Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, many members of the military have had the option to wear a “Shields of Faith” dog tag during the deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq. This “Shield” is designed to go alongside the actual dog tag (identification tag worn around the neck for the event of death or serious wounds) as a means of security and encouragement to those facing death and danger.
When I deployed to Afghanistan with the rest of South Carolina’s 218th Infantry Brigade in 2007, the unit was given the gift of Shields of Faith at our send-off ceremony. These Shields were privately purchased, and up to the individual whether or not it was worn. Most of those I knew, including me, wore it as as encouragement and comfort.
Our Shields of Faith contained the quote from Joshua 1:9:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
It included an American flag and military logo. Since soldiers are limited in the type of jewelry they are allowed 
to wear, this Shield was “uniform” enough to wear in a combat field environment, unlike other jewelry.
Words cannot express the security and comfort that Shield provided me during my 15 months of that mobilization. It was a more important to me than any other uniform item, including my Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, Airborne, Air Assault, etc. The Shield meant far more than all those other honors. Gold Star families have expressed that the shield of strength of their loved one killed in action was the most important possession they received after death. I continue to cherish my Shield of Strength and will for the remainder of my life.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) founded by atheist Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, says their mission is “ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” Fact is, Weinstein’s MRFF attacks the very free exercise of religion that the group claims to uphold and has been a constant, antagonistic and persistent adversary of religious freedom in the ranks of the United States Armed Forces. The list of Weinstein’s grievances and threatened legal actions against the military range from multiple demands for the removal of invited speakers to local military Prayer Breakfasts, to demanding removal of any reference to the Christian influence in military ethics training, to an insistence that St. Augustine not be mentioned when discussing the “Just War Theory”. (Augustine was one of the earliest and most prolific writers regarding morality and constraint when it came to nations waging war.) Weinstein has objected to “Operation Christmas Child”, a charity collecting gifts for underprivileged children and has alleged that “Christians” in America could “pose the same kind of threat” as ISIS.
Despite the voluntary and benign nature of the Shields of Strength (note: The shields are worn underneath a military members’ t-shirt, shirt and body armor), a radical activist secularist group, “Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) demanded an end to the practice. Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of MRFF, raised his complaints about the Shields to the Department of Defense after he learned of it in July. Weinstein claimed the use of a military emblem on the Shield “poisons the constitutionally-mandated separation of Church and State…”. He went so far as to call those producing and distributing Shields “cowards”.
Due to the complaints and implied threat of an MRFF lawsuit, the Army threatened to pull the trademark licenses that had been issued to the Shields of Strength company. This came through email to President of Shields of Strength, Kenny Vaughn, with the subject line reading: “Negative Press.” According to Fox News, the email demanded Bible verses be removed: “You are not authorized to put biblical verses on your Army products… For example, Joshua 1:9. Please remove ALL biblical references from all of your Army products.” This came despite the many years Vaughn had provided hundreds of thousands of Shields to the Defense Department and individuals free of cost and despite the family the military initially approached Vaughn with the idea of producing Shields.
Vaughn claimed to be “speechless” after reading the email, and said “Virtually every unit has contacted us and said, ‘Would you make us a tag with our unit on it?’ We’ve seen the fruit of the mission. Literally thousands of soldiers, airmen, marines, telling us with tears in their eyes how much it’s meant to them, and many times the Gold Star families to be in possession of the dog tag they wore,” he added. “I don’t understand it.”
Shields of Strength Army Antique Finish Dog Tag Necklace with Joshua 1:9 verse.
First Liberty Institute is now representing Vaughan, and calling on the Army to reinstate the trademark license.
That Mr. Weinstein calls the Shields of Strength “poison” to the US Constitution, and is able to scare the military into withdrawing the trademark is quite telling. It shows how far from the original meaning of Constitution we have drifted. It also shows the leverage and power of those who seek to end religious freedom and enforce non-belief as the new national religion. This is something worth fighting against, and the symbol of the Shields of Strength something worth fighting for.
The Establishment Clause of the Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, nor prevent the freedom thereof.” In point of fact, Mikey Weinstein is dead wrong when he claims a “constitutionally mandated separation of church and state”, of which the Shield of Strength is alleged as poison. Beyond the lack of any provision of the Constitution mandating absolute separation of church and state, particularly in the way Weinstein claims about the Shields, the founders words and actions discredit Weinstein. The day after passing the First Amendment preventing an “establishment of religion”, Congress passed a resolution for a day of prayer and thanksgiving to God. From the earliest period of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War until the present, military Chaplains have been assigned to help provide outward acts of Spiritual comfort. Our nation’s capital is full of references to God, of which none were alleged to be in violation of the First Amendment.
Democrat icon Franklin Roosevelt prayed with the nation on June 6, 1944 (D-day), and his prayer was specifically to the “Lord” and he specifically asked the Lord for our national faith to be in God. It included the following:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity”.
John Adams, 2nd U.S. President and Founding Father of the United States.
Franklin Roosevelt, as with so many of our national leaders throughout history, recognized the need of the nation to turn to God during times of utmost danger and hardship. When Roosevelt mentions the struggle to preserve “our religion”, it was a clear contrast with Nazi paganism and anti-Christianity. America was unabashedly a Christian nation.
As John Adams said of the Constitution and of our nation: “This Constitution was made for a moral and religious people, it is wholly unsuited to the governance of any other”. British historian Paul Johnson, in reviewing the scope of American history, proclaimed “America is a God fearing nation, with all that implies”. Those who have been asked to fight and die for this nation deserve the choice to have the comfort of Shields of Strength on the battlefield.
Those like Weinstein, who wish to force non-belief as the new national religion, should not be able to ban what men like John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt and so many other national leaders believed indispensable. The freedom to turn to God as the author of the success of America and the mighty fortress for those facing death and danger. Let’s fight for their Shield of Strength.
Bill Connor, is an Orangeburg, S.C. attorney, Army Infantry Colonel and author of the book “Articles from War.” He deployed multiple times to the Middle East and was the senior U.S. military adviser to Afghan forces in Helmand Province, where he received the Bronze Star. A Citadel graduate with a JD from the University of South Carolina, he is also a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Army War College, earning his master of strategic studies.
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