By Pam Wight Staff Writer Whittier Daily News March 15, 2007
WHITTIER - Mikey Weinstein, a lightning rod in the battle over church/state separation ever since he sued the U.S. Air Force for religious discrimination, will speak about his experiences at the Beth Shalom of Whittier on Friday as part of a nation-wide book tour.
Weinstein's book, "With God on Our Side," details his and others' exposure to what he says was overt evangelical proselytizing at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The former Air Force (JAG) lawyer and legal counsel in the Reagan administration filed suit in the District Court of New Mexico against the Air Force in October 2005, after his sons Casey and Curtis encountered some of the same pressures while attending the academy.
Weinstein, 51, claims that for decades academy officials created an environment of religious intolerance, violating the First Amendment.
He said, among other things, that evangelical Christian leaders at the school mandated attendance at religious services and recited prayers at public events.
"They call Jews `Jesus killers' and would schedule mandatory training during Jewish religious holidays or Sabbath," Weinstein said. "There is no toleration of any other religion but Christianity."
Air Force officials have maintained that all members' religious beliefs are respected.
Weinstein's watchdog organization, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, uncovered a recruitment video in December made by an evangelical group called "The Christian Embassy."
The video, filmed in the Pentagon, features uniformed officers talking about their religious beliefs.
For his efforts, Weinstein has been pilloried by religious leaders and some media pundits, some of whom have called him "the most dangerous man in America" and "Satan's advocate."
Critics such as James Dobson, leader of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family, have said that Air Force chaplains have the right to spread their faith.
But Weinstein said the stealth takeover of the military by people with "end-of-world beliefs" is a "dangerous contagion to our Constitution."
"I still get death threats three or four times a week," said Weinstein, who lives in Albuquerque. "Our tires get slashed, we find dead animals on our doorstep, hate mail. But I'll never stop what I'm doing. This is my life now."
Rabbi Haim Beliak of Beth Shalom of Whittier said he has wanted Weinstein to come speak at the synagogue since he heard of the Air Force stories.
"I felt that the story was being under-reported, both in the Jewish community and everywhere else," Beliak said. "People are afraid of this story."
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