Chris Rodda
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Articles by Chris Rodda
The Secretary of Holy War gives us lots of military bands and a dose of history revisionism at Rededicate 250
Watching Sunday’s dystopian Christian nationalist Rededicate America to Jesus extravaganza on the National Mall, there were many thoughts going through my head, the first of which was ‘how the f— is this even happening?’ This month marks nineteen years that I’ve been working as the research director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and during this time – up until this present administration – we were regularly stopping military band participation in so-called “patriotic”...
USMMA Now Fully Conquered MAGA Territory - from Charlie Kirk Vigil to Midshipmen Shilling for Trump
Fascism has come to America, folks, and as Sinclair Lewis is famously said to have predicted, it is most definitely wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. The sound of midshipmen dutifully singing “Amazing Grace” filled the air at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on the evening of September 10, 2025, where a large, very Christian vigil was held for the now-with-Jesus MAGA hero Charlie Kirk.
Will Trump Demand Military Officers to Sign a "Loyalty Oath" to Himself?
The scoop from MRFF’s senior officer client was that defense secretary Petey Hegseth and his inner circle were indeed “strongly considering demanding written ‘loyalty oaths’ to the President”. After two decades of protecting the religious liberty of our service members, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) now has some friends in pretty high places. How did this happen? Well, it’s simple.
U.S. Christian Military Commanders Try to Cancel Halloween on Base
U.S. military commanders, some high rank, try to cancel their unit’s or base’s Halloween parties or replaced with wholesome, non-Satan-summoning Christian fun. U.S. military commanders, some high rank, try to cancel their unit’s or base’s Halloween parties or replaced with wholesome, non-Satan-summoning Christian fun.
General Aligns with Religious Group Looking to Undo Democracy
On a September 4 Zoom call of “Alaska’s War Council,” Eleanor Roehl, co-founder of Kingdom Warriors Alaska, Kingdom Alliance Network and Alaskan Representative on Cindy Jacobs’s Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, opened the call by welcoming her fellow “War Council” members: And who is Sherry Eifler’s husband Brian, referred to so familiarly by Eleanor Roehl?
Bringing the Sioux to Jesus
In an astounding display of Christian nationalist bigotry, supremacy, and historical just-making-crap-up, a local so-called “history expert,” brought in by a military commander from his off-base evangelical megachurch to deliver a presentation on the history of the base, told a unit assembled at a mandatory gathering that the soldiers stationed at the installation in its early days were there to “domesticate” the Sioux Indians and bring them to Jesus.
Proselytizing Officer’s Contemptible 4th of July “Chapel Attendance Competition”
What better way to celebrate Independence Day than to rip away the religious independence of US service members with a coercive Chapel Attendance Competition. What better way to celebrate Independence Day than to rip away the religious independence of US service members with a coercive Chapel Attendance Competition.
Hoisted by His Own Petard
Last Friday, in a brief post titled “MRFF is delighted to report that Rep. Turner’s NDAA amendment to shut us down has backfired BIGLY!!!,” I reported the magnificent news that Christian nationalist GOP Rep. Mike Turner’s attempt to shut down the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) had not only failed but completely backfired.
Beyond outrageous!!! Marine colonel commands Wounded Warrior Battalion to be healed by Jesus!!!
And, boy, do we have a whopper of a fundamentalist fruitcake’s outrageous affront to the wounded, injured, and ill Marines and Sailors of the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West to tell you about. Bear in mind, now, that the pontificating putz of a “preacher” you are about to read about is NOT a chaplain, but a field grade officer – a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps – Colonel Daniel W. Laux. And even if Col Laux were a chaplain his “sermon” would have been completely beyond the pale.
Commander projects Mikey Weinstein on screen at unit gathering, calls him “anti-Christian terrorist“
Monday, Dec. 04, 2023 Monday, December 04, 2023 at 5:00:02p GMT MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein That time of year is upon us once again — that joyful season when crusading Christian military commanders bent on bringing all of their subordinates to Jesus abuse their authority to compel all to have a merrily mandatory Christmas.
MRFF victory! Bible to be replaced by journal on POW/MIA tables at ALL Lexington, KY, VA facilities
As I wrote last week, in a post titled “VA medical center petulantly removes ENTIRE ‘missing man’ table rather than remove Bible from it!,” a VA medical center in Kentucky had removed its entire POW/MIA, or “missing man,” table display from its lobby rather than simply removing the Gideons “New Testament — Psalms and Proverbs” from the table, which was all that a group of twelve veterans wanted the facility to do.
VA medical center petulantly removes ENTIRE “missing man” table rather than remove Bible from it!
