Hostility to Jesus on Display Again: This Time About a Book on Jesus and His Lessons on Leadership

Despite repeated claims that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is not opposed to Christianity, it seems to focus a lot of its time and effort on trying to remove Christian symbols and products from the public square.

Recently, the MRFF attacked a painting at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy because it included a likeness of Jesus standing near a lifeboat containing survivors of a ship that had been torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean in World War II. The MRFF also frequently takes umbrage at the placement of a Bible as one of the items in displays honoring POWs and MIAs. It even complained about a sign in Hawaii which read, “God Bless the Military, Their Families, and the Civilians Who Work With Them,” because it insinuated to MRFF that the word “God” elevated Christianity at the expense of people of other faiths or no faith. In fact, the MRFF was so incensed by the use of the generic term “God” that it demanded that additional signs be erected to reflect other faiths, such as Islam, Judaism, Wicca, Hinduism, and so on. Yet, the word “God” is not solely a Christian term. It is a general term for Deity and is used by non-Christians as well. Even the term “Allah” is the generic word for Deity in Arabic and is used by Arabic-speaking Christians as well as Muslims when referring to God.

Then, yesterday, one of the members of the MRFF’s Advisory Board, retired USAF BrigGen Marty France, took aim at a book by Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard, entitled, “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus.” Apparently, the book has been offered for sale at the Air Force Academy uniform store as well as at other stores on other bases. At the Air Force Academy store, it was placed on a shelf under a placard that read, “Professional Military Books.” That really set Gen. France off.

Before I tell you his rationale for advocating removal of the book from the uniform store, you need to know that the book was offered to those who were interested in purchasing it. It was not forced on anyone. Nobody had to do anything vis-à-vis the book. It was simply part of a passive display of books offered for sale. Nonetheless, Gen. France could hardly contain himself as he spoke about the book because of its “religious perspective.” Apparently, to Gen. France, religious perspectives on leadership are somehow suspect in the greater scheme of things.

Such a knee-jerk reaction reminds me of the term used by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals when dealing with folks who are hypersensitive to religion and the expression of religious sentiments. Such folks see church-state separation violations wherever they look. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals aptly characterized such a hypersensitive response as a form of heckler’s veto which the court labeled the “‘ignoramus’ veto.” That moniker seems to apply here as well.

As Gen. France discusses the issue, he proudly touts his credentials to make us believe that he has the ability to judge whether “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” is a “professional military book.” As the title of his MRFF Op-Ed—“No, Air Force, ‘The Leadership Lessons of Jesus’ is NOT a ‘Professional Military Book’”—indicates, he’s no fan of the book (although he leaves the distinct impression that he’s not read it). Regarding his credentials, he notes that he’s “read many . . . books [on leadership]” during his “37-plus years of active duty,” that he attended the Air Command and Staff College and the National War College, where he “was named a distinguished graduate.” Further, he states that, “because of that designation [distinguished graduate] as well as some other awards,” he was given additional books on the topics of leadership and strategy to read.

Having laid out his credentials, he then states: “Not once during ALL of that military education was I asked or even tasked to read a book on leadership from a religious perspective. . . . But here, finding space on two shelves at a government-run store, the message I receive is that ‘The Leadership Lessons of Jesus’ is an important part of one’s military library” (emphasis in italics added). Yet, the message he received was purely subjective and personal. And, by singling out only religious perspectives on leadership, it reflects a deep-seated animus on his part toward religious perspectives and those who espouse them.

Gen. France makes a big deal about the absence of books on leadership by Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, and other leaders. This is another form of the “God Bless the Military”  controversy: If you have a book about Jesus’ leadership, Gen. France demands that you also have books by leaders of other faiths.

He then begins to reveal why he is hostile to the book’s topic of Jesus. He says he is not surprised that the one religious book offered is Christian, because “[o]ver my four decades in uniform, I endured the presumption that all who serve are Christian.” He claims those who are not Christians “are just novelties to be tolerated and trotted out if we need to show that we support diversity.” Yet, his being able to serve 37 years on active duty and retire as Brigadier General seem to belie such claims. If Christianity is so intrusive and controlling in the Air Force, it seems that a person of his views would not have been permitted to serve 37 years, much less retire as a one-star general.

So, what’s his solution to the problem? “First, let’s just sell uniforms in the uniform store” and “[l]et’s put the professional military books in the base exchange where there can be shelves and shelves of hundreds of books and we can find samples from every perspective.” Ironically, the base exchange is also a “government-run” store, and there’s no guarantee that a base exchange would carry books on leadership by other religious leaders. Let’s face it, a store generally carries merchandise that it thinks will sell. That includes military stores. In a country like the United States, where the majority of religious people belong to some branch of the Christian faith, it is more likely that books with Christian themes will sell than books by other religious leaders, although, as a retired officer myself, I often see books by practitioners of Buddhism, like the Dalai Lama, as well as practitioners of Hinduism, like Deepak Chopra, for sale in various service exchanges. So, it’s not true that only Christian books are available.

But, what about the book on Jesus and His leadership lessons? This is where Gen. France’s true colors are revealed! His solution to the issue is to put the book “in the base library in the section marked for religious works” (emphasis added). To him, the book has no value in teaching leadership, so he simply dismisses the idea that he could learn anything from Jesus. What arrogance!

But, he’s not done yet. He concludes: “Better yet, let’s put it in the Christian section of the base chapel—where it truly belongs” (emphasis added). To this MRFF Board member, religious perspectives contribute nothing and, hence, should be consigned to chapels, once again revealing his anti-Christian bias.

This is the real motivation of the MRFF, its leaders, and its Board members: Remove Christian symbols, ideas, and insights from the public sphere and relegate them to a chapel somewhere. This type of attitude permeates the MRFF. They are not so much for freedom of religion as for freedom from religion. This MRFF Op-Ed makes that crystal clear.

Yet, they seem to forget that Jesus is the key to understanding western civilization. We even delimit time based on His birth—“B.C.,” “Before Christ,” and “A.D.,” “Anno Domini” or “Year of the Lord” (despite attempts by some to remove Jesus by changing B.C. to B.C.E., meaning “Before the Common Era,” and A.D. to C.E., meaning the “Common Era,” B.C.E. and C.E. remain delimited by the birth of Jesus). Moreover, today, almost two millennia after His crucifixion, according to the Pew Research Center, Jesus can boast approximately 2.4 billion followers among the peoples of the Earth. In my view, that’s impressive, and His lessons on leadership are worth checking out. Gen. France should put aside his arrogance and try reading the book. He might even learn something useful. Admittedly, he may still not be satisfied, but at least he’ll be able to criticize what was written based on having read what was written and not condemn the book merely because of its title reference to Jesus.

Finally, regarding Gen. France’s desire to segregate books with religious perspective on leadership from secular books on leadership, I would remind the General that “[i]t is axiomatic that the government may not regulate speech based on its substantive content or the message it conveys. . . . Discrimination against speech because of its message is presumed to be unconstitutional.” Further, “[t]he Establishment Clause does not license government to treat religion and those who teach or practice it, simply by virtue of their status as such, as subversive of American ideals and therefore subject to unique disabilities.”

General France, you took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Constitution you swore to defend includes the First Amendment, and that amendment protects, inter alia, religious perspectives on leadership—whether you approve of it or not.