The Military and Religious Liberty

1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The Founders put this as the First Amendment because the right to voice an opinion and to worship God as you choose, or even not to worship God, was foundational to establishing a country based on individual liberty. And the fact that the people who immigrated to the Colonies, what would become the United States, did so in search of a place far from the European mandated specific versions of religion. A place where they could use their individual talents and ethics to make a better place for themselves and their families, acquire property, with freedom, but above all - worship as they saw fit.

The Founders intent, backed up by their pre and post Constitutional writings, intended to prohibit the establishment of any specific religion. Everyone in that day knew what the Founders meant as most of the new American citizens had lived under governments with established churches and the harsh penalties of not supporting that dictated religion. There is no phrase "separation of church and state" in the First Amendment. That phrase is used constantly by those who want to drive God out of our culture. These people want to drive God out of our culture so their is no morale norms, as they would typically fall short time and time again. People who believe in a higher power, be it called God, the Creator, or Jehovah and had an instinctive knowledge of what exactly was being prohibited by the First Amendment, and what was being protected.

In this day and age, lawsuit after lawsuit trying to drive every reference of Christianity from prayer to crosses, are rampant. Crosses on memorials honoring those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom are common targets. The anti-Christian and anti Western religion movements have yet to attack the individual makers at National cemeteries, but make no mistake - that is part of their plan to wipe out not religions but Christianity. Remember in 2014 when then President Obama and his wife sent out a joint statement to Muslims in America for the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, thanking them for their contributions in “building the fabric” of the country. And another quote from our former Commander-in Chief sustaining the call to diminish or even bury Christianity,.....“Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation”.......

Then today's headlines - Lawsuit filed over Bible display at New Hampshire VA hospital - reminds us of the continuing onslaught. The article states - The Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of an Air Force veteran against Alfred Montoya, the director of the Manchester VA Medical Center, seeking the removal of a Bible on display at a POW/MIA table within the hospital. The display violates the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause, according to the lawsuit. “The Christian Bible clearly doesn’t represent all of the myriad religious faiths and non-faith traditions of the U.S. armed forces veterans using the Medical Center and to presume that it does is quite blatantly unconstitutional, unethical and illicit" said Michael L. “Mikey" Weinstein, MRFF’s founder and president, in a statement.

“The Christian Bible clearly doesn’t represent all of the myriad religious faiths and non-faith traditions of the U.S. armed forces veterans using the Medical Center and to presume that it does is quite blatantly unconstitutional, unethical and illicit" said Michael L. “Mikey" Weinstein, MRFF’s founder and president, in a statement. The lawsuit filed in Concord by Air Force veteran James Chamberlain says the Bible’s inclusion is in violation of the Constitution. The First Amendment stipulates “that the government may not establish any religion. Nor can the government give favoritism to one religious belief at the expense of others,” according to the suit.

I'm sorry, but I did not see the phrase "Nor can the government give favoritism to one religious belief at the expense of others.” And to make the lie worse, this Weinstein character states that “That sectarian Christian Bible bolted down to that POW/MIA table at the Manchester NH VAMC is a grotesque gang sign of fundamentalist Christian triumphalism, exceptionalism and supremacy, indeed a middle finger of unconstitutional repugnance to the plurality and separation of church and state guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.”

However, be it such a disgusting attack on relgious beliefs that Weinstein and fellow losers have committed, there is always bright spots. The latest one being a parachute drop on Sicily drop Zone at Fort Bragg where 380 paratroopers of the famed 82nd Airborne Division conducted their annual Saint Michael's Jump in honor of Saint Michael the patron saint of paratroopers. Division Chaplain Col. Eddie Cook said it best,......“Saint Michael was God’s primary angel, the archangel, the high angel that fights against Satan, fights against evil ....that’s what the airborne does. We are called to fight evil.”

For all the religious haters out there,....if you don't want me to carry a bible or wear a cross or even pray before a mission, then pick up a weapon and follow me,...you'll soon know the old adage "there are no atheists in foxholes".