Military Religious Freedom Foundation

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The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is a watchdog / advocacy group whose stated goals are to ensure that religious freedom is maintained in the United States military^[1] and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The group was founded by Michael Weinstein in early 2006 to oppose the spread of religious intimidation by evangelical Christians in positions of power within the US military.^[2] Weinstein describes the group's target as "a small subset of evangelical Christianity that's called premilliennial, dispensational, reconstructionist, dominionist, fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity or just Dominionist Christianity."^[3] The group is asking the United States Congress to hold oversight hearings regarding the Defense Department's failure to abide by the Constitutionally mandated separation of Church and State.^[4] Since it was founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has advocated for / assisted hundreds of active duty U.S. servicemen/women and veterans who have contacted the MRFF regarding alleged religious discrimination, harassment and aggressive proselytizing by Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christians; Mr. Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation reports that more than 90% of the servicemen/women and veterans who contact the MRFF with complaints are Christians. Most notable among those who have been / are represent by the MRFF is Jewish veteran Akiva David Miller^[5]^[6], who alleged that he suffered religious discrimination and aggressive Christian proselytizing while receiving care at the Iowa City V.A. Medical Center beginning in 2005, and subsequent to lodging a complaint with both the Iowa City V.A. Medical Center's Patient Advocate and a representative from its Chaplain's Office, was retaliated against by being denied treatment in 2007 (at which time his doctor told him, after informing Mr. Miller that his treatment was being immediately discontinued, "You're a religious Jew; why don't you try prayer or meditation.") and again in 2008 for his service-connected disability (kidney stones), and Army Specialist Jeremy Hall who, along with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is in litigation against the Department of Defense, alleging that because he is a self-proclaimed atheist he has suffered discrimination, harassment, threats of violence from both his superiors and fellow soldiers while on active duty, serving in Iraq (he was subsequently transfered by the U.S. Army back to the United States for his own safety) and was ultimately denied promotion.