Angry Atheists Attack Chaplains: The ACLJ Response

Mikey Weinstein’s group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), is at it again. This time MRFF has attacked a chaplain stationed at Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson in Alaska for having the temerity to write an article on a base website page called “Chaplain’s Corner” which included the expression “No Atheists in Foxholes” in its title.

MRFF claimed that the use of such a phrase denigrates persons of no faith, that the phrase constituted “bigoted, religious supremacist” language, that the chaplain used the hurtful phrase on purpose to “defile[] the dignity of service members” of no faith, that his comments were an “anti-secular diatribe,” and that the base commander should remove the article and punish the chaplain and all others who knowingly allowed the article to be published.

Unfortunately, the base commander quickly removed the article and profusely apologized. He was wrong to do so. Despite the MRFF rantings, the chaplain committed no violation of the U.S. Constitution, federal law, or military regulations in what he did. It was the commander at the base and his staff who actually wronged the chaplain by buying into MRFF’s skewed view of what the Constitution and military regulations require. The commander was wrong. The ACLJ sent a letter to the base commander (with copies to both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force) explaining what the law actually says and means and how MRFF got it wrong (once again).

We’ll keep you informed as this case develops, and – as always – we stand ready to defend religious liberty in the military.