It’s always nice to be recognized for your work, and we at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) are deeply touched that 20 members of Congress consider our work so impactful that they warranted it deserving of a letter to the Secretary of Defense.
The letter, highlighting several of MRFF’s recent victories in keeping proselytizing in the military under control during this “unprecedented time,” was the work of Doug Collins (R-GA) and nineteen of his fellow Christian nationalist members of Congress, most of their names recognizable as being members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus. While the Congressional Prayer Caucus have never been big fans of MRFF, they have always been there over the years to shower us with attention — and letters about us — lots of letters about us.
In this current letter, they highlight MRFF’s recent success in putting a stop to the “porch preaching” of an Air Force officer. The situation there was that every Sunday during the COVID-19 lockdown at USAG Stuttgart, Germany, Air Force Lt. Col. David McGraw was forcing the other military personnel and their families in his on-base military housing apartment area to listen to his Christian worship services, delivered from his apartment balcony. Twenty-eight families in the “porch preacher’s” apartment area — twenty-two of which were Christian families — came to MRFF for help in putting a stop to what was in effect a mandatory attendance at these worship services. After MRFF's demand to his commanding officer, Lt. Col. McGraw delivered a letter of apology to his neighbors informing them that he would no longer be disturbing their Sunday mornings. Lt. Col. McGraw is still able to hold his religious services, but is doing so in an outdoor area away from the apartment buildings.
The letter from Rep. Collins and his nineteen cohorts neglects to mention that there were twenty-eight families that complained about the “porch preaching,” or that Lt. Col. McGraw is still holding worship services for those who want them, instead writing: “The command at USAG Stuttgart unlawfully halted Lt. Col. McGraw’s services to appease an anti-faith organization. Lt. Col. McGraw should be allowed to continue his Sunday morning preaching and hymn-singing immediately.”
Another MRFF victory highlighted in the letter — or rather a series of victories — is MRFF’s recent success in getting various military commands to remove proselytizing COVID-19 chaplain videos removed for their commands’ Facebook pages. These videos, posted on the Facebook pages of Fort Hamilton, Fort Drum, Redstone Arsenal, and the Air Force Reserve were complained about by members of those military commands, who saw them as the chaplains capitalizing on the COVID-19 crisis to proselytize. In all four cases, when contacted with the complaints about these videos, the commanders (who no doubt consulted with their legal staffs) decided to take them down. MRFF’s position on these videos is not that chaplains can’t make them and post them, but that they should be posted on the base’s or unit’s chaplain’s page, not the command page. (But why would a chaplain bent on proselytizing want to post on a piddly little chaplain’s page that only has a few hundred followers, when their command’s page has thousands or even tens of thousands of followers and command perceived endorsement?)
And finally, an ongoing case is described in the Congress members’ letter thusly:
“Col. Moon H. Kim, Camp Humphreys, South Korea
“In April, Col. Moon H. Kim, the garrison chaplain at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, authored an email to his chaplain colleagues including a PDF of a faith-based book he thought may help them and the families they serve. On April 29, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) sent you a letter demanding adverse action be taken against Col. Kim in response to his lawful email. Now, Col. Kim’s lawful actions are under review.
“Col. Kim, who made a selfless effort to help his colleagues during this global health crisis, is now being subject to a review that could harm his career and reputation. Given the content of his email and Federal law protecting religious speech, it is clear that Col. Kim should not and cannot be disciplined for his email.”
The letter also says:
“In recent weeks, you and Army commands across the globe have received multiple, unfounded complaints from an organization that has a reputation for preying on military chaplains.”
What the letter doesn’t say is that the complaints about Col. Moon H. Kim’s sending of this “faith-based book” came from chaplains!
Twenty-two Christian chaplains at Camp Humphreys came to MRFF, outraged and disgusted that Chaplain Kim sent them this book. Why were these chaplains outraged and disgusted? Because the book was fundamentalist preacher John Piper’s “Coronavirus and Christ,” a book that espouses the opinion that that the coronavirus is God’s judgment for sins, particularly the sin of “homosexual intercourse,” and this book, with its appalling message, was sent to them by their senior chaplain.
A petition started by a Christian organization, Faithful America, in support of MRFF’s call for Chaplain Kim to be punished, currently has over 11,000 signatures.
How would Rep. Doug Collins, who, besides being a member of Congress is also an Air Force Reserve chaplain, like it if his superior chaplain sent him an unsolicited copy of a book that promoted being gay as the best thing since sliced bread?
In closing, I would once again like to thank these esteemed, if not quite honest, members of Congress for taking the time recognize our work! We’re flattered!
P.S. Lawrence Wilkerson (Colonel, U.S. Army – ret.), Member of the Advisory Board of MRFF, Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary, and former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has penned a beautiful response to the Congress members’ letter, which can be read here.
