Monday Evening, September 18, 2023 | |
Happy 76th Birthday United States Air Force! | |
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ARMY BASE PX CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE
OWNER ADMITS TO THE CHRISTIAN POST
THAT HIS STORE HAS A “MISSION” BEYOND
“JUST BEING A FOR-PROFIT STORE”
211 MRFF clients at Fort Liberty, 165 of them Christian, want the Faith2Soar Christian bookstore, with its obtrusive displays of "Jesus" t-shirts and other Christian messages, both outside of the store and hanging on its unavoidable kiosk, removed from the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)-run Fort Liberty PX mini-mall.
But AAFES — blatantly ignoring its own stated "Core Value" of "Respect Everyone" — is apparently going to allow this advertisement-for-Christianity-of-a-store to stay.
When asked by Military Times if AAFES sells religious items for Jewish, Muslim, or other faiths in its stores, AAFES spokesman Chris Ward blithely answered: “Customer demand determines product and service availability.” So much for "Respect Everyone"!!!
Faith2Soar owner Josh Creson, telling The Christian Post of his own conversion to Christianity, said he "credited his peers in the military with 'planting the seeds' by sharing their faith with him."
Creson further said he sees his Fort Liberty store "as his mission to help service people emotionally and spiritually," and "We find that our presence here is not just being a for-profit store"
Yes, because his off-post store — less than a mile away — doesn't have the right "presence" to facilitate the proselytizing of Fort Liberty's soldiers like an on-post store does!!!
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MRFF Matters - 9/18/23 - MRFF Demands
Army Base PX Christian Bookstore Be Removed
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THE CHRISTIAN POST
COVERS MRFF
Activist group pressures military base
to remove Christian bookstore
By: Samantha Kamman
Monday, September 18, 2023
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In addition to Faith2Soar owner Josh Creson's admission that his Fort Liberty PX "presence" has a “mission” beyond “just being a for-profit store,” The Christian Post article includes fundamentalist legal organization First Liberty Institute' Mike Berry saying of MRFF's demand that the store be removed:
"Mikey Weinstein lives in a fantasy world in which the law is as he thinks it should be" ... "Fortunately for us Americans, the Constitution actually protects the right of patriots like Mr. Creson to operate a business in accordance with his faith. The government cannot forbid a company from operating on base just because it happens to be a faith-based company. That's unlawful discrimination."
Mikey Weinstein, responding to Mike Berry, told The Christian Post that First Liberty Institute "would not know a First Amendment church-state violation if it bit them in the face," and "The only 'fantasy world' [Berry] and they inhabit would have a dark, unforgiving, unconstitutional Christian theocracy controlling our nation much as the fictional nation ‘Gilead’ is described in the best selling book and celebrated TV series 'The Handmaid’s Tale.'"
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NEWSMAX
COVERS MRFF
Activist Seeks Removal of Christian
Bookstore From Military Mini-Mall
By: Fran Beyer
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
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Newsmax regurgitates Military Times article covering MRFF's demand that the Christian nationalist Faith2Soar store and kiosk be removed from the Fort Liberty PX mini-mall and the altogether inadequate response from AAFES, whose spokesman Chris Ward, when asked by Military Times if AAFES sells religious items for Jewish, Muslim, or other faiths in its stores, answered: “Customer demand determines product and service availability.”
Article neglects to mention that MRFF made this demand on behalf of 211 soldiers at Fort Liberty, 165 of them Christians.
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MRFF client photos of Faith2Soar store
and kiosk in the Fort Liberty PX mini-mall
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And, of course, no Christian store at the installation that’s home to the 82nd Airborne Division would be complete without selling the book Jesus was an Airborne Ranger! | |
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We haven't seen such an odious example of a military installation allowing this level of unfettered Christian proselytizing in one of its shopping facilities since
"Enabled By Christ – A Store for the Christian Man"
in the Malmstrom Air Force Base BX many years ago.
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The latest death threat against Mikey Weinstein, posted on MRFF's website, also heinously threatens Mikey's elderly mother. It doesn't get more utterly despicable than this. | |
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Author: Ugoofedfaggot
September 16, 2023 at 11:14 pm PDT
You messed up this time. When you think your doors are locked, there is always a window. See you soon buddy. Oh, and tell you sweet mom I said hello. I’ll see her soon too. Itll be fun. We can play “what does she look like screaming and crying”
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Op-Eds from Mikey Weinstein about the death threats regularly received by himself, his family, and MRFF | |
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"Activist wants ‘unconstitutional’
Christian bookstore off this base"
From: (name withheld)
Date: September 10, 2023 at 10:06:57 AM PDT
To: mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Subject: Activist wants ‘unconstitutional’ Christian bookstore off this base
There is only one God – and he knows who you are
Get a life and do something good instead of woke shit
(name withheld)
To see responses from
MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein,
MRFF Advisory Board Members Mike Farrell, James Currie,
and Marty France, and MRFF Board Member John Compere:
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"But drag queens are ok on base 😂"
From: (name withheld)
Date: September 12, 2023 at 11:09:00 AM MDT
To: mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Subject: But drag queens are ok on base 😂
[No text]
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"Feel sorry for you"
From: (name withheld)
Date: September 12, 2023 at 11:08:03 AM MDT
To: mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org.
