Wednesday Afternoon, January 22, 2020
MRFF OP-ED ON MILITARY TIMES
EXPOSES FIRST LIBERTY'S DECEPTION
ABOUT BIBLE VERSE DOG TAGS
Written in rebuttal to a highly deceptive op-ed by First Liberty Institute's Mikey Berry about MRFF's "radical agenda" (so "radical" that it is exactly the same as Department of Defense regulations!) and how MRFF is stopping persecuted Marines from having Bible verse dog tags (nobody is stopping anybody from making or wearing Bible verse dog tags – they just can't have official Department of Defense emblems on them).

See First Liberty Institute's deliberately
misleading op-ed below MRFF rebuttal op-ed
MRFF'S REBUTTAL OP-ED TO FIRST LIBERTY
ON MILITARY TIMES

The real reason the Marine Corps is disallowing Shields of Strength’s Bible verse dog tags

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Wednesday, January 22, 2020
This is in response to Sunday’s commentary by First Liberty Institute’s Mike Berry, who deceptively omits that the real issue with these Bible verse dog tags is that they have the official trademarked Marine Corps emblem on them, in violation of military trademark regulations.

Nobody is stopping Mr. Berry’s client’s company from making Bible verse dog tags or stopping Marines from wearing them — they just can’t be officially licensed by the Marine Corps and have the trademarked Marine Corps emblem on them.

Almost six months after the Marine Corps contacted Christian jewelry company Shields of Strength informing them that they could not use the official Marine Corps emblem on their Bible verse dog tags, First Liberty Institute, a fundamentalist Christian legal organization, has sent a letter to the Marine Corps Trademark and Licensing Office decrying this decision as unconstitutional.

Shields of Strength’s violations of military trademark and licensing regulations were reported to the various branches of the military last July by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and the Department of the Navy, which the Marine Corps comes under, quickly notified Shields of Strength that it could not use the official USMC emblem on its Bible verse dog tags. At that time, Shields of Strength removed its Navy and Marines products that had the official emblems on them, but continued, and continues, to sell its Air Force and Army Bible verse dog tags with the official emblems of those branches despite receiving a letter from the Army telling them to cease doing so.

The Department of Defense trademark and licensing regulations are clear: you can’t use official military emblems on items that promote religion.

These are the restrictions, according to Department of Defense Instruction 5535.12, “DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program Implementation,” Section 2.d. of which 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 (including non-belief), specific interpretations of morality, or legislative/statutory change. ...”

[…]

In its press release regarding the Marine Bible verse dog tags, and also in its letter to the Marine Corps, First Liberty Institute boo-hoos about Shields of Strength not being to fill an order for 2,000 of its dog tags for a Marine Corps unit. But nobody is stopping Shields of Strength from making dog tags with Bible verses on them for these Marines — they just can’t have the official trademarked emblem of the USMC on them. So, back to the question that I asked last month in a piece I wrote about the Army’s disallowing of the use of its logos on these dog tags: Do Bible verses lose their meaning if they don’t have government endorsement?

[…]
FIRST LIBERTY INSTITUTE OP-ED
ON MILITARY TIMES

Anti-religion group seeks to deny troops inspirational dog tags

By: Mike Berry, First Liberty Institute

Sunday, January 19, 2020

(Excerpts from Military Times/Emphasis Added by MRFF)

When America sends her men and women into harm’s way, she is duty-bound to ensure those brave men and women are equipped for battle.

Our military is obligated to prepare our troops for the rigors of combat — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But in its latest attack on religious freedom in our military, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), actually seeks to undercut our troops’ spiritual readiness by denying them the ability to obtain replica dog tags with Bible verses inscribed on them. This is both legally and morally wrong.

[…]

For this reason, Kenny Vaughan started Shields of Strength (“SoS”). SoS is a small, faith-based company from Texas that produces military-themed items inscribed with encouraging Bible verses. For more than two decades, Kenny has been making these inspirational replica dog tags for service members and first responders. To date, SoS has donated hundreds of thousands of its replica dog tags to military units.

[…]

Incredibly, aforementioned MRFF is actually working to deny SoS from our military. Last summer, the MRFF threatened legal action to “compel compliance” with its radical agenda unless the Pentagon banned SoS from including religious references on its licensed products.

Shockingly, Pentagon officials immediately raised the white flag of surrender and did exactly as MRFF demanded. One official even cited the “negative press” the MRFF caused as the basis for its decision.

[…]

Recently, one Marine Corps unit requested for 2,000 replica dog tags to be distributed to Marines who want them. Many of those Marines could very well find themselves in harm’s way in the near future. Sadly, because of MRFF and the Marine Corps Trademark Office’s decision, SoS is not able to fulfill their request, leaving Kenny Vaughan heartbroken.

[…]
MRFF OP-ED
ON DAILY KOS AND MEDIUM

GOP Rep Introduces an Actual Bill to Allow Christian Jewelry Company to Make Bible Verse Dog Tags!

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Tuesday, January 21, 2020
On January 17, Rep. Gregory Steube (R-FL) introduced HR 5657 — the “Religious Insignia on Dog Tags Act” — a bill intended to aid one specific for-profit Christian jewelry company by ordering the Secretary of Defense to change military regulations to allow this Christian jewelry company to produce and sell Bible verse dog tags with official trademarked military emblems on them under official license from the military. That is your tax dollars at work when religious zealots are among the members of our Congress!

[…]

At some point, Shields of Strength retained the services of First Liberty Institute, a fundamentalist Christian legal organization, which sent a letter to the Army Trademark and Licensing office in December, and on January 14 sent a similar letter to the Marine Corps, both letters claiming that the military’s prohibition on licensing religious merchandise is unconstitutional.

Three days after First Liberty revived the dog tag story — and revived the outrage among the right-wing and Christian media with its deceptive press release about the issue — Rep. Steube introduced his “Religious Insignia on Dog Tags Act.” 

To be clear: Nobody is stopping Shields of Strength from making dog tags with Bible verses on them, and nobody is stopping service members from wearing them — they just can’t have the official trademarked military emblems on them and be sold as officially licensed merchandise.

As MRFF Advisory Board Member Mike Farrell wrote in a post on the issue:

“A simple fix, of course, would have been to have Shields of Strength remove the official emblems of our military branches from their dog-tags, stop pretending they are endorsed by our government, and be honest about what they are doing. No one, including the MRFF, would object to them if that were the case.”

But First Liberty doesn’t want a simple fix. They want to cry Christian persecution from the rooftops and get an act of Congress out of it!
MRFF Information/Contact:
(505) 250-7727
SUPPORT MRFF!
Your Generous Support Allows us to Continue our Fight in the Courts and in the Media