Michael L. Weinstein () is an American attorney, and former Air Force officer. Weinstein is the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He is the author of two books, With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military and No Snowflake in an Avalanche, both of which describe purported Christian evangelical and fundamentalist proselytizing by some members of the US military.
Military service and education Weinstein graduated with honors from the United States Air Force Academy in 1977. He has stated that while at the Academy he encountered a string of incidents of psychological harassment, including notes emblazoned with swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs, death threats, and two violent incidents of hazing where he was ambushed, beaten, and, in one case, hospitalized.Weinstein and Seay, pg. 188
Weinstein graduated from Cabrillo High School in Lompoc, California in 1973. He began his legal studies at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. He enrolled in the university through the Air Force Law School Program shortly after his appointment as Chief of the Secure Systems Branch of the 2049th Communications and Installations Group at McClellan Air Force Base. Weinstein graduated with his Juris Doctor degree in 1981. Weinstein served as both an air force sponsored law student and a practicing JAG officer with the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps for over ten years.Weinstein and Seay, p. 14.
Legal and political career Weinstein spent over three years working in the West Wing of the Reagan Administration as legal counsel in the White House. He began with an appointment to the Office of Management and Budget and was soon named the Committee Management Officer of the Iran-Contra affair in his capacity as Assistant General Counsel of The White House Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Weinstein served as the first general counsel for Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation. He left to work full-time at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit organization he founded in March 2006. This foundation was formed as a watchdog organization to protect religious freedom in the military in accordance with Department of Defense Directive 1300.17, "Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Services". As of 2024 the MRFF reported that it represented just over 90,000 active duty U.S. marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, cadets, midshipmen, national guard, reservists and veterans, about 95% of whom self-identify as practicing Christians.Official website. MRFF, February 16, 2024.]
Activism Weinstein says both his sons were exposed to Christian proselytizing at the Academy. In the case of his younger son Curtis, he reported that it included anti-Semitic language and being asked "how it felt to kill Jesus". His elder son, Casey, a 2004 Academy graduate, alleged that "Senior cadets would sit down and say, 'How do you feel about the fact that your family is going to burn in hell?'"Harwood, Matt. Meet the military man battling dangerous Christian extremism in the military , Alternet.org; July 12, 2010.
He wrote in his autobiography (Weinstein and Seay, p. 208):
Describing his trajectory in an interview with LA Progressive that was published in April 2012, Weinstein said:
On October 6, 2005, Weinstein sued the United States Air Force for failing to prevent religious proselytizing in the U.S. Air Force. U.S. District Judge James A. Parker dismissed the case of Weinstein v. U.S. Air Force and wrote:
On September 17, 2007, the MRFF filed a federal lawsuitMRFF v. Gates, undated, militaryreligiousfreedom.org; accessed June 13, 2012. in Kansas City, Kansas, against then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Major Freddy J. Welborn, accusing them of allowing a "pervasive and pernicious pattern and practice of unconstitutional religious rape of freedoms of our U.S. military".An Interview with Michael Weinstein, Philadelphia Jewish Voice, February 2008; accessed June 13, 2012. On March 5, 2008, the lawsuit was re-filed to include allegations that co-plaintiff Army Specialist Jeremy Hall was denied a promotion due to the filing of the original lawsuit.
Following the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, Weinstein suggested that proselytizing by "fundamentalist Christians" may have created a hostile environment that contributed to the psychological pressure on Major Nidal Hasan. Hasan reportedly had claimed he faced harassing insults related to his Arab ethnic background and Islamic faith.Philip Sherwell, "Fort Hood shooting: Nidal Malik Hasan 'said Muslims should rise up'", telegraph.co.uk, November 6, 2009; accessed June 13, 2012.
In November 2009, the American Family Association issued the statement "No More Muslims in the US Military", which called for Muslim military enlistees to be barred from military service in the United States armed forces on the grounds that "...just as Christians are taught to imitate the life of Christ, so Muslims are taught to imitate the Prophet in all things. Yesterday, Nidal Malik Hasan was simply being a good Muslim.""No More Muslims in the U.S. Military" , afa.net; accessed November 13, 2016. Weinstein's denunciation of the AFA position as "bigoted, racist, [and] vile" was featured prominently by Hatewatch, the official blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center civil rights organization."Violate the Constitution? Christian Right Group Says Yes", splcenter.org; retrieved July 25, 2011.