“I formally request assistance from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation regarding a blatant violation of the First Amendment at VAMC Lexington (Troy Bowling Campus, 1101 Veterans Dr., Lexington, KY 40502-2235). Additionally, I apologize for the length of the message but want to provide as much detail as I believe is warranted - as well as some opining of my own which should be clear - to allow MRFF to quickly and easily reconcile this issue with VHA once and for all.
Native American service member told to dress up like an Indian for commander’s Thanksgiving event
This “very ‘loud’ Christian” commander, writes the Native American service member, who was advised to contact MRFF by a Christian buddy in his unit, claims to have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower. Apparently this commander, in addition to being an offensive jackass, is a history ignoramus who doesn’t know that the Pilgrims weren’t Puritans, but Separatists, and that the Puritans didn’t come over until a decade later.
My sister the pro-book banning MAGAt fired by library - now the latest poster child for the ACLJ
So, this morning, I was making the rounds of the various Christian nationalist legal organizations’ websites, as I routinely do once a week or so as the research director at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). One of these Christian nationalist legal organizations whose site I routinely check is, of course, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow’s American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which has repeatedly attacked and lied about MRFF for over a decade and a half.
“Witnessing” Marine NCO Gets Subordinate Injured - Says It’s Illegal to Contact MRFF
This might be a first for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) — a service member actually getting physically injured during a live combat action training drill because they were so distracted by trying to stop their senior NCO’s non-stop Christian “witnessing” during the drill.
Don’t Worry, the U.S. Military’s AI Will Be “Judeo-Christian,” Says 3-star Pentagon General
Speaking at the Hudson Institute, a neoconservative think tank whose cadre of “experts” includes the former guy’s Christian nationalist Secretary of State Mike Pompeoand Paul Marshall, whose 2002 book God and the Constitution: Christianity and American Politics was described as “an indispensable guide for Christians searching for a way to interject their religious convictions into their political actions,” Lt Gen Richard Moore, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, had...
House passes NDAA with amendment to SHUT MRFF DOWN!!! Please HELP! Send our letter to reps/senators!
WE NEED YOU TO ACT!!! We need everybody to take a minute and fill out our easy little form to send MRFF’s letter to your representative and senators. I’ll explain why doing this could still SAVE MRFF below, but before getting bogged down in details … CLICK HERE NOW TO GO TO THE FORM AND SEND THE LETTER. “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings,” as they say, and in this case the “fat lady” is the Conference Committee.
OMFG!! House Armed Services Committee passes amendment to make it ILLEGAL to communicate with MRFF!!
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has had plenty of run-ins with Christian nationalist GOP members of Congress over the years. There was MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein’s 2014 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel that was crashed by members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus who weren’t members of the subcommittee to berate Mikey.
Fort Drum soldiers repulsed by ex-chaplain speaker who preyed on soldiers worn down by training
Thirty-nine clients of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) at Fort Drum, New York, the majority of whom are Christians, have raised serious concerns about the choice of speaker for their division’s Family Spiritual Readiness Breakfast & Annual Remembrance Ceremony, to be held on June 20.
Christian Superior Orders Service Member to stop Reading “The Catcher in the Rye”
The book banning mania has apparently made its way into our military, at least as far as one offended “believing Christian” mid-level military commander is concerned. This “believing Christian” military commander, full of offendedness by seeing one of his subordinates reading “The Catcher in the Rye,” actually ordered the subordinate to stop reading the book.
Service member ordered to stop reading “The Catcher in the Rye” by offended Christian superior
The book banning mania has apparently made its way into our military, at least as far as one offended “believing Christian” mid-level military commander is concerned. This “believing Christian” military commander, full of offendedness by seeing one of his subordinates reading “The Catcher in the Rye,” actually ordered the subordinate to stop reading the book.
17 GOP reps write to VA secretary - want cross that MRFF got removed from VA clinic lobby put back
Just over two months ago, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), acting on behalf of nineteen veterans who receive medical care at the Austin VA Clinic in Texas, got a large, prominently displayed cross removed from the facility’s lobby.
Stop Coded Christian Salutations on U.S. Military Bases
From: Michael L Weinstein <mikeyw4444@icloud.com> Subject: U.S. Constitutional and USAF Regulatory Violations at Joint Base Andrews Under Your Direct Command Date: May 12, 2023 at 7:56:12 AM MDT To: Colonel Parkin C. Bryson Cc: Colonel Todd E. Randolph, Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr., Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall ...Col.
They’re driving onto a military base, not visiting a religious retreat!
