"His agenda is to eradicate any form of religious expression from our military," Berry said.
#MILITARY STYLE PET ID TAGS PLUS#
"This is an outrage," said Attorney Mike Berry of First Liberty Institute.īerry represents Shields of Strength and says separation of church and state is not found in the constitution, plus Mikey Weinstein has an agenda. "Further, please refrain from submitting items for approval that are clearly of a religious nature and which bear USMC trademarks," the letter went on to say. This is in direct violation of the Department of Defense Instruction." One of them saying in part, it could not ".tolerate merchandise that had a) Marine Corps trademarks and b) a religious theme. He says the dog tags would be fine if the official military emblems are removed.Īfter reviewing Weinstein's complaint, the Marines and the Army sent Vaughan cease and desist letters. "The letter of the law states that you cannot do this because that would be in this case breaching the separation of church and state and applying, in this case, an endorsement by the Department of Defense and military branches on a clearly proselytizing message," Weinstein said. He calls the dog tags a violation of defense department regulations and the constitution by combining scripture with official military emblems, even though Vaughan had licensing permission from three of the five branches of service to use their emblems. "We are not anti-faith, we are pro-Constitution," said Mikey Weinstein who leads the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Now, after an organization called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation complained to the Pentagon, the Army and Marines want Shields of Faith to stop making the dog tags this way. That's what it means to me and every veteran I know, it means the same." "And even if you die, you're going to be holding hands with God for eternity. "This is believing that you're going to live," Davis said.
Air Force and Marine veteran Kenneth Davis explains what the dog tags mean to him. Vaughan has made hundreds of thousands of these dog tags for US military men and women, many of them, he says, for free.
"I made a dog tag with a scripture on it because my girlfriend had written them on my equipment as an athlete and it changed my life forever and I wore it under my own shirt for my own reminder and I gave it to a soldier and it encouraged him in battle and that's why we're in business," Vaughan said. "Soldiers and Marines love having God's word around their necks it encourages them and strengthens them for their fight," Vaughan said.Įmotion overtakes Kenny Vaughan when he talks about his company and its mission. He says they've been a blessing to countless military men and women. Kenny Vaughan's company, Shields of Strength, has been making the dog tags for about 20 years. WASHINGTON – The official US motto is "In God We Trust," but a Texas company is under fire for printing scripture on military dog tags.
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