Is hell freezing over?
The U.S. Army just backed the recent successes of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’ (MRFF) in defiance of aggressive complaints from twenty fundamentalist Christian Republican members of Congress!
On May 14, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) and nineteen other fundamentalist Christian members of the House of Representatives, chagrined over a recent string of victories for MRFF in protecting the rights of our service members to be free from unwanted proselytizing by those of their ilk, wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, attacking MRFF. That letter began:
“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. … Unfortunately, the Department and the Army have been far too quick to restrict the religious freedom of chaplains and the servicemembers they serve as a result of this group attacks.”
The organization referred to, and named in succeeding paragraphs of the letter, was, of course, MRFF.
The letter went on, not always factually correctly, to describe several of MRFF’s recent victories in stopping chaplains and one officer who is not a chaplain, from taking advantage of the COVID crisis to foist their religion on service members who do not want religion foisted upon them. For the specifics of the incidences of the foisting about which MRFF, on behalf of its clients (the majority of whom are Christians themselves), demanded and got positive action from a number of commanders, see my previous post on the letter to Esper from Rep. Collins, et al.
In the second to last paragraph of the letter, the Congress members expressed that they were “frustrated” that Army commanders were agreeing with MRFF, saying, “This must end.”
“We are growing frustrated as senior military leaders, often out of ignorance, continue to violate the religious liberty and clearly expressed, explicit intent of Congress when it comes to chaplains. Far too often, commanders react in a knee-jerk fashion to loud complaints from vocal anti-religion activists only to have their decisions immediately overturned upon scrutiny, but often only after congressional intervention pressing the Services to adhere to their own regulations (let alone the Constitution). This must end.”
But end it will not, according to the response that these pious members of Congress received from the Department of the Army, on behalf of Esper, and now they are pissed, with Rep. Collins and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) today issuing a press release headed: “COLLINS, LAMBORN BLAST ESPER FOR FAILING TO PROTECT RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.”
The Army’s response was that the Army is supporting the decisions of the commanders in favor of MRFF’s demands:
“In all cases outlined in your letter, the commands that received a complaint sought assistance from their higher headquarters and the Army staff. In response to inquiries, the Army provided guidance to ensure chaplains and commands are able to continue to use social media for religious support activities in compliance with applicable laws and policy.”
Today’s press release from Reps. Collins and Lamborn announces a new letter they have sent to Secretary Esper, dated July 1, which begins (emphasis and link added):
“While we appreciate the Army’s response to our letter dated May 14, 2020, we are discouraged to learn that the Army is not only standing behind the decisions of commands that have restricted the religious liberty of their chaplains and servicemembers, but the Army and the Department of Defense (DoD) are also supporting these actions and guiding commands’ responses to the aggressive demands of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and Mikey Weinstein. …”
The letter also accuses MRFF of “anti-faith claims made against chaplains,” omitting, as in their first letter, that in one of the cases in that letter MRFF’s clients were chaplains — twenty-two Christian chaplains But facts won’t stand in the way of Reps. Collins and Lamborn, who wrote (emphasis added):
“Those at the highest echelons of our military must prioritize protecting the rights and freedoms of servicemembers, just as those servicemembers fight to protect those freedoms for all Americans. We were encouraged following a conversation with Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Matthew Donovan on June 12, 2020, that signaled receptiveness to our concerns regarding the DoD’s handling of the barrage of anti-faith claims made against chaplains by Mikey Weinstein and his organization, the MRFF.”
In this new letter, adding to their grievances from their May 14 letter, Reps. Collins and Lamborn are quite miffed that the Navy is still not allowing in-person religious services due to the COVID pandemic.
They are also apparently quite miffed that Secretary Esper delegated the response to their first letter to the Department of the Army, and are now demanding a meeting with the man himself:
“In light of the recent Navy order and the DoD’s unwillingness to take responsibility for its failure to enforce religious liberty protections for our troops, we request that you or your office – not the Army or the Navy – produce the following no later than July 31, 2020:
1. A detailed explanation of the “comprehensive policies and training concerning religious freedom” mentioned Army’s letter postmarked June 11, 2020;
2. An explanation of how and when such guidance is circulated;
3. An explanation on how the decisions were made in the cases outlined in our May 14, 2020, letter;
4. An explanation of the Navy’s recent unlawful order.
Additionally, we request that you schedule a meeting with members of Congress, JAGs, military chaplains, and DoD officials no later than July 31, 2020, to discuss the steps that need to be taken to protect the religious freedom of our servicemembers.”
The letter’s reference to “training concerning religious freedom” is the likely explanation for the Senate’s inclusion in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021, introduced on June 23, of a section on “Training on Religious Accommodation for Members of the Armed Forces,” which, as I will explain in my next post, is really training in how to force your your religion on others. So stay tuned as more of the fundamentalist Christian congressional crusaders’ response to MRFF’s success in defending religious freedom for ALL service members is revealed.
