Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio has
introduced actual legislation to shut
down uh to literally make it illegal for
anybody from the Department of Defense
any Personnel to even communicate with
anybody from the military religious
freedom Foundation mrff
mrff.org is the website if you haven't
been there recently uh it's certainly
worth checking out
um on the line with us is the president
of the military religious freedom
Foundation Mikey Weinstein uh Mikey it's
been a while since we've talked thanks
so much for dropping back in with us is
the religious freedom of our service
members at risk
time it is and by the way thank you so
much for everything that you do the
fourth estate is incredibly critical to
clean up the mess that of course
democracy is that's a unnecessary evil
with democracy you do a wonderful job
and I know you you've supported us for
uh for many many years we're we've been
doing this for the better better part of
a you know a fifth of a century when we
found out about this legislation that
Congressman Mike Turner of course a
fundamentalist Christian nationalist uh
congressman from the Dayton Ohio area
had put into the National Defense
authorization Act of 2024 based the
Pentagon funding bill the largest part
of the federal budget we thought it was
a joke like from the onion or something
we could not believe it uh to the best
of our research including talking to
members of Congress this has never
happened before in the history of our
country where a bill has gone in
attempting to assassinate by legislation
Tom a well-respected large civil rights
uh organization they've never done this
to Planned Parenthood they haven't done
it to the ACLU black lives matters but
this would make it a felony under the
uniform code of military Justice which
is part of title 10 of the U.S code
which is legislation is trying to and
for anyone even to reach out for help
from us so we had just recently last
week went over 84 000 active duty
Reserve guard and um veteran members of
the US military whom we represent
amazingly enough about 95 Tom are
actually Christians being persecuted for
not being Christian enough this not only
violates
um uh the first amendment in two ways
freedom of speech and certainly uh the
right to petition your government for
grievances it also specifically violates
what's called Article 1 Section 9 Clause
3 and I'm sure to Tom you're well aware
of what a bill of attainder is you can't
pass legislation trying to convict
somebody or an organization and you know
depriving them of due process we were
stunned and we were even further stunned
to find out that it passed and all the
Democrats on the house armed services
committee because now it goes to the
Full House they all voted for it uh and
they're claiming that well we didn't
know what was in there it's a big Bill
which of course is yeah yeah
I'm sorry we can't use language like
that Mikey on the internet
yeah yeah there you go so we we beeped
you for a second but okay I totally
totally and apologies to anybody who's
offended but uh I totally get it so uh
give us a uh for for people who uh you
know because it has been a while since
since you've been on and uh
unfortunately
um we should have you on more more
frequently um for people who may not be
familiar with exactly what the military
religious freedom Foundation does and
why you have earned the ire of a
congressman a Christian nationalist
Congressman you know uh uh what I I
refer to as Christian fascists
um tell us about uh mrff.org right and
and it's not Jess Turner there are
plenty of other uh folks supporting this
that are also like you said Christian
fascists or fundamentalist Christian uh
nationalist slash dominionist uh we
started around uh in the early 2000s our
goal is to do one thing and that asked
to protect the wall separating church
and state time where all the nuclear
weapons drones Conventional Weapons and
Laser guided weapons are the defense
department we've grown we now represent
clients from all 17 national security
agencies like the CIA NSA Dia and um and
um 14 others we also represent members
of the Coast Guard which are technically
not in DOD they're under the Department
of Homeland Security and the U.S
Maritime service particularly the U.S
Merchant Marine Academy we've been in
the news a lot for that one we forced
them to take a giant painting of Jesus
down from a room where they have
mandatory meetings including honor
boards where they could kick a
midshipman out of the academy
um and they're part of the Department of
Transportation so our job is to protect
the sanctity of the separation of church
and state
um uh in the defense department and
these other agencies and it's bad enough
when you find uh Christian fashion
fascism as you called it Tom or
nationalism you know in the sewage
workers the police forces firefighters
let legislatures and education but at
least they don't have weapons of mass
destruction and the degree to which
fundamentalist Christian nationalism has
permeated into the very fabric of the
Pentagon is almost unfathomable and yes
we view it as a Badge of Courage uh that
they're so afraid of us they're trying
to give us a headshot execute Us by
legislation uh and these Christian
fascist congressmen snuck it into the uh
the Pentagon funding bill about a week
and a half ago there was a Voice vote
it's called unblock and um uh all the
Democrats voted for it too I've spoken
to several of them Mikey we're sorry we
were told by the chairman of the
committee who of course is a republican
because the Republicans control the
house Tom that there was nothing sneaky
in there
um you know when the Exxon Valdez
crashed the uh the captain was drunken
asleep it's still his fault it and all
of these congressmen as you know were
very well Tom have large staffs whose
entire job is to look at anything
related to this they all have a National
Defense uh you know staffer this is
their job it's like going to a
restaurant and saying hey I'm going
gluten-free if I get gluten I'm gonna I
could have a fatal attack make sure that
whatever you send me has you know what
from the kitchen doesn't have it in
there and then they serve a dish and you
start choking and the waiter goes hey I
I didn't cook it I don't know what's
going on well the congressman that put
this in the Republican Christian
fascists
they cooked this up they cook this
legislation up and now we have to engage
the process because the Democrats were
clues that was in there if it goes to
the whole house unless we raise the
issue high enough they'll vote it
through to the Senate unless we raise it
with the U.S Senate they'll vote it
through to the White House unless we
raise it up you know to Biden they'll
