Friday, September 9, 2016
NEW YORK TV NEWS 12 FEATURES MIKEY WEINSTEIN ABOUT U.S. ARMY FOOTBALL COACH MONKEN PRAYER!
DAILY CALLER COVERS MRFF
ADVOCATE: WEST POINT COACH APOLOGIZING FOR PRAYER CELEBRATION
Friday, September 9, 2016
Army West Point football coach Jeff Monken is apologizing today for making his team give thanks to “Jesus” in their locker-room victory celebration Friday night, says an advocate for players and parents who found his move creepy and un-constitutional.
Acting on complaints from six team members, two of them Christian, Military Religious Freedom Foundation president Mikey Weinstein on Monday contacted West Point about the incident.
PATHEOS.COM COVERS MRFF
West Point Will Investigate Coach-Led Christian Prayer After Army Football Team’s Recent Victory
Friday, September 9, 2016
Last Friday, on the opening weekend of the college football season, Army beat Temple 28-13 and celebrated in the locker room. That celebration, however, included a prayer led by one of the assistant coaches, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation immediately called them out on it. They were spurred by emails from multiple members (including some from Christians).
Coach-led prayers shouldn’t be happening at public schools anyway, but the Army? That’s especially egregious and sends the message that our military is promoting Christianity.
CBS NEW YORK COVERS MRFF
Army Investigating Whether Team Prayer Following Win Violated Religious Freedom Of Players
Thursday, September 8, 2016
WEST POINT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — The U.S. Military Academy removed a video clip of the football team’s postgame locker-room celebration after its upset win over Temple and is investigating whether a team prayer violated the religious freedom of the players.
West Point spokesman Francis J. DeMaro Jr. said Thursday that a third party made allegations the video violated the First Amendment rights of some of the cadets. DeMaro said the video, which was posted on social media, was removed pending the inquiry, which was first reported by Army Times.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said head coach Jeff Monken crossed the line after the game last Friday night in Philadelphia when he asked a staff assistant to conduct a prayer that ended with Jesus.
Detractor's Email:
"Get a life and quit sticking your nose in places nobody wants it."
MRFF Advisory Board Member, Actor/Activist Mike Farrell Responds to Above Detractor
Dear (name withheld),
Unless someone is using your name, address and title without your knowledge, I'm going to assume "SOLID PRINCIPLES" do not include understanding religious freedom.
I'll ignore your childish reference to "sticking your nose" and trust it was only childish and not loaded with inference. As to the rest of your snotty little message, the MRFF takes action at the request of those in the military who feel their freedom to believe as they choose is being impinged upon, usually by those in authority. That was the case in this instance.
If you'd like to know more about our work you're welcome to visit the MRFF website and read our mission statement. If more is needed I'm sure a conversation with Mr. Weinstein will be enlightening. In any event, I suspect you'll find one of those a better use of your time than is tossing off a casual, quite ignorant remark.
Mike Farrell
(MRFF Board of Advisors)
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