Guards at a New Mexico Air Force base will be allowed to continue using religious greetings at the base's gates. 

After complaints about the greetings threatened to get the greetings axed, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended Christian service members, NOTUS reported. 

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit that advocates for the separation of church and state within the military, reported getting dozens of complaints about guards at Kirtland Air Force Base saying "God bless you" and "have a blessed day." 

"It is exhausting, infuriating, and frankly alienating to be reminded every morning that some people on this base feel entitled to inject their religion into official interactions," one individual said in an email with the group. 

The group didn't identify those complaining but said they were a mix of Christian, Muslim and Jewish people passing through the gates at the base. After reports of people not getting religious greetings at the base, the MRFF declared victory. 

However, base officials told NOTUS that there were no plans to police "common phrases" service members use to greet each other and visitors to the base. 

Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force captain who founded MRFF, told NOTUS that the greetings are a "blatant violation" of Air Force regulations against religious discrimination. He said he had not received the faith-based greeting when he visited the base on Monday, but he received reports from others claiming the greetings continued. He said if the practice continues, the MRFF will pursue legal action in federal court to stop it. 

Hegseth criticized the group last week and vowed to intervene to protect the practice. 

"The MRFF is a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group that attacks any/all faith inside the [Department of War]. We will never cave to them. The @usairforce will confront this. God bless our Airmen," Hegseth said in a post on X.