It’s worth reading in full, although it gets repetitive at times. There’s no way to judge independently how fair or tough the report is. Its assessment that the academy is not “overtly discriminatory” against non-Christians has to be weighed against the following findings: the commandant of cadets sent an academy-wide email promoting the national day of prayer, created a “J for Jesus” hand signal, designed to get the “Rocks!” response, and used it on drills that included all cadets; an advertisement in the Academy Spirit, signed and paid for by key USAFA personnal, stated: “We believe that Jesus Christ is the only real hope for the world”, and “there is salvation in no one else;” over 4,000 flyers were distributed on campus for “The Passion of the Christ;” the group of cadets that does not attend voluntary evening prayer services is known as the “Heathen Flight”; an atheist cadet who wanted to start a “free-thinkers” group was denied permission because the group was not “faith-based”; the head football coach put up a “Team Jesus” banner in the locker room; one cadet complained that “freedom of religion does not exist if you are not a Christian;” calls to Bible study were made over the PA system. Some faculty were more emphatic about a climate of intolerance:
The non-Christian members of this group indicated that Senior Leadership, to a person, made them feel like ‘evil people’ if they were not one of the Christians. A few acknowledged that some of the leadership is ‘extraordinarily aggressive’ in the expression of their faith … The Christian faculty members of this group expressed their belief that Christianity is a ‘proselytizing religion’ and they have a right, even duty, to do so.
On the other side of the ledger, it’s clear that the leadership in the military takes its religiously neutral mission importantly, many of these incidents were dealt with at the time, and things seem to have improved over the past couple of years. The report wouldn’t exist if that were not the case.
THE WIDER ISSUE: Much of the problems come from the new passion of evangelicalism in America. Individual fundamentalists regard their faith as something that trumps everything, and cannot be curtailed for any principle, even military effectiveness. As one cadet said, “The Air Force I signed up for didn’t say I had to leave my religion at the door – it’s part of who I am.” The atmosphere – especially the anti-Semitism – comes as much from the cadets themselves as from any official policy. As one faculty member states, “The kids we are bringing in here no are not a reflection of America. Whether they realize it or not, people of religion are selecting kids of religion to fill USAFA.” One omission from the report are the anti-Semitic slurs from some cadets to others, which the report says have been handled between the individuals involved. One suspects that an offical report which cited cadets calling Jews “Christ-killers” would have made too many unsavory headlines. One can only guess at the rampant homophobia that must exist, especially since it is implicitly endorsed in official military policy. All in all, it seems to me that a decent start has been made to rectify the worst of the intolerance, but that the core issue is that recruits are more and more likely to be influenced by a resurgent Christianism before they arrive, come from backgrounds in which religious dissent or pluralism is simply unknown or suppressed, and don’t fully understand why that atmosphere might be inappropriate in a secular, national institution like the military. The Academy is obviously trying to do something, but they are fighting an uphill battle. We should all worry about a military that seems to be becoming the repository of one brand of Christianity. It’s deeply counter-productive in a war where we have to be extra careful not to look like crusaders and where we need all the good soldiers we can find, regardless of their personal faith or lack of one.
The Dish 