Thursday Afternoon, July 20, 2023

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI) 

COVERS CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST 

REP. MIKE TURNER’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL

NDAA AMENDMENT TO SHUT MRFF DOWN

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!!!

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!

Should that happen, MRFF Founder and President

Mikey Weinstein has vowed:

“We will go into federal court, not quickly,

but at lightning speed, warp speed.”

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI)

COVERS MRFF

Religious liberty group to fight defense bill

provision citing troops' free speech

By: Pamela Manson

Thursday, July 20, 2023

UPI reports on Christian nationalist GOP Rep. Mike Turner’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment to shut MRFF down, quoting MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein calling the amendment “completely and totally unconstitutional in every possible way,” and saying that that if it remains in the final NDAA and becomes law, “We will go into federal courts, not quickly, but at lightning speed, warp speed.”

The UPI article also cites a handful of MRFF’s many recent victories:

Getting a large painting of Jesus in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's administration building moved to the chapel

Getting a Christian cross removed from the lobby of a Veterans Administration hospital

Stopping mandatory military training titled "Leadership Lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ"

Fighting the religious harassment of a Jewish pilot whose commander kept pestering him to attend his Bible study

Reversing a commander's order that a service member stop reading Catcher in the Rye because as a "believing Christian," it offended him

Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF)

stands with MRFF against Turner amendment

FFRF Action Fund Condemns Passage

Of NDAA With Theocratic Inclusions

Excerpt regarding MRFF from FFRF Action Fund news release (emphasis added):

Crucially, the current NDAA draft also includes an unconstitutional, authoritarian attempt to forbid Department of Defense personnel from communicating with a specific civil rights organization, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). MRFF has drawn the ire of Christian nationalists by insisting that the U.S. armed forces remain secular, as is constitutionally required.

“This deplorable amendment disregards the U.S. Constitution twice,” comments FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor, “violating the First Amendment rights of the MRFF and their members with the intention of encouraging the unconstitutional promotion of religion within the U.S. armed forces.”

Media coverage of the multiple egregious NDAA amendments has failed to highlight a truly outrageous and unprecedented assault on MRFF and respect for the rights of conscience of military service members.

Previous MRFF coverage of

Christian nationalist Rep. Turner's amendment

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.

A handful of MRFF's numerous run-ins with

Christian nationalist GOP Congress members

and Senators over the years