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A US Air Force base in Illinois has removed a commander's name from a prayer breakfast invitation because 15 people on the base complained---and filed a formal complaint with the help of one of the nation's most adversarial atheist organizations.
Yes, the Air Force bowed to the atheist. Here's why.
Be informed.
The case against the commander.
Last Thursday the New Mexico-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation---which is in itself a contradiction of terms---sent a demand letter formally filing a complaint against Col. Jeremiah Heathman, objecting to a mass email he sent out to those stationed at the installation.
The email included an invitation to the "National Prayer Breakfast," scheduled for Feb. 25th at the base's event center.
The demand letter, the atheist "Military Religious Freedom" group argued, signified a "command priority."
Why?
Because the email was sent under Heathman's formal title of commander of the 375th Air Mobility Wing---therefore Heathman violated the constitutional rights of subordinates under his command by "establishing religion" in a manner that violates the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
Military Religious Freedom Foundation president, atheist Michael (Mikey) Weinstein, said in the letter that Heathman had "created a de facto 'religious test'."
Weinstein also said in his letter that Heathman "blatantly breached the bounds" of several Department of Defense and US Air Force directives, instructions and regulations,
Weinstein says, "They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing of disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief."
I have written about Michael "Mikey" Weinstein before in this Faith and Freedom Daily column. He loves the attention, and it helps raise money for his budget.
Predictably, Mikey took his case to the media.
He told the St. Louis Dispatch, "The prayer breakfast isn't benign; it's meant to be a massive proselytizing."
The Air Force made a slight change to accommodate the atheist by removing the commander's name.
Weinstein is out this week claiming a complete victory. Following the St. Louis Dispatch article, he emailed his supporters saying, "We just won."
"We" would be Mikey, his organization and the 15 who complained---6 of whom are self-identified Christians, and 9 that hold minority faiths or no faith.
Weinstein's organization is committed to getting God out of the US military.
This isn't an isolated event.
After pressure from Mikey, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service agreed last month to stop selling "Jesus Candy" in its stores.
In 2011, the organization pressured (the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs) over its participation in Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child charity movement to provide Christmas gifts to children in war-torn nations.
He has also pressured military services to remove Bibles placed on tables honoring prisoners of war and service members missing in action.
Last month, MRFF criticized the US government for holding a ceremony to dedicate the Bible that will be used to swear in commanders of the newly-created US Space Force.
The Washington Post reported that he called it a "display of fundamentalist Christian supremacy."
It's disappointing to see the most powerful military bowing to an opportunist atheist---in the name of "constitutionality" while the opportunist and a few good atheists work tirelessly to tear God from the fabric of our culture.
Advice from a not very religious Founding Father.
Benjamin Franklin was highly respected for his intelligence and common sense in the founding of the United States of America, but he was not known as a deeply religious person.
However, Franklin gave this advice to our young nation:
"It is the duty of mankind on all suitable occasions to acknowledge their dependence on the Divine Being...[that] Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the rage of war among the nations...[and that]...He would take this province under His protection, confound the designs and defeat the attempts of its enemies, and unite our hearts and strengthen our hands in every undertaking that may be for the public good, and our defense and security in this time of danger."
Secularists often claim Franklin was an atheist or a deist. Yet, he said this to our young nation:
"Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature."
In July of 1776, Franklin and a few colleagues were working to draft a seal for the newly created United States which would characterize the spirit of this new nation.
Franklin proposed, "Moses lifting up his wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh in his chariot overwhelmed with the waters with this motto; "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
We must be vigilant---or those claiming rights the Constitution doesn't bestow will convert our great Document into a weapon of spiritual and cultural destruction.
Franklin's friend and colleague Patrick Henry---a very religious man---said:
"When people forget God, tyrants forge their chains."
I hear the clanging on the anvil, let's be clear about who the "tyrants" really are.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.