I’ve said this before, for a lawyer, Mike Turner must have flunked Constitutional law, you know the one that starts out with the First Amendment that guarantees the right of free speech.

In his latest exhibition of his Christian fundamentalism, he wants to bar members of the military from contacting an organization dedicated to preserving the separation of church and state in our military ranks.

Turner introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that basically says if you want to complain about religion being jammed down your throat while in uniform, the only person you can talk to is the Secretary of Defense. Yeah, sure, can you see it? “This is Private Pyle, I’d like talk to the Secretary of Defense.”

“LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS RELATED TO MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION. None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2024 for the Department of Defense may be used— (1) to communicate with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, its leadership, or its founder; (2) to take any action or make any decision as a result of any claim, objection, or protest made by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation without the authority of the Secretary of Defense.”

Once again, Turner is showing his chickenhawk ways. For someone who never served, he keeps thinking he’s the embodiment of the Air Force- and says that he “works for the base.” I’ve had to complain in the past about him posing in a blue suit in front of a USAF plane- looking like he’s in the military.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been successfully fighting for over 20 years to remove religious icons and proselytizing from military installations. They were the ones responsible for stopping rifle scope maker Trijicon from using biblical references on their scopes being sent into Afghanistan. The military had to go to extra extents to alter rifles already in service. They were inscribed with phrases like “PSA91:5,” short for Psalms 91:5: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day.” Some military leaders didn’t understand the fuss. “Gen. David Petraeus, then the top commander in Afghanistan — called it problematic.”

Weinstein (a 1977 graduate of the Air Force Academy) said he founded the organization after growing angry with the way his sons were treated while attending the Air Force Academy following the release of Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ.” His sons objected to the way the movie was advertised on campus, and were subjected to anti-Semitic slurs because of it from evangelicals on campus, he said. He sued the academy, alleging that cadets also were coerced into attending Christian events on campus.

A study of the religious climate at the academy eventually found numerous examples of intolerance, insensitivity and inappropriate proselytizing, but said that the school was not overtly discriminatory. Weinstein, however, has continued to pounce on similar issues across the military for the last decade.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/11/18/the-pentagons-pugnacious-critic-on-religion-gets-his-day-in-congress/

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Just over 82,000 active duty, veteran, and civilian personnel of the United States Armed Forces, including individuals involved in High School JROTC around the nation, have come to our foundation for redress and assistance in resolving or alerting the public to their civil rights grievances, with hundreds more contacting MRFF each day. 95% of them are Christians themselves.

Source: About – Military Religious Freedom Foundation

Turner’s amendment, PASSED last week by the GOP-led House Armed Services Committee, would make it ILLEGAL for Department of Defense personnel to even communicate with MRFF!

If this amendment remains in the final bill, it will become LAW, specifically it will become part of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, also known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This means that if a military commander even responds to an email from MRFF, or makes any decision as a result of being contacted by MRFF, that commander can be charged with violating the UCMJ and potentially face a court-martial!

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Young-Turks–Progress-Report–Covers-Amendment-to-Shut-MRFF-Down–Military-Law-Task-Force-Stands-in-Defense-of-MRFF.html?soid=1101766362531&aid=NX0OwL9MMd0 June 27, 2023

The real question is which of Turner’s billionaire backers suggested he do this, since Turner is virtually incapable of original thoughts on his own.

The local press hasn’t covered much of the MRFF’s activities in Dayton despite this insane story right here at WPAFB from 2017:

A U.S. Air Force chaplain who ministers to thousands of men and women at an Ohio base is asserting that Christians in the U.S. Armed Forces “serve Satan” and are “grossly in error” if they support service members’ right to practice other faiths.
In an article posted on BarbWire.com three days ago, Captain Sonny Hernandez, an Air Force Reserve chaplain for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, criticized Christian service members who rely on the Constitution “and not Christ.”
He wrote: “Counterfeit Christians in the Armed forces will appeal to the Constitution, and not Christ, and they have no local church home—which means they have no accountability for their souls (Heb. 13:17). This is why so many professing Christian service members will say: We ‘support everyone’s right’ to practice their faith regardless if they worship a god different from ours because the Constitution protects this right.”
Hernandez continued: “Christian service members who openly profess and support the rights of Muslims, Buddhists, and all other anti-Christian worldviews to practice their religions—because the language in the Constitution permits—are grossly in error, and deceived.”

https://www.csindy.com/temporary_news/update-mrff-calls-out-chaplain-who-says-not-all-religions-need-constitutional-protection/article_3107d738-22d4-5abb-a943-2be79e09a6f1.html

Even the latest branch of our service, the Space Force, was swearing in on a bible.

Religious folk like to claim that there are no atheists in foxholes. I know that to not be a fact- but, I am sure there ain’t no congressmen in them either.

Thanks to his introduction of this amendment, we know where Mike Turner stands on religious freedom and freedom of speech- he’s our counterfeit congressman.