Last year, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) exposed a Christian jewelry company that was wrongfully using official military emblems on its religious jewelry, specifically its imitation dog tags. In violation of the military’s trademark and licensing regulations, which prohibit the use of official trademarked military emblems on items that promote religion, the dog tags sported a Bible verse along with the trademarked military emblems and logos. The Departments of the Navy and the Army agreed with MRFF and informed the jewelry company, called Shields of Strength, that it could not use their official emblems on its religious products. The Air Force was silent on the matter. Needless to say, the right-wing and Christian media were outraged by the Navy’s and Army’s decision, and of course outraged at MRFF, and the story went viral.
Not surprisingly, fundamentalist Christian legal organization First Liberty Institute took up the cause of Shields of Strength, using its typical tactic of lying about the facts of the situation to cry Christian persecution and stoke the outrage. Presumably on First Liberty’s advice, Shields of Strength, in defiance of the Army’s cease and desist letter, is continuing to sell its Bible verse dog tags with official Army logos on, although it has ceased selling its Navy and Marine versions.
Now there is another issue with Shields of Strength’s religious jewelry, recently reported to MRFF by a retired Air Force NCO – the displays of the company’s religious dog tags in Air Force base exchanges. Not only do these displays contain the dog tags with the official trademarked Air Force emblem on them, the side of the large display sports a blown up picture of the Bible verse on the back of these dog tags and a religious quote, also including the Bible verse.
The display, at least in the Buckley AFB base exchange (near Denver, Colorado) where the retired NCO took the photos sent to MRFF, is positioned in a high traffic area, right in the middle of displays of merchandise that actually is legally are licensed by the military and allowed to incorporate the official military emblems and logos – items like USB chargers, license plate holders, key fobs, etc. This illicit display not only implies that the Air Force officially endorses both the sectarian Christian religious products and the accompanying religious message of Shields of Strength, but the display and its religious message are unavoidable to shoppers wanting to buy popular items like an Air Force USB charger or license plate holder.
This is the quote covering most of the side of the display, which quotes Joshua 1:19, the Bible verse on most of Shields of Strength’s products:
“There is one in the Oval Office, others in the pockets of congressmen and senators, and, aside from the official insignias they wear, it is the emblem most often carried by members of the military in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
“They carry little shields, too, so that faith will rise in their own hearts. The words they carry are taken from the words of God to Joshua when he was just about to enter the promised land of his day. Now, centuries later, soldiers strive to enter the promised land of their own destiny and their national purpose. As they do, they are often reciting – in the barrens of Afghanistan, the rocky crags of Iraq – the meditation of an ancient warrior: ‘I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified, or discouraged; for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go.’”
The quote is from Stephen Mansfield. Who is Stephen Mansfield, you ask? Best known for his 2003 best-seller, The Faith of George W. Bush, with his 2007 book Ten Tortured Words, Mansfield joined the ranks of the Christian nationalist history revisionists, perpetuating, in some cases through near-plagiarism, the lies of pseudo-historian and former Texas Republican Party chairman David Barton, a man who Mansfield described in the book’s acknowledgments as a friend and mentor. (For my three part debunking of all the christian nationalist lies in that book see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)
Mansfield has also been an outspoken critic of MRFF, and is not surprisingly a fan of notorious Islamophobe retired Army General and Family Research Council senior executive Jerry “Jesus is coming back with an AR-15” Boykin. In his 2005 book, The Faith of the American Soldier, he devoted seven pages to defending and praising Boykin, and particularly Boykin’s 2003 “sermon,” in which he stated, referring to the capture of Somali warlord Osman Atto, “I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol,” statements that even got Boykin censured by then-President George W. Bush. According to Mansfield, however, by making such inflammatory comments, “Gen. Boykin gave many in the field just the kind of warrior code they needed to fulfill their duties with moral passion.”
Shields of Strength is of course free to make dog tags with Bible verses on them. They just can’t illicitly use official trademarked military emblems and logo on them. This violates Department of Defense Instruction 5535.12, “DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program Implementation,” Section 2.d. of which clearly 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 ...”
A military base exchange is also free to sell religious jewelry, but it should be in a jewelry section, not displayed as it is at Buckley AFB among officially licensed military merchandise, giving the unmistakable and unconstitutional impression that the military endorses the display’s overt sectarian religious message, and with that religious message being unavoidable to shoppers looking for other items.