An activist wants the military to boot a Christian bookstore from an Army and Air Force exchange mini-mall on Fort Liberty, N.C., claiming it violates the separation of church and state.
The Faith2Soar store has operated at the mall for eight months and previously operated from kiosks, Military Times reported.
"We have no trouble with any of these stores at all if they're in some local mall. But it's about the time, place and manner. This is on U.S. military property," Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told the military news outlet. "We would be just as upset if it were another religion."
"The Constitution makes it clear that [the government] will not establish religion. This is the epitome of establishing religion, in a post exchange," he said, adding: "We're not stopping anybody's free exercise" of religion.
The military news outlet noted Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate, has been involved with similar spats with Christian organizations and military commands for years.
"The obvious COMMAND endorsement and favor of fundamentalist Christianity, to the exclusion of all other faith and non-faith traditions of your subordinate U.S. Army soldiers, by the Fort Liberty command structure is unmistakable, untenable, illegal, immoral, and unethical!!," Weinstein wrote in an Aug. 31 letter registering his complaint with Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the news outlet reported.
"It represents the heinously un-American, unconstitutional epitome of unlawful, 'in-your-face', fundamentalist Christian nationalism, triumphalism, exceptionalism, domination, bullying and supremacy," Weinstein asserted.
Weinstein is pushing for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service to investigate the store and remove it, saying his group "will exhaust all remedies."
Store owner Josh Creson told the outlet local AAFES officials had met with him to look at the items in the store after Weinstein's complaint. No action has been taken.
"The Exchange has thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the issues that have been raised," said AAFES spokesman Chris Ward.
Mike Berry, director of military affairs at the non-profit First Liberty Institute, which is providing legal representation to the bookstore, told Military Times that Weinstein "is flat-out wrong on the law."
"It would be unconstitutional and illegal for the government to exclude a bookstore or any other type of business from operating in an AAFES area simply because they are a Christian or other faith-based business."
Creson told the outlet he was blindsided by Weinstein's comments.
"We've never been approached by anyone complaining about our presence here at all. We've received a tremendous amount of praise and appreciation from people saying they are so thankful we are here, but nothing ever negative," Creson told Military Times.
"We're a for-profit organization. We're not tied to the military," he said.
Weinstein has described the store as "Christian nationalist," and Creson has pushed back.
"I don't post things about politics, or argue for one religion over another," he told the outlet, adding that his store offers "nothing negative, nothing that bashes other political parties or bashes any other religions."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.