It came to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) last week that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) had officially licensed a Christian jewelry company to use the official trademarked USMC emblem on their products. Among its products, the company, Shields of Strength LLC, is currently producing dog tags with a Bible verse on one side and the official USMC emblem on the other. They also sell similar Bible verse dog tags for the other military branches, using the official trademarked Air Force and Navy emblems and the official trademarked Army logo, although its unknown whether or not they have been granted a license to do so.
The problem? The use of official Armed Forces emblems and logos on blatantly religious items like these dog tags is not only an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion, but also violates the Department of Defense’s regulation on what items can and cannot be licensed to contain the official DoD emblems and logos.
Specifically, the use of the emblems and logo on these blatantly religious dog tags violates DoD Instruction 5535.12, “DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program Implementation,” Section 2.d. of which states (emphasis added):
“In accordance with subpart 2635.702 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (Reference (i)), DoD marks may not be licensed for use in a manner that creates a perception of DoD endorsement of any non-federal entity or its products and services. DoD marks may not be licensed for any purpose intended to promote ideological movements, sociopolitical change, religious beliefs (including non-belief), specific interpretations of morality, or legislative/statutory change….”
The U.S. military should absolutely not be officially endorsing through the use of its emblems and logos the products of a company whose stated mission for selling these products is: “To share the love, hope, forgiveness, and power of God’s Word with others and to see people victorious in life’s battles and in a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, MRFF is demanding that the military cease to allow the use of its emblems and logos by Shields of Strength, sending the following letter to the USMC’s trademark office and similar letters to the trademark offices of the other three military branches.
U.S. Marine Corps Trademark & Licensing Program
Headquarters United States Marine Corps
Public Affairs, Room 4B548
3000 Marine Corps Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350
RE: USMC Violations of the United States Constitution and DoD Regulatory Directives
CEASE and DESIST IMMEDIATELY
To Whom It May Concern:
The United States Marine Corps is currently in direct violation of, inter alia, the No Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, its construing Federal caselaw and applicable DoD and USMC regulatory directives.
It has come to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) that an organization called "Shields of Strength LLC" is a U.S. Marine Corps (USMC)-officially approved licensee for using the official trademarked USMC emblem on its Christian religious dog tags.
These Christian proselytizing dog tags are blatantly religious and wholly sectarian in representing solely the Christian faith. Indeed, they each contain a Bible verse along with the official USMC emblem. The Shields of Strength’s tag-line is “Jewelry to Express Your Faith,” and its website specifically calls the products “Christian jewelry.”
Further, the stated singular mission of Shields of Strength is: “To share the love, hope, forgiveness, and power of God’s Word with others and to see people victorious in life’s battles and in a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
This organization currently sells dog tags and other items clearly containing the official USMC emblem and a Christian Bible verse.
The use of DoD emblems and logos on the Shields of Strength’s blatantly Christian religious products clearly implies an undeniable and incontrovertible endorsement of the Christian religion, in direct violation of the No Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, well established caselaw as well as DoD Instruction 5535.12, “DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program Implementation,” Section 2.d. of which states:
“In accordance with subpart 2635.702 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (Reference (i)), DoD marks may not be licensed for use in a manner that creates a perception of DoD endorsement of any non-federal entity or its products and services. DoD marks may not be licensed for any purpose intended to promote ideological movements, sociopolitical change, religious beliefs (including non-belief), specific interpretations of morality, or legislative/statutory change….”
Additionally, the use of the USMC emblem on these religious dog tags violates the USMC's own "Trademark Licensing Qualification Standards," section 8 of which lists "Products that contain political or religious activism" under "Categories of Products Not Licensed by USMC.”
Pursuant to the foregoing, the MRFF demands that the USMC (1) immediately revoke and cancel the current approval for ”Shields of Strength” to continue using the official USMC emblem on any and/or all of its religious items for sale; and, (2) immediately investigate and aggressively and visibly punish those personnel either directly or indirectly responsible for granting the approval for “Shields of Strength” to use the USMC emblem on its products for sale in the first place.
Please advise soonest of the status of your decision regarding MRFF’s demand to cease and desist in this disgraceful matter of USMC-endorsed, fundamentalist Christian supremacy, exceptionalism and dominion and domination.
**Please note well: Failure to timely conform with MRFF’s demands herein may result in enforcement actions to compel compliance including, but not limited to administrative and litigation complaints lodged against the USMC.
Sincerely,
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
Founder and President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
CC: General Joseph Dunford, Chairman, Joint Chefs of Staff
General Robert Neller, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps