An Attack On Religious Rights

In an Associated Press article by Dan Elliott I have heard of a group called the Alliance Defense Fund that wishes to intervene in a case involving the Air force and Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and Air Force Academy graduate because it infringes on religious rights. Their justification for the request is that they are defending the right to free exercise of religion and free speech of a pilot and a chaplain. Granting their request makes reasonable chance as the actions of chaplains and military personal are at the root of this case and if their is at question then Weinstein's suit becomes groundless. This is why his lawyer, Sam Bregman, objects with the following words.

``It's hard to believe someone could object to having the Air Force follow the First Amendment,'' he said. ``The idea that we are somehow infringing on somebody's freedom of speech is ridiculous.''

Now if you look at what the article states about Weinstein's suit you will see that the lawyers statement is false and that his clients suit is baseless since it is not the judges' job to do what military personal do but rather job of the Congress as the legislators or the Air Forces as the employer.

Weinstein's suit seeks to prohibit Air Force members from evangelizing, proselytizing or trying ``to involuntarily convert, pressure, exhort or persuade a fellow member of the USAF to accept their own religious beliefs while on duty.''

The judge can rule in his favor if he decides Weinstein suffered personal damage and decide on restitution but according to the Constitution it is the legislation that regulates government organizations not the judicial branch.

The non establishment clause is to prevent the taxes or work of loyal citizens of the United States from going to spreading a faith they do not believe in. The question then is if the government is contributing money or workers to spreading a religion. I see no evidence that the Air Force contributes money or labor to evangelizing. By all accounts the actions in question are performed by individuals on their own initiative that just happen to be Air Force personal. For the government to prevent them from doing so would in fact be a violation of their free exercise of religion and of speech. The Air Force could take action under the Civil Rights Act if they can prove significant damage from the religious actions of their personal but that has nothing to do with Weinstein.