Tuesday Evening, June 27, 2023 |
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MILITARY TIMES COVERS REP. TURNER’S
NDAA AMENDMENT MAKING CONTACT
WITH MRFF ILLEGAL FOR MILITARY;
MRFF SUPPORTERS MOBILIZE
Christian nationalist GOP Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio,
has introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2024 designed to shut MRFF down. Turner's amendment, PASSED last week by the GOP-led House Armed Services Committee, would make it ILLEGAL for Department of Defense personnel to even communicate with MRFF!
If this amendment remains in the final bill, it will become LAW, specifically it will become part of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, also known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This means that if a military commander even responds to an email from MRFF, or makes any decision as a result of being contacted by MRFF, that commander can be charged with violating the UCMJ and potentially face a court-martial!
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MRFF Matters – 6/27/23 – GOP DISGRACE!!! Amendment Passed to Make
Communication with MRFF Illegal!!!
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MILITARY TIMES, AIR FORCE TIMES,
ARMY TIMES, NAVY TIMES,
MARINE CORPS TIMES
COVER MRFF
Defense bill targets religious freedom
group for its advocacy work
By: Leo Shane III
Monday, June 26, 2023
Military Times explains the effect Rep. Turner’s amendment would have if it remains in the final NDAA and becomes law, writing: “Defense officials and troops would be barred from communicating with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or from making ‘any decision as a result of any claim, objection, or protest made by MRFF without the authority of the Secretary of Defense,’”
The article quotes MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein:
“If the fundamentalist Christian nationalists who are behind this are trying to execute us through legislation, we’ll take that as validation of the positive effect that we’re having for our clients and for the Constitution,” he said. “And they can go fuck themselves.”
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COLORADO SPRINGS INDY
COVERS MRFF
Ohio congressman proposes measure
to block military members from
contacting religious freedom group
By: Pam Zubeck
Monday, June 26, 2023
The CS Indy, after explaining Rep. Turner’s NDAA amendment, writes: “The MRFF says in response it's an attempt to throttle the organization, which the MRFF asserts is illegal. The organization vows to file a lawsuit to block the measure, should it survive final approval of the NDAA.”
The article also quotes Mikey Weinstein directly, calling Turner’s amendment an "unprecedented attack by the Republican fundamentalist Christian nationalists, pretending to be members of the United States Congress, in the House of Representatives, attempting to euthanize the very existence of MRFF by evil legislative fiat; amending the gigantic appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon and the Department of Defense in the fiscal 2024 budget."
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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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Statement from MRFF Advisory Board Member
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.)
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There have been several "great awakenings" in U.S. (and our colonial) history. All have left rude -- and some, dangerous -- blemishes on that history, whether it be witch burning or the huge costs and insanity of Prohibition. One might conclude we are today experiencing yet another such peaking of religious fervor; moreover, that the latest is a last gasp and thus particularly fraught with potentially dangerous consequences.
"Last gasp" because in 1970, 90 per cent of Americans were "religious", while today it's barely over 60 per cent and the projection is that by 2070 even a slight majority will disappear. This causes desperation and is reflected in the number of Christian zealots in government office now and over the past decade -- close to 30 in the House alone.
One such zealot still there -- along with allies like Lauren Boebert (R, CO, 3rd District), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, GA, 14th District) -- is Mike Turner (R, OH, 10th District). Turner has just played English monarch by inserting in the NDAA (the appropriations for the U.S. military) what amounts to a bill of attainder, a clear violation of Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 of the Constitution. In short, he wants to legislate punishment without due process. And he wants to do this with surgical precision, attacking solely the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), making the move even more egregious and clearly unlawful.
Sane minds know neither legislative house will permit this proposed violation of law to persist; but January 6th proved sane minds might be insufficient.
We need American citizens to register powerfully their indignation, anger and objection. Write, call, or even better, visit your Member(s) today. Let them know -- especially if you are a Christian -- that you are a practicing American as well and, as such, religious freedom is your principle, just like our flawed but hugely courageous Founders, and not imperial fiat "blessed" somehow by your particular version of a Divine Providence. Let them know that religion, of any sort or stripe, in the hands of the government, is anathema.
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MRFF supporters and Advisory Board members mobilize to fight Turner's amendment —
MRFF allies send statements of support
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Countless MRFF supporters, along with a number of
MRFF Advisory Board members, have been contacting their senators and representatives urging them to stop Turner's flagrantly unconstitutional amendment from becoming part of the final NDAA.
In addition, MRFF has been receiving many wonderful statements of support from our allies in the fight against Christian nationalism.
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From California Council of Churches/IMPACT
Public Policy Advocate Elizabeth Sholes
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“As a long-time public policy advocate, I like to think little can shock me. I've pretty much seen it all over two decades. But today changed all that; I am gobsmacked by an amendment to the new National Defense Authorization Act written by Ohio Congressman Mike Turner (R-Dayton).
