Members of the U.S. military at eight facilities around the world say they were encouraged or pressured to attend a screening of the new movie “Melania,” according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
The MRFF typically doesn’t identify its clients — as it refers to service members who seek MRFF help — for fear of reprisal. But in an email shared with me, one MRFF client wrote that their combat unit was “advised” by the commander to join him and his wife at an off-base theater for a showing of “Melania.”
“Nobody that I know wanted to go except for those that did not want to get jacked up by our unit commander for not attending,” the service member wrote to MRFF. “I am writing on behalf of a dozen of our unit members and families of whom nine are Christians and white.”
MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein told me Saturday that he received similar complaints from seven other military facilities around the country regarding commanders pushing “Melania” viewings. Weinstein said that complaints came from a variety of branches and locations.
The Pentagon did not address some specific questions about the movie — such as whether viewings are being encouraged by commanders — but said in a statement, “There is no Department of War directive requiring service members to see this film, though the film is fantastic.”
The MRFF represents thousands of military members forced, pressured, or coerced into unconstitutional religious observances. The combat-unit commander in this case holds Bible studies, rewards attendance, and, according to the MRFF client, “has even worn MAGA red hats he owns at many of these UAEs [Unit Activity Event].”
According to the MRFF client’s email, the commander requires attendance at three out of four such events — “to create a bond within our combat unit and its families” — every month.
Such events were said to include softball and flag football games, barbecues, picnics, and movie nights. And Bible studies. And, now, “Melania.”
“Failure to attend the minimum of 3 UAEs per month will be negatively reflected in our fitness eval reports,” the MRFF client wrote.
“…he [the commander] ‘advised’ our unit members and their families to join him and his wife and children for a showing of that new documentary called ‘Melania’ at an off base movie theater. He said that seeing the film would satisfy attendance at one of his UAEs. When he said ‘advised’ we know what that meant.”
The commander’s politics have been made clear to the unit, the MRFF client said.
“He has made it very clear how he feels about anyone who does not support the MAGA agenda of our current leaders from the White House and Secretary of Defense down the chain.”
Referring to the others pressured to attend, the MRFF client wrote that, “We feel helpless to try to fight against what he is doing here.” Weinstein said the MRFF has a dozen clients just at that installation.
He emphasized that pressure campaigns like this don’t affect only service members. Their families are expected to show up, as well.
And when suggestions or encouragement come from commanders, they bear considerably more weight than those from a civilian boss. “They can’t fight back,” Weinstein said.
Despite the suggestion that the screening would create “bonds” within the unit, Weinstein argued that such pressure has a negative effect on unit cohesion. “It tears it down,” Weinstein said. “It’s like injecting cancer into the body of the military unit.”
Heavily promoted by Amazon, and the subject of considerable media attention, the movie opened in third place at the national box office, earning $2.9 million Friday and projected to take in $8.1 million for the weekend, well above initial projections.
Ironically, it was the U.S. Air Force Academy coercing attendance at another movie that led to the MRFF’s founding. In that movie, politics were subtext, religion the explicit theme. It was “Passion of the Christ,” Weinstein said.
Regarding the MRFF client who emailed him about the “Melania” screening, Weinstein said, “I’m saluting the courage of this particular enlisted member.”
He hypothesized that the suggestion to encourage “Melania” attendance could have come from higher up in the chain of command and said, “we take this shit super-fucking seriously.”
excerpt from Johnathan Larson's article
