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From: (E-mail Address of Active Duty U.S. Army Soldier’s/MRFF Client’s Spouse withheld)
Subject: Replace Halloween with New Testament Bible Knowledge Contest
Date: October 17, 2023 at 6:23:08 PM MDT
To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>
Hello to the MRFF and Mr. Weinstein.
Just a quick note of sincere thanks for helping me and a bunch of our fellow soldiers and families in dealing with a tough problem regarding Christian proselytizing by our unit commander and his wife.
I am the agnostic spouse (raised Baptist) of an active duty Jewish U.S. Army enlisted soldier stationed at (installation name withheld) and am speaking for 12 fellow soldiers in our unit as well as their spouses and families. We have three kids.
Our (U.S. Army unit title and name withheld) commander has been in trouble with the MRFF before about 2 and a half years ago. He was making the annual National Prayer breakfast here mandatory by accountability for all unit members. MRFF helped us get in his face to stop him then and just did so again now here.
What happened here this latest time is that the wife of our commander sent out a mass text last week to virtually our whole unit which said:
“To those of you who do not wish to honor Satan this coming Halloween my husband and I offer you all a far better alternative. We will be hosting a New Testament Bible Knowledge Contest at our on-post residence from 1800 hours until 2030 hours for all interested Christian families. There will be plenty of food, fun and prizes for all who participate. Bring your Bibles and fellowship. This event is voluntary and there is no compulsion to attend. Please RSVP to me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.”
First off she must have gotten our cell numbers from her commander husband to send this text which is so wrong!
Secondly telling everyone in the unit that if you celebrate Halloween with your family and kids and all you are “honoring Satan” is so messed up!
Thirdly she is only inviting “Christian families” to this event at their house which is also so wrong!
Fourthly she and her commander husband can’t just magically make this whole event as “voluntary" when it’s coming from our damn (U.S. Army unit title and name withheld) commander!
Anyway after checking with our MRFF rep here at (installation name withheld) we contacted Mr. Weinstein who gave us a choice to either request a meeting with the bosses' boss of our own commander (name, rank and title of superior commander withheld) or to have Mr. Weinstein himself call to speak to him directly.
We opted to request the meeting ourselves and take advantage of the Open Door Policy (name, rank and title of superior commander withheld) always talks about. Mr Weinstein advised us exactly what to say and to focus on the “time, place and manner" of this mass text from the commander’s wife. I went to the meeting with 4 of the other 12 spouses and we basically followed the MRFF script Mr. Weinstein laid out for us. It went well but we were all so nervous.
The really good news is that there is now an official investigation underway regarding what our own commander and his spouse have done here.
We don’t yet know what will happen with all of this but I wanted to thank the MRFF Rep here at (installation name withheld) and Mr. Weinstein for advising and empowering us to being able to stand up to this whole mess from our commander and his wife. It feels so good not to just sit back silently! We will keep the MRFF up to date with anything more that we find out about here.
As Mr. Weinstein said the manner in which this New testament Bible Knowledge Contest was advertised is not just totally insulting it’s also totally unconstitutional. Thank you all at the MRFF for giving us the backing to come forward!
They say that “Army Rangers Lead The Way”. We all feel that the MRFF Leads The Way!
(Active Duty U.S. Army Soldier’s/MRFF Client’s Spouse’s name and all other ID information withheld)
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