The word “blessed,” defined as being “endowed with divine favor and protection,” has no place coming out of the mouths of military base gate guards as they admit service members, civilian employees, and visitors onto their base.
Special Ops unit wanted to rename itself “Crusaders,” use decapitated head patch. MRFF stopped them.
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MRFF gets commander who wanted Jewish pilot’s call sign to be “more Jewish” ousted from unit
Turns out a “pro-Trump, anti-abortion, anti-gun control, anti-LGBTQ, pro-book banning” military commander is also noxiously anti-Semitic. Who woulda thunk it?
Christian Egg Laying Bunny at Military Events
Ah, the Easter season. That time of year when spring is in the air, flowers are starting to bloom, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is besieged with calls about Christian zealot military commanders attempting to creatively shove their religion down the throats of their subordinates.
USAF commander pushes proselytizing Easter egg hunt on airmen. MRFF stops him in his bunny tracks.
Ah, the Easter season. That time of year when spring is in the air, flowers are starting to bloom, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is besieged with calls about Christian zealot military commanders attempting to creatively shove their religion down the throats of their subordinates.
No, Austin VA Clinic, you can’t display a great big cross in your lobby. VA regulations say so.
Nineteen veterans who receive medical care at the Austin VA Clinic in Texas have asked the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to help them get a large, prominently displayed cross removed from the facility.
This is very bad-Glenn Beck has purchased trove of Roe documents for his revisionist history museum
When asked why Roe v. Wade attorney Linda Coffee was auctioning off her trove of 150 documents from the case, Rebecca Hartt, Coffee’s partner, told Dallas’s D Magazine: But sickeningly, the exact opposite of Coffee’s and Hartt’s hope is what’s going to happen. Why? Because, on March 3, former Fox News host and Christian nationalist history revisionist Glenn Beck won the archive with a bid of over $600,000.
MRFF stops mandatory military training titled "Leadership Lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ"
On behalf of 112 junior enlisted military personnel and the senior NCO who was speaking for them, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has stopped yet another fundamentalist Christian officer from attempting to convert their subordinates via mandatory military training.
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow writes letter full of fake history to USMMA to defend giant Jesus painting
Another voice from the Christian nationalist peanut gallery is protesting the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) victory in getting the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) to move its giant Jesus painting from the Elliot M. See conference room in its Wiley Hall administrative building to the Academy’s chapel.
Moving Jesus to the Chapel
For those who have been following the story of the ginormous — and ginormously unconstitutional — painting of Jesus in the administrative building at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) demand to the Academy to correct this display of Christian preferentialism, nothing more is needed than the statement below, issued by the USMMA on Friday.
FOR THE WIN!!! Merchant Marine Academy is moving giant Jesus to the chapel!
For those who have been following the story of the ginormous — and ginormously unconstitutional — painting of Jesus in the administrative building at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) demand to the Academy to correct this display of Christian preferentialism, nothing more is needed than the statement below, issued by the USMMA on Friday.
U.S. Navy Orders Commanders to Implement a “Religious Test” for All Sailors!
Article VI, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution couldn’t be more clear: But now the U.S. Navy has come up with a new regulation that couldn’t violate this “no religious test” clause more if the Navy had sat down and said, ‘Hey, let’s try as hard as we can to come up with something that totally violates the Constitution.’ The new regulation, OPNAVINST 1730.1F, “Religious Ministry in the Navy,” issued on November 9, 2022, replaces 2012’s version, OPNAVINST 1730.1E, and although the old...
Five MAGA congressmen on a crusade to get Merchant Marine Academy ginormous Jesus painting uncovered
Last month, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), acting on behalf of seventeen alumni, staff, faculty, and midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), a group that has now grown to twenty-six, had a swift and successful interaction with the Academy’s superintendent, Vice Admiral Joanna M. Nunan, regarding an enormous painting of Jesus hanging in the Academy’s administration building, Wiley Hall.
Outrageous! U.S. Navy orders commanders to implement a “religious test” for all sailors!
Article VI, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution couldn’t be more clear: But now the U.S. Navy has come up with a new regulation that couldn’t violate this “no religious test” clause more if the Navy had sat down and said, ‘Hey, let’s try as hard as we can to come up with something that totally violates the Constitution.’ The new regulation, OPNAVINST 1730.1F, “Religious Ministry in the Navy,” issued on November 9, 2022, replaces 2012’s version, OPNAVINST 1730.1E, and although the old...
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to cover ginormous Jesus painting in administrative building
The colossal Christian canvas now dominates the Elliot M. See room within Wiley Hall, the Academy’s administrative building — the room in which are held, among other things, Midshipmen Honor Boards, at which midshipmen are defending themselves against alleged honor violations.