Subject: Feel sorry for you
That hate in you is palpable.
Signed Large market TV News anchor and NFL QB
(Not huge Christians, but who are you to push your shit on others.:.??? and yes, you would know who we are :) )
To see responses from
MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein,
MRFF Advisory Board Member Mike Farrell,
and MRFF Board Member John Compere:
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"Thank you!"
From: (name withheld)
Date: September 12, 2023 at 1:21:55 PM MDT
To: mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Subject: Thank you!
I want to thank you, comrade, for standing up against the scourge of Christian imperialism. Your work against the religious right is legendary and laudable. As our mutual hero, Marx, has stated, “religion is the opiate of the people.” Exterminating all religion is the goal, as we both know. From Christians to Jews, all religion is an affront to mankind, reason and the progress of humanity in general. Thank you again for your commitment to the cause.
Your new friend,
Vladimir
To see responses from
MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein,
MRFF Advisory Board Members Mike Farrell and James Currie,
and MRFF Board Member John Compere:
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"Religious freedom"
From: (name withheld)
Date: September 12, 2023 at 11:01:18 AM MDT
To: mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Subject: Religious freedom
What are you afraid of Mikey?
You should educate yourself on the “separation of church and state”.
AAFES isn’t forcing religion on people like you (so get over yourself). They are providing something for the people that want it just like beer for the beer drinker.
If the DOD can have drag shows for the freaks and fags than a Christian book store is the least of the soldiers worrys.
Be a good atheist and go away.
(name withheld)
To see response from
MRFF Board Member John Compere:
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Christian nationalist Rep. Mike Turner's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to SHUT MRFF DOWN by making it ILLEGAL for members of the military to even communicate with MRFF is now part of the GOP-led House's version of the NDAA, WHICH HAS BEEN PASSED BY THE WHOLE HOUSE WITH TURNER’S DESPICABLE, VINDICTIVE, AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT STILL IN IT!!!
Last week, the Senate passed its version of the NDAA,
which does not contain any language regarding MRFF. When Congress returns from its August recess, a conference committee made up of both House and Senate members will meet to reconcile the two bills. THIS IS WHERE TURNER'S AMENDMENT TO SHUT MRFF DOWN MUST BE REMOVED!!!
If Turner's amendment is allowed to remain in the final, bicameral version of the NDAA, it will obliterate MRFF's ability to protect and advocate on behalf of our service members facing religious discrimination, harassment, and aggressive proselytizing!
If you haven't already, please take a minute to submit our petition letter opposing Turner's amendment to your representative and senators.
This form submits a letter to Congress on your behalf, which
will be sent to your U.S. Representative in the House and your
U.S. Senators urging removal of Christian Nationalist Rep. Turner's
blatantly unconstitutional NDAA amendment and, additionally,
sends a copy to the entire Senate Armed Services Committee.
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Previous MRFF coverage of
Christian nationalist Rep. Turner's amendment
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MRFF Matters – 6/27/23 – GOP DISGRACE!!! Amendment Passed to Make
Communication with MRFF Illegal!!!
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This isn't the first time Christian nationalist
Rep. Mike Turner has come after MRFF
Seven years ago, in 2016, when MRFF was successful in getting a Bible removed from a POW-MIA table in the medical center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Turner sent a letter to the base's top general objecting to the removal, writing in the letter:
“It is simply unacceptable that (Wright-Patterson) personnel removed the Bible from the display, and I am concerned that similar efforts to restrict religious freedom may be made at other military installations.”
In a video accompanying the 2016 article below from the Dayton Daily News, Turner stated that if he didn’t get the response he wanted from the Air Force, “we’re certainly going to be looking to a legislative fix because this certainly, I thing, undermines what really goes to the basis of all of our heritage”
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DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Congressman Turner objects to
Bible removal from Wright-Patt display
By: Barrie Barber
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Taking direct aim at MRFF, in what sounds very much like a precursor to his current NDAA amendment, Turner told the Dayton Daily News (emphasis added):
“It’s a very dangerous precedent to have a group that has an issue campaign to effect policy on a government installation merely by complaining. Their voice should not be any greater than anyone else’s. This is an issue of national policy, not an issue of individual affront or concern, and it needs to be handled in that manner.”
“We need to know exactly what happened, what was the process, why was this done, and we need to ensure this is not a pattern of policy change that’s going to be enforced across the base impacting religious expression and symbols.”
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A handful of MRFF's numerous run-ins with
Christian nationalist GOP Congress members
and Senators over the years
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VIDEOS OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST
GOP CONGRESS MEMBERS
ATTACKING MIKEY AND MRFF
Mikey Weinstein’s 2014 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel, which was crashed by members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus who weren’t members of the subcommittee to berate Mikey
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Former Christian nationalist GOP Congressman and Congressional Prayer Caucus member John Fleming
attacks MRFF on House floor in 2013
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