“We advocate for justice issues in state and federal legislatures.
“We serve 21 mainline and liberal Protestant denominations with 1.5 million members. We are a diverse body of faith. We respect that diversity and uphold religious freedom as a core tenant of both our faith and our Constitution. That is why we also support the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its work to assure total freedom of religion, free from coercion and imposition by any factor or faction within our nation's military.”
[Click image or button below to enlarge and read full statement]
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From Richard B. Katskee, Assistant Clinical
Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law,
Former Vice President and Legal Director,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
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“That our elected representatives would single out for disparagement and maltreatment the Military Religious Freedom Foundation—an organization whose sole mission is to protect the religious freedom of all the brave members of our armed forces—is an embarrassment. That these public officials wish to deprive of their constitutional rights the people who fight to defend our Constitution is an abuse of the highest order.”
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From Rachel Laser, president and CEO of
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
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“This troubling and unconstitutional provision has one purpose: to stop the Military Religious Freedom Foundation from doing its work protecting the religious freedom of all those who serve in the armed services. This dangerous provision targets one specific organization and denies it the right to communicate with government officials and access information. It has no place in our nation’s defense bill.”
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From Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-founder, Co-President, Freedom From Religion Foundation |
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Statement of support for MRFF from
the Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation deplores Rep. Mike Turner’s Kafkaesque amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act intended to make it illegal for Department of Defense personnel to communicate with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or take any action about it without authorization by the Secretary of Defense. It’s shocking that Turner’s stealth amendment was approved by the House Armed Services Committee last week.
Rep. Turner’s amendment violates the First Amendment free speech rights and right to petition the government by MRFF and the members of the armed services that they serve.
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MRFF supporters spreading the word about Turner's completely unconstitutional amendment on Twitter |
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Previous MRFF coverage of
Christian nationalist Rep. Turner's amendment
MRFF OP-ED
ON DAILY KOS
#1 Trending story on Daily Kos
OMFG!! House Armed Services Committee
passes amendment to make it ILLEGAL
to communicate with MRFF!!
By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda
Monday, June 26, 2023
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The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has had plenty of run-ins with Christian nationalist GOP members of Congress over the years. There was MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein’s 2014 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel that was crashed by members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus who weren’t members of the subcommittee to berate Mikey. (Watch video here.) And there have been a slew of letters written by GOP, and more recently MAGA, House members and senators to the Secretary of Defense or VA Secretary decrying this or that MRFF victory and demanding that these victories be reversed. (See here, here, here, here for a few examples.) Mainly consisting of ineffectual letter-writing and some bitching on Fox News and occasionally on the House floor, the GOP’s attacks on MRFF have been easily taken in stride — UNTIL NOW.
In an almost inconceivable action, a Christian nationalist GOP congressman, Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, has introduced actual legislation to shut MRFF down — to make it ILLEGAL for Department of Defense personnel to even communicate with MRFF!
Yes, this is how scared the Christian nationalists are of MRFF’s success in fighting for the religious freedom of our service members and against the spread of Christian nationalism in our military. They now see the only way to try to stop us is to make us illegal for military personnel!
Turner’s legislation comes in the form of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2024 — an amendment that was PASSED last week in the GOP-led House Armed Services Committee’s markup of the NDAA.
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LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS RELATED TO MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION.
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2024 for the Department of Defense may be used—
(1) to communicate with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, its leadership, or its founder; or
(2) to take any action or make any decision as a result of any claim, objection, or protest made by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation without the authority of the Secretary of Defense.
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If this amendment remains in the final bill, it will become LAW, specifically it will become part of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, also known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This means that if a military commander even responds to an email from MRFF, or makes any decision as a result of being contacted by MRFF, that commander can be charged with violating the UCMJ and potentially face a court-martial!
In addition to obstructing MRFF’s crucial ability to communicate with commanders to advocate for the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of our service members, this amendment would also obliterate MRFF’s ability to get responses to or FOIA requests since it would be illegal for any FOIA officer to respond to our requests.
In other words, THE GOAL OF TURNER’S AMENDMENT IS TO SHUT MRFF DOWN!!!
This is nothing short of a completely unconstitutional bill of attainder, defined as “legislation that imposes punishment on a specific person or group of people without a judicial trial,” and explicitly prohibited by Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which states: “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
This amendment was passed by the House Armed Services Committee as part of an en bloc package, meaning the committee members were voting on a list of numbers that was rattled off as a package. There was no reading of or debate on each individual amendment, allowing Turner to easily sneak in his reprehensible shut-MRFF-down amendment and get it passed. Turner even seems to be trying to hide this amendment from his constituents, omitting it from the list of NDAA amendments that he’s boasting on his website about getting passed.
We can’t let this horrifying and flagrantly unconstitutional amendment end up in the final NDAA!
Please, contact your representatives and senators, particularly if they are on their respective body’s Armed Services Committee, and urge them to stop Turner’s amendment.
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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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