-MRFF: Christian Air Force Commander Should Be Jailed for Sharing His Faith

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) complained to the Secretary of Defense about the private website where an Air Force Brig. General shared his Christian faith and convictions. The MRFF believes that the commander should be investigated and jailed for violating Defense Department rules about religious proselytizing. From CBN:

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) sent a formal complaint … calling for an investigation of Brig. Gen. E. John Teichert, a Christian and the newly installed commander of the 412 Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. 

The group is furious at Teichert for posting links to articles, a Christmas video, and scriptures on his personal website called Prayer at Lunchtime for the United States. The website also has a list of prayer requests.

The MRFF says the website is in violation Air Force and Defense Department rules about religious proselytizing. …

In a press release sent to media outlets Monday, the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based anti-Christian MRFF said Teichert “should be doing time behind prison bars, not commanding a wing wearing general’s stars.”  …

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Response: The website in question is a private one and not part of the general’s official military website nor linked in anyway with his official duties.

This whole reaction by the MRFF begs the question- do military personnel have a right to practice their faith and share their own religious convictions privately? Does the 1st Amendment and freedom of religion apply to the USA military? During the last administration under Pres. Obama, there was a push to restrict the public sharing of ones faith in any way and rules were devised to curtail it by labeling it- ‘proselytizing.’ We wrote about that effort several times. Fortunately now the administration under Pres. Trump values religious liberty. It will be interesting to see how the current SecDef responds to the MRFF protests.

In the past we concluded that practicing and sharing ones faith should only be a problem if someone tries to pull rank and force others under them to convert. Otherwise, observing ones faith and the sharing of ones convictions in the military should not be officially regulated or curtailed. If so, freedom of religion would actually be diminished.

In the case of the MRFF, they only seem to be bothered by conservative Christians publically observing their faith. Muslims can pray somewhat publically on the bases and that seems to be OK. But if a Christian happens to have a Bible or prays at their desk or even on a private website then the MRFF calls it a violation. 

Here’s a good article from Fox News on the same issue:“Todd Starnes: Air Force general is attacked by extremist group because he prays for others”

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