Non-Christian USMMA Grad Thrilled by MRFF’s News that Giant Jesus Will Be Covered Up

Thursday Afternoon, January 12, 2023

MRFF’S NEWS THAT GIANT JESUS PAINTING

AT U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY

WILL BE COVERED UP PROMPTS VERY

GRATIFYING EMAIL FROM USMMA GRAD

"I just read the article discussing the MRFF's request to

USMMA to cover up the Jesus painting in the Elliott M See

Room, and I wanted to reach out to say THANK YOU!"

"I am now out of the Coast Guard and enjoying life as a

private citizen, but I still recall clearly how I felt

as a non-Christian at *KP."

— Non-Christian USMMA Graduate

*KP = Kings Point, NY, the location of USMMA

(The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not

imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Addition of email added by MRFF.)

Email from non-Christian U.S. Merchant Marine Academy grad after seeing MRFF's news that

the gigantic Jesus painting in the Academy's administrative building will be covered up

"USMMA"

From: (USMMA graduate's name withheld)

Date: January 12, 2023 at 8:51:54 AM MST

To: info@militaryreligiousfreedom.org

Subject: USMMA

Good morning!

I just read the article discussing the MRFF's request to USMMA to cover up the Jesus painting in the Elliott M See Room, and I wanted to reach out to say THANK YOU!

I have no idea who the seventeen people are that chimed in to request to have it covered/removed, but feel free to add my name to that list.

I attended *KP from 20XX to 20XX, graduating with an Engineering Xxxxx degree and commissioning in the USCG. I am now out of the Coast Guard and enjoying life as a private citizen, but I still recall clearly how I felt as a non-Christian at KP.

I also wanted to thank the Weinstein family personally for writing their book and publishing it. I was given it as a gift after I was accepted to USMMA and it was on my desk shelf all four years that I was at the Academy. On bad days, it would remind me that others felt the same way and that I had just as much of a right to be at KP as anyone else.

I'd always wondered if the family did anything beyond publishing the book, and now I have my answer!

Thanks so much for all you do and I'm excited to see what comes next!

Best Regards,

(name withheld)

USMMA 20XX

*KP=Kings Point, NY, the location of USMMA

Click to read in Inbox

MRFF Op-Ed that prompted the above

email from the non-Christian USMMA grad

MRFF OP-ED

ON DAILY KOS

Trending story on Daily Kos

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to cover ginormous Jesus painting in administrative building

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Yesterday, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), acting on a complaint from a group of seventeen alumni, staff, faculty, and midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, sent a demand to the Academy’s superintendent that a gigantic painting of Jesus hovering over a lifeboat be removed from its completely improper and Constitution-violating location in the Academy’s administrative building. MRFF suggested that it be relocated to the Academy’s chapel, the only place that such a painting should ever be displayed at any government institution.

The colossal Christian canvas now dominates the Elliot M. See room within Wiley Hall, the Academy’s administrative building — the room in which are held, among other things, Midshipmen Honor Boards, at which midshipmen are defending themselves against alleged honor violations. Just imagine being a non-Christian USMMA midshipman in that already agonizing situation, with your whole future hanging in the balance, and then throw in a giant Jesus hanging over the proceedings to make it even more distressing. Especially to non-Christian USMMA midshipmen, faculty, and staff who find themselves in this room for other, less dire reasons, the looming lord and savior of Christians might as well be a great big neon sign saying, “You really don’t belong here.”

To the pleasant surprise of MRFF, USMMA’s superintendent, Vice Admiral Joanna M. Nunan, who just took the helm at the Academy a little over a month ago, responded last evening, thanking MRFF for contacting her about this matter and telling MRFF that she planned to have the painting covered with a curtain, and that no mandatory meetings or Honor Boards would be held in the room until the work was completed. The painting could not be moved, she explained, because it is too large to be put anywhere else.

Like the military service academies, the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) offers its midshipmen a free, government-paid education. In exchange for this free education, an after-graduation commitment of working five years in the United States maritime industry with eight years of service as an officer in any reserve unit of the Armed Forces or five years on active duty in any of the nation’s Armed Forces is required. And, although USMMA is under the auspices of the Department of Transportation rather than the Department of Defense, USMMA midshipmen graduate with an officer’s commission in the U.S. Armed Forces just like their counterparts at the military service academies. In other words, many future U.S. military officers are trained at USMMA.

[...]

Click to continue reading on Daily Kos

MRFF Matters – 1/10/23 – MRFF denounces

enormous Jesus painting in U.S. Merchant Marine Academy administrative building

[Note: This video was recorded prior to the Merchant Marine Academy's superintendent responding to MRFF with

the news that the painting would be covered up.]

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Click to Watch Video (2:16)

MRFF sends letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Chair of Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Personnel after non-response by Air Force wing commander to complaints of base gate guards wearing “IN GOD WE TRUST” tab on uniform

BACKGROUND:

After receiving multiple complaints about gate guards at

Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico violating Air Force uniform regulations as well as very visibly promoting their religious beliefs by wearing a "IN GOD WE TRUST" tabs on their uniforms,

MRFF sent the airmens' command a demand that

"these 'In God We Trust' patches ... be immediately removed from the duty uniforms of all members of the 377 Air Base Wing’s Security Forces Group and Squadron."

When questioned by one retired officer as to why he was wearing

the unauthorized "IN GOD WE TRUST" tab, one gate guard's

motive-confirming response was: "I am a Christian sooo."

After receiving no response from the offending gate guards' commanding officer, even after a letter from MRFF's legal counsel demanding a response, MRFF Founder and President

Mikey Weinstein has now written to U.S. Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Personnel.