jIn 2011, the US Air Force, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Foundation, revised a training course taught to nuclear missile launch officers which included quotations from Wernher von Braun and also cited Christian just war theory, among other materials.Air Force suspends ethics course that used Bible passages to train missile launch officers, washingtonpost.com, August 2, 2011. Radio host Michael Savage criticized Weinstein, saying, "What Weinstein doesn't know was if it was not for the warrior mentality of the Christians he hates so much, who rescued his ancestors from the ovens of Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, Mickey Whine-[something edited out] wouldn't be here plaguing the United States of America."Rodda, Chris. "Michael Savage Attacks Mikey Weinstein Over Stopping of Air Force "Jesus Loves Nukes" Training", huffingtonpost.com; accessed October 14, 2016. Weinstein responded in a newsletter to his audience, saying that Savage's "stupefying rant" was "a rabidly ad-hominem, personal assault ... which should serve as a particularly revealing clue as to the psychological state of this specimen, a professional bottom-feeding hyena who earns his daily bread by foaming at the mouth and spreading extremist hysteria which he likely doesn't even believe himself."
In March 2011, Weinstein submitted a written testimony to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights for a hearing entitled "Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims". He expounded on the varied complaints and injustices made by Muslim clients who have purportedly been subjected to pejoratives and racial slurs, such as "towel head", "raghead", or "camel jockey", on a regular basis. In December 2011, he resubmitted a written statement on the same subject. This statement went into more detail on the origins and effects of Islamophobia in the U.S. military. Weinstein pointed out several relatively prominent figures in the U.S. military hierarchy, particularly the chaplaincy, who advocated for what Weinstein said are Islamophobic policies and behaviors. He also pointed to an alleged culture of Dominionist Christianity as a contributor to the trend.
In January 2012, No Snowflake in an Avalanche was released. The book, co-authored by Weinstein and Davin Seay, details MRFF's prominent case studies and struggles, as well as the violent impediments that continue to be imposed against MRFF by its opponents. He supported the book release with nationwide speaking and book signing tour which includes one bookstore in Albuquerque, NM being forced by public pressure to reverse its decision to deny an in-store appearance due to "controversy" surrounding the event.
When protests broke out in various parts of Afghanistan over the improper disposal of copies of the Quran at the US military Bagram Air Base, for which the US apologized, protesters shouted "Death to America" and burned U.S. flags. In a MRFF statement, Weinstein noted that the desecrations of the Muslim holy book by U.S. personnel revealed "a fatal attitude of patronizing colonial hostility [that] has indeed been allowed to hijack the US mission in Afghanistan. By adding grist to the mill of escalating regional resentment, America's own religious extremists, racists and anti-Muslim bigots within the military have ensured that they and their comrades in arms will continue to pay the awful price in spilled blood ... the real-world consequence of this intrinsically ingrained religious prejudice and bigotry is the loss of service members' lives and limbs."
In 2012 Weinstein sued former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt for issuing an imprecatory prayer that he equated to a fatwa. The suit was dismissed by the judge, who stated that Weinstein failed to connect the prayer to any subsequent threats or actions against him.
Weinstein is often mistakenly characterized as an atheist, a charge he and his defenders vociferously deny on the basis of him being "a Jewish agnostic who still prays three times a day in Hebrew ... definitely not an atheist."
News sources announced that permission granted to use military emblems on Holman Military Bibles had been revoked. B&H Publishing Group being notified in 2011 that the decision was made based on new military trademark licensing issues.
In February 2013, the Air Force Academy posted a link to a homophobic site as a guide to Jewish holidays. Weinstein was contacted by around 22 AFA staff members, faculty, and cadets who asked that the link be removed. He expressed "profound bewilderment, shock, and no small amount of disgust" at the inclusion of such a website in official AFA material, calling it "Pernicious, homophobic, and clearly misogynistic." In response to Weinstein's demands the Air Force Academy spokesman, Lt. Col. John Bryan, said he wasn't sure how or why the links were included. He does say that it was most likely an oversight and that "nobody does things maliciously here."
In April 2013, Weinstein met with top-level officials in the Pentagon to discuss proselytizing in the U.S. military and the role of the chaplaincy. He called it a "national security threat ... spiritual rape ... sedition and treason." In an interview with the Washington Post after that meeting, Weinstein blamed military and political leadership for the abundance of proselytizing going on the military today. Weinstein again claimed the culture in the military is misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic and that the chain of command is compliant to this culture.
In October 2013, Lt. Colonel Chaplain Stephen W. Austin contacted Weinstein on October 8, 2013, regarding initial development and implementation of a spirit(ual) dimension component to a U.S. Army soldier resilience platform called ArmyFit. Lt. Col. Austin requested MRFF's advice and review "as we progress in the development of this dimension. Your opinion matters and we would like to work collaboratively on a topic that is clearly complex and sensitive."