{"id":73569,"date":"2023-07-14T21:13:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T21:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/07\/14\/ban-on-troops-communicating-with-civil-rights-group-clears-house\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:44:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:44:37","slug":"ban-on-troops-communicating-with-civil-rights-group-clears-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/07\/14\/ban-on-troops-communicating-with-civil-rights-group-clears-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban on troops communicating with civil rights group clears House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A conservative Republican provision of the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill that would prohibit Defense Department personnel from communicating with an established civil rights group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2023\/07\/14\/house-narrowly-passes-defense-bill-after-dems-defect-over-abortion\/\">survived a contentious House<\/a> vote Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The amendment, slipped into the House version of the defense authorization bill by Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, would forbid service members from contacting the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or its leadership. The legislation would also bar commanders from taking \u201cany action or mak[ing] any decision as a result of any claim, objection or protest\u201d made by the group \u201cwithout the authority of the Secretary of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MRFF\u2019s founder, Mikey Weinstein, described the provision\u2019s progression to the Senate as the \u201cPearl Harbor\u201d in a far-right campaign to erode the rights of military personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMembers of the military have the right under the First Amendment to free speech, as curtailed appropriately by the Supreme Court; they also have the right to petition their government for grievances,\u201d Weinstein told Military Times. \u201cBoth of those have been viciously violated today by the actions of the far-right Christian nationalists in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weinstein, a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and veteran, founded the organization in 2005 with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org\/about\/\">stated goal<\/a> of \u201censuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.\u201d The nonprofit claims to have served around 84,000 service members over the course of its 18-year history, defending its clients from unwanted proselytizing and scrubbing DoD installations clean of religious symbolism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MRFF\u2019s activism has provoked the ire of conservative organizations and lawmakers. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was one of several GOP legislators to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/sen-cruz-sends-letter-demanding-answers-to-us-merchant-marine-academy-over-christ-on-the-water-painting\">slam leaders<\/a> of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2023\/2\/6\/23587827\/us-merchant-marine-academy-painting-jesus-behind-curtain\">removing<\/a> a 190-square-foot painting titled \u201cChrist on the Water,\u201d which depicts an image of Jesus appearing before merchant mariners adrift in a lifeboat, from a public space in the academy\u2019s main administration building at the behest of MRFF in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turner\u2019s office did not elaborate on why the congressman introduced the amendment. A senior House Armed Services Committee staffer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/06\/26\/defense-bill-targets-religious-freedom-group-for-its-advocacy-work\/\">previously told Military Times<\/a> that the stipulation aimed to ensure that military personnel don\u2019t \u201coverreact\u201d to the foundation\u2019s work. Weinstein suspects more personal grudges \u2014 the MRFF <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2016\/04\/09\/wright-patterson-afb-removes-bible-from-pow-mia-display-after-complaint\/\">pressured<\/a> Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, located in Turner\u2019s district, to remove a Bible display from its dining facilities in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weinstein says his group has assembled a \u201clitigation SWAT team\u201d to challenge the provision in federal court should it become law. In the meantime, Weinstein and his team are lobbying senators to strike the clause from the bill. Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the legislators with whom Weinstein claims to be \u201ccoordinating,\u201d did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been told by Senate staff and even senators that they\u2019re not sure that all of the toxic cancer put in by the fundamentalist Christian nationalists in the House will be able to be found in conference,\u201d Weinstein said of the difficulties involved with weeding out certain sections of the NDAA. But, he stressed: \u201cThis is hardly over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The amendment to the defense authorization bill would forbid service members from contacting the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or its 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