Michael L. Weinstein said he didn't know what he was getting himself into when he founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in 2006.
Now the Albuquerque native and his family endure death threats from religious fundamentalists, he said.
Weinstein was on campus Monday for a showing of "Constantine's Sword," a documentary about evangelism in the armed forces.
"You can't use your military position to force-feed your religious view on a helpless subordinate," Weinstein told the audience in the SUB theater.
The documentary focused on the pressure placed on soldiers to attend evangelical services while in training.
Weinstein and his son, Casey, said they faced criticism and humiliation while attending the United States Air Force Academy because of their Jewish faith.
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This religious pressure leads to anti-Semitism in the military, Weinstein said, and breaches the separation of church and state.
He said it warrants a national lawsuit against the Department of Defense.
"The nature of our lawsuit has to do with what we call the four Ps: the pernicious and permissive pattern and practice of unconstitutional (metaphorical) rape of the religious members of our honorable and noble members of the U.S. military," Weinstein said.
He said soldiers who refused to convert to Christianity told him their jobs became more dangerous as a result.
"We have many soldiers that tell us that if they don't accept this biblical worldview, they're the ones who get the most dangerous assignments to go down streets where there's likely to be a higher frequency of (rocket-propelled grenades) or (improvised explosive devices)," he said.
Weinstein said pursuing the lawsuit has alienated many Christians.
"We usually get 10 to 12 death threats a week," he said. "I got one at 5 p.m. today that lasted exactly six seconds, indicating that I would be smited tonight before the sun went down and that my house would catch aflame."
He said his house in the Sandia Heights has been vandalized on several occasions. Twice his tires have been slashed and windows busted, and, over the summer, a swastika and crucifix were drawn on his home, he said.
Junior Amber Weinstein, Michael's daughter, said the threats are intimidating but not enough to stop the family's lawsuit.
Amber Weinstein said she has been criticized by students, including a former ROTC colleague, about her Jewish faith and her father's cause.
UNM senior and political science major Mackenzie Woods organized the presentation of "Constantine's Sword."
Woods said that when he learned about Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation four months ago, he decided to bring "Constantine's Sword" to campus.
"This is a contemporary dynamic of the separation of church and state," Woods said after the documentary.
He said it is fortunate that Weinstein and his organization, which operates out of Albuquerque, could attend to spread the word about this issue.
"There are individuals right in the local community in Albuquerque that are fighting for a cause in Washington, D.C., where high-level executives are taking immediate action," Woods said.
