The commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Hawaii recently clarified that a signboard reading, ‘God bless the military, their families and the civilians who work with them’, would remain in its original spot even though Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) sent a letter of complaint earlier this month, calling the religious display unconstitutional.
“This sign will remain in its present location and not be altered in any way,” wrote Colonel Sean Killeen in a letter dated October 9 and addressed to Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the MRFF. “Our legal team has conducted exhaustive research on this issue. Several Supreme Court cases and other federal cases support the conclusion that the message on the sign does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 'God bless' is commonly used in our culture in a number of contexts and there are numerous references to God in this nation's symbols, songs, mottos, and oaths. This sign has the secular purpose of conveying a message of support, but does not advance nor inhibit religion or any particular faith, nor does it foster excessive government entanglement with religion.”
According to marine officials, the controversial signboard was erected at the base shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks took place in 2001, as servicemen were preparing to be deployed.
Weinstein demanded that the religious signboard be moved to the grounds of the base chapel or taken down completely. He also said that if it remains at its current location, MRFF’s 72 members would demand the right to build and display their own signboards beginning with Yahweh, Allah, Odin, Vishnu and Goddess. Additionally, he pointed out that those willing to display a signboard, reading ‘There is No God’ should be allowed to do so as well. On October 12, he added three more groups to his previous list of six, saying Church of Satan, Jedi Church and the Baha'is expressed desires to erect their own signboards on the base.
After receiving Killeen’s response to his letter of complaint, Weinstein wrote, “Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) completely rejects both your comprehensively wrong decision and your extremely faulty legal analysis,” pointing out that the commanding officer’s decision would never hold up in court.
In a separate letter to the commanding officer, MRFF’s legal counsel, Tobanna Barker, noted that Killeen’s decision had probably been based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1972 Lemon versus Kurtzman case.
“To pass muster, such an act or policy must have a secular purpose; its principal and primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and it must not foster excessive government entanglement with religion,” the court had ruled at the time.
Barker stressed that Killeen’s rationale to refer to that ruling while deciding whether or not to keep the controversial signboard on his base was implausible.“Your claim that the sign 'has the secular purpose of conveying a message of support' is implausible,” Barker wrote. “First, the sign plainly fails to show support toward service members whose religious faiths do not include the Judeo-Christian 'God,' or toward those who practice no religion at all. Second, a truly secular message of support could be easily accomplished with a sign stating, 'We support our military members, their families, and the civilians who work with them.' No reference to God is necessary to show support for all men and women in uniform.”
Photo Credits: America's Freedom Fighters
