(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . MRFF gets 4th of July “Chapel Attendance Competition” nixed; officer behind it moved to motor pool [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-01 One thing we know all too well here at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is that fundamentalist Christian officers and NCOs intent on proselytizing will exploit any holiday in their attempts to bring their subordinates to Jesus. Just in the past year we’ve been called upon by junior enlisted service members to stop events such as a “Jesus Wants You To Be His Valentine” duty hours sermon and altar call and a commander’s Halloween Bible knowledge contest for soldiers “who do not wish to honor Satan.” The latest of these special holiday “treats” comes from a large military training base, where one evangelistic officer came up with something really fun for the basic trainees — a 4th of July “Chapel Attendance Competition.” As one of the 42 basic trainees and other very junior enlisted service members who were steered to their base’s MRFF reps by their unit’s First Shirt (highest ranking NCO in the unit) for help in getting this chapel competition stopped, wrote in an "After Action Report" e-mail to MRFF: “Recently our OIC (Officer in Charge) came up with a ‘special way’ he said to celebrate July 4th. He said that our (military organization unit name withheld) would compete to see which unit would have the highest attendance at this Sunday’s on base chapel services and the winning unit would get a bunch of rewards like extra duty time off, free pizza and soda and other cool stuff.” “Most of us thought this was pretty jacked up to begin with but then he went even further. The OIC said that it only counted if we attended the Sunday Protestant service that he and his family go to at 1000 hours at the main base chapel. When we asked why so he then said that ‘since most of us are Christians and Protestants that will be the one chapel service that will be counted for the attendance competition here’. He further said that if ‘you aren’t Protestant you will learn a little about our Lord while you try to help your unit win the competition.’” Yes, what better way to celebrate Independence Day, the holiday so closely associated with Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, a man who fervently abhorred any vestige of religious coercion, than trying to rip away the religious independence of U.S service members with a contemptibly coercive “Chapel Attendance Competition?” Everybody likes a story with a happy ending, and the ending of this one was a very happy one for MRFF’s 42 clients. MRFF was not only successful in stopping the “Chapel Attendance Competition” but the officer who came up with this utterly un-American scheme to force his religion on his subordinates was expeditiously reassigned to a “dogshit position,” as the MRFF client who wrote the below e-mail put it, in the motor pool, where he’ll be free to preach his heart out to a parking lot full of cars and trucks. From: (Active Duty MRFF Client’s e-mail address withheld) Subject: MRFF Stops Christian Only "Chapel Attendance Competition" for Military Fourth of July Week Celebration Date: June 27, 2024 at 2:27:41 PM MDT To: Information Weinstein To: Mr. Mikey Weinstein, our MRFF Installation Reps and All the MRFF Staff Subject: MRFF Stops Christian Only "Chapel Attendance Competition" for Military Fourth of July Week Celebration After Action Report: I am an active duty enlisted member of the United States armed forces stationed at a large military training installation. I am writing on behalf of 42 fellow active duty service members all of whom are also enlisted and most of us are very junior and going thru initial basic training. 27 of us are Christians and the rest of us are other religions like Jews and Muslims and Shinto etc. and of no sort of religion. Please protect all of our identities to avoid revenge persecution. I don’t write all that good (working on it) but as I’m the most senior of the 42 MRFF clients here I wanted on behalf of all of us to be sure to thank Mr. Weinstein and our base MRFF representatives and all of the MRFF peeps who stand up for us all the time and take the shit for us. Recently our OIC (Officer in Charge) came up with a "special way" he said to celebrate July 4th. He said that our (military organization unit name withheld) would compete to see which unit would have the highest attendance at this Sunday’s on base chapel services and the winning unit would get a bunch of rewards like extra duty time off, free pizza and soda and other cool stuff. Most of us thought this was pretty jacked up to begin with but then he went even further. The OIC said that it only counted if we attended the Sunday Protestant service that he and his family go to at 1000 hours at the main base chapel. When we asked why so he then said that “since most of us are Christians and Protestants that will be the one chapel service that will be counted for the attendance competition here”. He further said that if "you aren’t Protestant you will learn a little about our Lord while you try to help your unit win the competition.” This was totally fucked up and we all knew it. I happen to be Protestant but many in our unit are not. Our First Shirt knew this was wrong but did not want to directly engage the OIC here. He sent us to (name and rank withheld) and (name and rank withheld) who are 2 of our base MRFF Reps. They were freakin great and put us in touch on a phone call late at night with Mikey Weinstein himself. Everyone was on edge but Mikey told us that our identities would stay secret and that the MRFF would roll in here hard immediately. Just 24 hours later our First Shirt announced that the “Chapel Attendance Competition” for the 4th of July had just been canceled. Instead there will be a unit picnic on base for all. Everybody was so happy but we wanted to know how this had happened? Our MRFF Reps told us they had given Mikey the contact info for our OIC’s commander 2 levels up and that Mikey had personally spoken on the phone with (senior military rank, title and name withheld) who apologized for our OIC’s actions and promised to fix them immediately. We don’t know what exactly happened besides the “competition” being cancelled but our OIC has just this morning been removed and is now reassigned to some dogshit position reporting to a low level civilian at our transpo/motor pool unit! We all wish to thank the MRFF for totally having our backs for the WIN! And we also want to wish the MRFF a fantastic July 4th! And MRFF wants to wish a happy 4th of July to all of our allies, supporters, clients, and volunteers — especially our army of Base Reps, the often unsung heroes in many of MRFF’s victories. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/1/2250023/-MRFF-gets-4th-of-July-Chapel-Attendance-Competition-nixed-officer-behind-it-moved-to-motor-pool?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/