Keep Your Fundamentalist Wreaths Off Our Graves
A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, and since not too many more words are necessary to describe the grifters and grave desecraters known as Wreaths Across America than what I wrote in my previous post, I’m just going to post some of the photos sent in to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) from this year’s “National Desecrate a Non-Christian Veteran’s Grave Day” — the day, as I expounded on in my last post, that the Worcester Wreath Co., with the sanction of the...
Some repugnant photos of this year’s veterans-of-the-wrong-religions Christmas grave desecrations
A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, and since not too many more words are necessary to describe the grifters and grave desecraters known as Wreaths Across America than what I wrote in my previous post, I’m just going to post some of the photos sent in to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) from this year’s “National Desecrate a Non-Christian Veteran’s Grave Day” — the day, as I expounded on in my last post, that the Worcester Wreath Co., with the sanction of the...
It’s time for this year’s “National Desecrate a Non-Christian Veteran’s Grave Day”
It’s that time of the year again — the time when the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is besieged with communications from family members of deceased veterans deeply worried that their loved ones’ graves will be most unwelcomely decorated for Christmas.
Trump-loving commander pushes “CRT” class on subordinates - “CRT” for “Christian Religion Truths”
Last week, a military commander on a large military base, known for his proselytizing and pushing of Christian nationalist views as well as openly promoting Trump and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and bashing President Biden and Speaker Pelosi at military events and meetings, extended an invitation to the 200 service members present at a mandatory meeting.
Will Trump’s Amateur Sleuths Decry Another 'Stolen Election'?
As Republican candidates, parties and groups are poised to legally challenge election results where they have lost or lag behind in the preliminary results, a parallel effort is underway in pro-Trump circles that likely will fabricate propaganda about illegitimate elections. Candidates have long been able to challenge voters and ballots after Election Day during the vote count reconciliation process – called the canvass – which is before results are certified and recounts occur.
Uvalde Remembered
Last week, tearful but tenacious families of the 19 children murdered in their Uvalde classrooms at Robb Elementary School marked Día de Muertos, Day of the Dead, by marching on the Texas capitol to both honor their lost children and reiterate their (futile) months-long pleas for sensible gun reform from Gov.
How Stupid Do They Think People Are?
This is one for the ‘you just can’t make this crap up’ file — not the incident itself, but the Air Force Academy's gem of an unbelievable excuse for it. On October 30, the Air Force Academy men’s soccer team had a home game against Seattle University. This being the last home game for the Air Force Academy players who are seniors, a banner was put up below the scoreboard with each of the seniors’ jersey numbers on it.
How f-ing stupid does the Air Force Academy think people are?
This is one for the ‘you just can’t make this crap up’ file -- not the incident itself, but the Air Force Academy's gem of an unbelievable excuse for it. On October 30, the Air Force Academy men’s soccer team had a home game against Seattle University. This being the last home game for the Air Force Academy players who are seniors, a banner was put up below the scoreboard with each of the seniors’ jersey numbers on it.
Progressive Atheists
We used to have sort of a mystery in my family. For some reason, when asked about our ethnicity my older sister and I would say “Jewish.” My two younger brothers would say “German.” My brothers would express confusion when my sister and I said Jewish. When I was little, my father was active in the Presbyterian church we belonged to. My maternal grandparents didn’t belong to a church and were agnostic, though my mother had rebelled by becoming Episcopalian when she was a teenager.
The Media Finds Its War
On Sunday, October 9, The New York Times published an article entitled “An American in Ukraine Finds the War He’s Been Searching For.” It could just as easily be entitled “The Media Finds the War It’s Been Searching For.” It is, sadly, a story of the corrupting influence war and profits have on everything, including the press, that very institution which is to keep a constant check on our government, particularly in affairs of war.
Why Doesn't the Pentagon Even Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader?
In Burkina Faso late last month, Capt. Ibrahim Traore overthrew Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a fellow military officer who had seized power in a January coup. Last week, Traore was declared “Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces,” according to an official statement. Prior to his putsch, Damiba took part in at least a half-dozen U.S. training events, according to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.
USAFA Cadet Forced to Choose Between Her Religion and Key Training Told the Issue Is “Being Jewish”
In its latest slap in the face to its Jewish cadets, the ever-religious-diversity-challenged Air Force Academy this year scheduled its “Commandant’s Challenge,” the most important training day of the semester, on October 5, perfectly timed to fall right smack on Yom Kippur, the most solemn of all Jewish holy days, forcing Jewish cadets to choose between their religion and joining their much-preferred Christian counterparts in a training day that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) described...
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