Did the anti-religious Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), which has made its mission to attempt to obstruct all attempts to practice your faith on active duty, just get it butt-handed to it by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth? It is hard to tell from news reports, but it certainly seems that way.
On Thursday, Military.com, a reliably leftist outlet that covers the Armed Forces, reported that MRFF has received 34 complaints from 24 people over a period of "days and even weeks," of some gate guards at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, saying "God bless you" or "Have a blessed day," as they cleared people onto post. According to MRFF, these greetings constituted a "weeks-long blitz" and were part of a nefarious plan, undoubtedly hatched by that notorious Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth, to Christianize the U.S. military. A story on that nutbaggery also ran in Military.com. (Don't get me wrong. I'm all for returning to the days of mandatory chapel formation on Sunday, or whatever day you may pick to worship on.)
The MRFF complained to the commander at Kirtland AFB, and he promptly did what installation and garrison commanders across the military are famous for doing: folding like a cheap suit.
By way of background, MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein alleges he was beaten unconscious as an Air Force Academy cadet for being Jewish. He also has a h**d-on for Mel Gibson's excellent The Passion of the Christ. (Weinstein may very well have been beaten up for being a Jew at the notoriously macho and Christian U.S. Air Force Academy. Anything is possible. I suspect he got his butt stomped for other reasons, assuming the events happened at all).
Here is more of Weinstein's work.
- Demanded removal of a painting from the dining facility at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho: Air Force Removes “Inspirational” Painting – RedState.
- Tried to get the Army Chief of Chaplains court-martialed for designating a "day of prayer and fasting:" for chaplains: Bentley Rayburn Defends Religious Freedom For The Military – RedState
- Called Christian "monsters who terrorize" and equated them to al Qaeda.
- Demanded removal of an article in the Chaplains Corner blog of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson that discussed the phrase "no atheists in foxholes." Victory: “No Atheists in Foxholes” Article Reinstated on Chaplain’s Website – RedState
- Lost his crap over Space Force swearing in new members using a Bible: Space Force Gets Trashed by a Religious Freedom Organization, Accused of 'Christian Privilege' for Swearing in on the Bible – RedState.
- Tried to criminalize members of the Armed Forces sharing their faith with others: Could Christian Chaplains Be Silenced Under Pentagon Rules? – RedState.
Anyway, the greetings at Kirtland started, and Weinstein was soon figuratively twerking on social media to celebrate his victory over civility.
MRFF VICTORY! Weeks-Long Blitz of Religious Greetings from Air Force Base Gate Guards Stopped in Just Over Two Hours https://t.co/3f6IXCDM9S
— Mikey Weinstein (@MikeyWeinstein) September 3, 2026
That was at 10:31 AM
At 11:40 AM on Friday, Pete Hegseth entered the chat.
The MRFF is a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group that attacks any/all faith inside the @DeptofWar.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 4, 2026
We will never cave to them. The @usairforce will confront this.
God bless our Airmen. https://t.co/7ilR0QqVrk
The chef's kiss was "God bless our Airmen."
By 5:56 PM on Friday, Mikey Weinstein was on the verge of stroking out.
In a spittle-flecked rant, he threatened to sue Hegseth for calling his seemingly, given the issues listed above, radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group "a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group." He seems to threaten Hegseth with UCMJ action, even though he's a civilian and boasts the Air Force is the only service that restricts religious speech that looks problematic.
The Military.com article doesn't say what happened, but this video does not look like the action of a man who won, but rather a chump who was rolled. I'm open to being corrected if it is proven that the order at Kirtland was not rescinded. That said, I'm guessing that sometime between 11:40 AM and 5:56 PM, on September 4, the commander of Kirtland AFB had to decide who he feared most: Pete Hegseth or some guy running a non-profit, and that choice was exquisitely easy to make.
@PeteHegseth @SecWar @DeptofWar pic.twitter.com/TYWR7r2zwX
— Mikey Weinstein (@MikeyWeinstein) September 4, 2026
Hey, well hello, little Petey.
