[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6954]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1810
                   RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND THE PENTAGON

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, I want to be certain that the 
administration and Pentagon leadership do not deny our men and women in 
uniform one of the very freedoms they are fighting to protect.
  On Monday, I led on a letter sent to Defense Secretary Hagel 
demanding details about a meeting between Pentagon officials and anti-
Christian extremist, Mikey Weinstein. Weinstein has spent 9 years at 
war, those are his words, at war with evangelical Christians, who, he 
says, are committing ``spiritual rape'' against the U.S. military, 
Christians who are merely exercising their First Amendment right, or 
primary duties, in the case of chaplains.
  Mr. Weinstein exploits freedom of speech to name-call and to label 
Christians as the ``Christian Taliban'' and ``al Qaeda.'' But he seeks 
to shut down the religious freedom of expression of servicemembers in 
the process.
  I am troubled with several anti-Christian steps the Pentagon has 
taken in recent years. That is why my colleagues and I seek answers 
from Secretary Hagel on this important question now.

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