'Trolling for Assassins'

Leaders of a New Mexico-based civil rights foundation are expressing concerns that “lunatics lusting to act” could target them for violence because of an Internet listing on an ultra rightwing group's "anti-Christian bigotry map."

Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, claims he started getting threatening emails from American Family Association supporters soon after

—which includes atheists groups in Santa Fe and Roswell, and a Freedom From Religion group in Albuquerque—was published on Feb. 23.

“They are essentially trolling for assassins and thugs to do their fascistic, religious extremist, dirty work for them” Weinstein tells SFR, adding it’s an “evil attempt by the AFA to place targets on the backs of legitimate civil rights activists and organizations.”

Last week, Weinstein’s attorney sent a letter to AFA's offices in Tupelo, Miss., demanding they remove a cross icon on the map marking the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s location because it could be used to incite “unstable people” and lead to "acts of violence.”

“I don’t know what would possess your organization to publish such a thing on the Internet but inaccurately identifying the Foundation in this context is inexcusable,” writes Attorney Randal Mathis. “You may think it’s cute to make false statements about individuals or organizations who do not subscribe to your particular brand of Christianity but it is not at all funny when people are subjected to threats and the risk of violent acts as a consequence.”

The timing of American Family Association's map is even more problematic since Weinstein is scheduled to discuss the dangers and implications of religious extremism and anti-Semitism in the military Thursday at the Jewish Community Center in Albuquerque just before his wife Bonnie Weinstein’s new book signing.

The American Family Association claims part of its mission is to “activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture.” The group also encourages its members to “restrain evil by exposing darkness.”

Weinstein insists his foundation, which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize six times in the last seven years, “is not anti-Christian.”

“We have 200 paid and volunteer staff, and 80 percent of them are Christians,” says Weinstein. The group, he says, represents 40,000 military members who also described themselves as Christians. “We have many Christians on our advisory board, including Ambassador Joe Wilson and Gov. Gary Johnson.”

Marilee Harrison, a community organizer for Santa Fe Atheists, says she has mixed feelings about the map listing because of what she calls “gross mischaracterizations” of her group.

“We would like to characterize ourselves as friendly and thoughtful, not bigoted,” says Harrison. “The AFA and their members see any attempt to separate church and state as an attack on their beliefs, or their rights, and that just couldn't be further from the truth. We support their First Amendment rights to express their beliefs, but we don’t support public funds being used to build religious monuments in government buildings.”

Harrison, whose Santa Fe group is also a member of the All Families Matter New Mexico Coalition, is also critical of the AFA’s gay bashing. The American Family Association’s map targets groups they believe promote the “homosexual agenda” because they "viciously attack Christians who exercise their First Amendment right to voice support for God's plan for marriage as between one man and one woman."

So far, Harrision tells SFR that she hasn't received any threatening emails from AFA's members or supporters.

A chapter of Freedom from Religion Foundation in New Mexico is also listed on the map. The American Family Association contends it’s a menace to Christians because it “threatens, intimidates and sues local governments and public schools to abolish all public references to the Christian faith. Most notably, FFRF targets displays of crosses, the Ten Commandments and public prayer (city council meetings and high school football games).”

Santa Fe Reporter