they'll have it go through and and it's
um I mean they couldn't under this
legislation you're going to love this
even responding to a Freedom of
Information Act request and we file
those all the time generally from our
research director uh Ms Chris rodda they
couldn't even respond to that it is
egregious it is hideous and it's an
example of how far Christian nationalism
has infiltrated
um our country particularly all of the
Warriors yeah and not only that a lot of
these end timers uh the these uh Crystal
fascists
um are are millennialists they're
they're and there's other words to
describe it they believe that we are in
the end times and that uh a requirement
of the end times is that there be the
this massive war that kills most human
beings so that the good Christians can
be raptured and then you know return and
can control the Earth with Jesus and all
this kind of stuff and these are not the
people that you want control in your
nuclear weapons and yeah and that's the
work that you're doing is to you know to
try to you know not not specifically
prevent those people but at least
prevent the the open evangi you know
back what 20 years ago I think you came
on this program and we talked about your
son's experience at the Air Force
Academy is the thing that's that got you
going on this so yep so this legislation
is out of committee but it has not yet
had a floor vote in the house
um and and I I saw I went over to
mrff.org here before you came on today
um and notice that you've got a big
thing right up at the top sign our
petition and let me you know recommend
to everybody mrff.org you know get over
there and do that
um but uh
if this thing passes I'm assuming that
you're gonna you're gonna Sue uh
probably directly to the to the Supreme
Court claiming that it's a bill of
attainder right we have our well that
and also a violation of the of the
freedom of speech and the freedom to
petition your government for grievances
Tom these are foundational aspects of
being Americans that's certainly every
member of the military deserves and uh
we have a litigation team that will go
directly into federal court uh we're uh
we we feel we're going to win it but if
we get one of those nearly 300 judges
that Trump appointed who knows look
what's happened in this country I mean
we have a Chasm the size of a Galaxy and
you just you you deal with it every day
on your wonderful show we have to fight
it every day um we get threats in every
day we got one on the website this
morning that we sent to law enforcement
saying that our days are numbered we
understand how this goes and yes we get
the fact that we're the only civil
rights organization apparently in the
history of the U.S Congress to be
targeted for extinction and that yeah
that's a distinction from our
perspection uh perspective that we uh we
feel is a badge of honor but at the same
time it doesn't matter if we're not here
it costs a lot of money we're not asking
for donations we're a non-profit so
everything you donate is a tax deduction
but if you go to again it's not it's
mrff military religious freedom
Foundation
mrff.org I'm not the best with computers
it took me 15 seconds to sign the
petition all you have to put in is your
name and your email address because we
now this is the fear that the Democratic
Congressmen have told me because of the
mess up uh either we raise the awareness
of this in the house or it gets voted to
the Senate and then we have the uh you
know the Democrats barely control the
Senate and if we don't have the
awareness raised there it'll go to the
president and uh and this could actually
go through we will sue immediately we
will sue aggressively and as viciously
legally ethically and morally as we can
we're grateful to you for giving us the
time I don't know whether or not they've
been able to put up
mrff.org but you can help us okay 15 you
know 15 seconds of your time to get it
in there but think just for a second we
live in this wonderful country we
celebrated its birthday yesterday and we
are trying to extinguish an organization
a civil rights organization representing
over 84 000 members of the US Military
and Veterans most of who room just
happened to be Christians again being
beaten up for not being Christian enough
it is unfathomable that this is
happening and we know uh that um we know
that Congressman Turner hates us seven
years ago we embarrassed him in his
district when we forced Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base Tom a big Air Force Base
in his district in Dayton Ohio uh to
take off a Christian Bible on what was
supposed to be a secular pow Mi M.I.A
table in the local hospital we have him
on video where he said how horrible this
was and then seven years ago you're
gonna love this Tom he actually said we
may have to pass legislation to stop
this kind of stuff and you know in the
First Amendment everybody loves Free
Speech until they hear something that
they don't like and all we are trying to
make it clear is that uh when you judge
a member of the military and you take a
look at their level of honesty
um compassion courage intelligence and
bravery and you decide uh that the
number one metric about that is to
determine whether or not they subscribe
to this fundamentalist Christian
nationalism fascism that is the end of
days and you talked about Christian end
times eschatology do you know that there
promised a 200 mile River
four and a half feet deep filled with
nothing but the blood of those that
their version of weaponized Jesus
um
spills at the battle of Armageddon
that's a pretty hard graphic to deal
with but those are their numbers so we
understand it and uh what you know look
we don't care about anybody's religious
faith we only care about the time the
place and the manner in which someone in
the military or the other agencies we
represent feel that they have the right
to deploy their faith but when you're
military Superior is proselytizing you
with this Christian fascism get the hell
I hope I can say hell get the hell out
of my face or a man is not an option for
you so they come to us to do it and yes
we're aggressive and yes we're
expeditious people don't want to wait
for their constitutional rights Tom you
know this yeah no I totally get it Mikey
Weinstein the Weinstein excuse me the
president of the military religious
freedom Foundation get over there
mrff.org this is a real petition this
isn't some you know one of these fancy
fundraising things like politicians
throw at you
um and uh also contact your members of
Congress
202-224-3121 will get you to your house
member and both of your Senators Mikey I
wish you the very best thanks so much
for dropping by good job appreciate
everything thank you