Why The Army Banned Bible Verses Will Blow You Away!
Scripture has been used by both Jews and Christians to combat the enemy, whether physical or spiritual. Thanks to the Atheist Groups, the U.S. military will no longer authorize armies to obtain Army-licensed dog tags with scriptures from the Christian bible.
Military members were allowed to wear dog tags with Bible verses on them, giving them light and hope in some of their darkest times for the past 20 years. For some Gold Star families, this is one of their most loved belongings to remember their loved one who provided the endmost sacrifice. However, this could be coming to an end.
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The U.S. Army is the most recent military branch to declare that their members will no longer be authorized to engrave Biblical verses on their dog tags, according to Fox News.
This decision comes in pursuit of “negative press” involving threats of a federal lawsuit issued by the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), Mikey Weinstein.
The U.S. military has long integrated faith into the very fibers of its core in line with the country’s immanent Christian-Judeo founding. However, in a dangerous distortion of the Jeffersonian narrative of “Separation of Church and State,” some Atheist Groups have taken it upon themselves to cut out any appearance of a religious proclamation from our nation’s pillar.
Mikey Weinstein sent an email to the Department of Defense resulting in a change of policy. Weinstein asked that all military branches should stop allowing service members to pair the military emblem with bible scriptures. Weinstein culminated that such use “poisons the constitutionally-mandated separation of Church and State.”
Every branch either pulled or pressured to pull their trademark licenses from Shields of Strength, a company that legally obtains such rights, once the decision was made. Most recently, the Army emailed founder Kenny Vaughan, admitting that the move to discontinue their partnership was made due to the MRFF’s threats.
According to a letter obtained by Fox News, Army Trademark Licensing Program director, Paul Jensen, wrote to Kenny Vaughan, Shields of Strength founder, asking to remove all biblical references.
Jensen wrote:
You are not authorized to put biblical verses on your Army products. For example, Joshua 1:9. Please remove ALL biblical references from all of your Army products.
First Liberty Institute, representing Vaughan, wrote the Army, calling on them to respect their trademark license with Shields of Faith. The organization disapproved the MRFF’s claims, attesting that it is unconstitutional to violate religious freedoms.
Mike Berry, chief of staff and director of military affairs for First Liberty wrote in the letter to Jensen:
“Your directive that SoS remove all Biblical references from its Army-licensed products is unconstitutional and violates RFRA. Just when I didn’t think Mikey Weinstein could stoop any lower, he pulled a stunt like that. He’d rather take it away from them just to raise his own publicity than support our service members … that’s pretty cowardly and that’s cruel.”
Shields of Strength has produced over 4 million custom-made dog tags for the military, all of which contain biblical references. Vaughan claimed that blocking service members from obtaining them is a violation of their rights. Vaughan and his wife Tammie have been making Shields of Strength replica dog tags with uplifting Bible verses or references on them for service members and first responders for more than 20 years already. Shields of Strength replica dog tags bear various military-themed emblems, logos, or insignia on one side and different faith-based messages such as Scripture verses or references on the other side.
Vaughan said:
“It’s insane. It’s incredibly selfish. All we do is provide a reminder of God’s word. No one has to do this. Virtually every unit has contacted us and said, ‘Would you make us a tag with our unit on it?’ We’ve seen the fruit of the mission. Literally thousands of soldiers, airmen, marines, telling us with tears in their eyes how much it’s meant to them, and many times the Gold Star families to be in possession of the dog tag they wore. I don’t understand it.”
Unless the company, Shields of Strength manages to pull a lawsuit, it is improbable that the military branches will reverse their ruling to disallow the scriptural dog tags.
Surpassingly, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has seen much fortune in solely threatening legal cases. In fact, it’s only when intimidated groups and individuals repulse that Weinstein concedes.
Sources: taphaps, Youtube/CBNNews, foxnews