Guess what, we saw what you said about us. Those were some very mean things. Of course, completely libelous, I might add. False, lies, you can talk to your lawyers about that.
On your Twitter account, your X account, “The MRFF,” which is us, “is a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group that attacks any/all faith inside the Department of War. We will never cave to them. The USAF will confront this. God bless our airmen.”
I think you’re referring to our victory at Kirtland Air Force Base in stopping the uniformed…Air Force uniformed, armed gate guards from saying “have a blessed day” to everybody coming in.
We have 34 airmen there that are complaining, 24 of whom are Christian. Just like our client load which is well over 100,000, and several hundred new ones each month, is consistently 95 percent Christian. Like our staff, paid and volunteer all over the world, is 84 percent Christian.
So, I’ll leave that to the lawyers with regard to the libel you just perpetrated on us.
I did want to say a couple of quick things, though. I want to give you some homework for the long Labor Day weekend. Before I forget, f**k you! You worthless Christian supremacist, nationalist piece of s**t.
But getting back to the legal side, we have something called Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.16, in the Air Force. We helped lobby for that years ago. The Air Force is the only branch that has this. And Kirtland Air Base is in the Air Force, of course.
It makes it clear that leaders must insure their words and actions cannot be construed reasonably as supporting one faith over another faith, for that matter, no faith whatsoever. Violating that can lead to prosecution under the UCMJ. You know, sort of stuff you do whenever you have your monthly “Jesus praise” services in the largest auditorium in the Pentagon during the duty day with people in uniform. When you bring people in like Doug Wilson, your favorite pastor, who is a complete White Supremacist, supports slavery, thinks that Jews are complicit in the execution of Jesus Christ, totally misogynistic, transphobic, and homophobic.
Five words: tell it to the judge, Petey.
Twelve hours later, Air Force Chief of Staff General Ken Wilsbach amplified the message.
Defenders at our gates not only protect our installations but also welcome everyone entering courteously and professionally.
— General Ken Wilsbach (@OfficialCSAF) September 5, 2026
The Department of the Air Force’s policies are unchanged. We are not restricting the use of common greetings while entering our bases.
Wilsbach's tweet doesn't seem to have been necessary beyond providing legal cover for anyone targeted by one of the 24 people who filed complaints with Weinstein's group.
This seems to follow the same pattern as a similar incident at Robins AFB, Georgia, in 2016. The same guy filed the same complaint about gate guards greeting visitors with, "God bless you." The base commander promptly "caved in like a sand castle in the surf." But higher command lifted the base commander's ban; see Robins AFB Can Still Have a Blessed Day--For Now – RedState.Weinstein had a cow when that happened, too.
"They talk about, 'It's a military base all of Middle Georgia can be proud of;' unfortunately, the Constitution to these people — and Air Force regulations — do not apply simply to 'Middle Georgia.' They also don't apply to Middle Earth. They apply to the United States of America and this is a vicious savaging of the constitutional protections that are afforded by the First Amendment along with Department of Defense regulations. The Air Force has not heard the last of this."
I'm confident that any lawsuit Weinstein files against Hegseth isn't going anywhere. Given the history of MRFF, labeling them anti-Christian is what most people would do. I'd also like to point out that the Air Force regulation Weinstein touts not only doesn't say what he seems to think it says (I'm assuming he knows this but hopes you don't), but is probably on life support because it is being used as a cudgel to attack religious expression.
2.16. Balance of Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment Clause. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for free exercise of religion and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. They must ensure their words and actions do not discriminate against any individual or group because of their faith, belief, or absence of belief, or extend preferential treatment for the same. Leaders must ensure that their personal expression is not reasonably associated with their government role, but may engage in such expression per DAFI 52-201, Religious Freedom in the Department of the Air Force.
The open expression of religion is an American military tradition. George Washington prayed in the snow at Valley Forge. George Patton had prayer cards printed and distributed throughout the Third U.S. Army in 1944. We can't allow the fervently anti-religious to create a heckler's veto over religious liberty. Having a stand-up guy like Pete Hegseth get involved in this battle over a very basic freedom-of-expression issue shows me the Department of War is in good hands.
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