is separated from the state, and the school from the church.

— 1977 “Brezhnev” constitution, Article 52

So anyone who pushes “separation of church and state” is pushing the old Soviet system.

“A real constitutional expert — or any first-year law student — knows that selling candy canes at Christmas is perfectly legal,”

Candy canes are “Jesus-themed” candies???

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