JD – let me see if I can put this in simple, plain language that you can understand. For your benefit, I will use traditional spellings of all words and be sure to define them when I deem necessary.

Mikey Weinstein is the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He began the foundation to defend the right of religious freedom of all military personnel. The reason he did this is because he became aware that the US Air Force Academy had a huge problem with religious coercion. Not a few isolated incidences, but an every day, all day effort to convert any and all cadets who were not of a particular Christian sect. Cadets who did not convert were subject to behaviors intended to stress, shame, mock, and isolate them. Mikey discovered that while overzealous upperclassman were being 'blamed' for this behavior, it was actually organized, endorsed, and encouraged from the top down. That includes the officers in charge of the Academy, professors, and chaplains. This behavior violates the separation of church and state amendment in the Bill of Rights.

You with me so far?

This sect of Christianity is known as dominionism, named for their belief that they alone have God's mandate and blessing to exercise dominion over all peoples, all governments, all aspects of society. It is important for you to understand that this particular sect is the only group of people who Mikey is fighting against, and the only group of people who have ever come out against him. Since founding the MRFF, Mikey has discovered the same behavior outside of the AF Academy, in other branches of the military. Members of the Army, Navy, and Marines have enlisted his help with the same coercive behavior and always from the same sect of Christians. You might be surprised to learn that the greatest majority of Mikey's clients are Christians. They've been told they're not the right kind of Christian, or not Christian enough. They are pressured to believe ideas that are foreign to their own understanding of the scriptures.

Mikey is fighting for religious freedom. The freedom to choose your own religion and worship and pray as you see fit. The freedom to be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or nothing at all. The freedom to pray to God, Allah, the Sun, or Felix the Cat. There is nothing wrong with the military and their academies having religious counseling, services, and materials available to their members. And there's nothing wrong with them inviting you to participate. But if you say "no, thank you" that should be the end of it. You should not be made to pay any price for having your own beliefs and practices.

Unfortunately, dominionist Christians do not see it this way, and I reiterate they are the only people Mikey is doing battle with. And they are the only people expressing their disdain for Mikey's work. No Jew, no Muslim, no Hindu, no Buddhist, and no atheist has ever come forward to tell Mikey to STFU. MRFF has a research team and legal staff that checks out all complaints. Mikey is now representing over 15,000 clients and I assure you the stories are ALWAYS the same. Leah and I are very familiar with Mikey's work. If you think you know differently, I submit that the burden of proof rests on your shoulders. You might want to read Mikey's book, "With God on our Side, to get the complete back story and understand what we are talking about. I also suggest you do some research on dominionism to know more about what YOU are talking about.

The emails above do not have to say specifically that the author is a dominionist Christian. They self identify by the very content of their email as it relates to the history of the conflict. There is no "secular hate mail" in this fight. You need to know more about the conflict to get this concept.