Religious intolerance at Air Force AcademyAllegations of intolerance. |
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2004-JUL: Academy officials had invited Kristen Leslie -- a professor from Yale Divinity School -- and six Yale graduate students to come to Colorado Springs and observe how the staff chaplains minister to the cadets. Captain Morton and professor Leslie coauthored a two page report which was issued in 2004-JUL. On a positive note, the report complimented the chaplains for their "talent and enthusiasm." But it criticized "stridently evangelical themes" at a worship service for 600 new cadets. According to USA Today: |
Leslie reported that an academy chaplain urged cadets to pray for those who didn't attend, to try to convert them and "remind them of the consequences ... [that] those not 'born again will burn in the fires of Hell'." "When we saw this kind of predominant, pervasive evangelical conservative Christian message putting itself forward as pastoral care, we noted it," Leslie said in an interview." 2
Captain Morton allegedly claims that she was pressured to deny the story. Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told the Colorado Springs Gazette that several chaplains have denied that anyone said anything about burning "in the fires of Hell" at the service.
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2005-FEB: the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of
America (JWV)issued a press release condemning "a series of
recent anti-Semitic events at the U.S. Air Force Academy." They cited a
number of incidences at the AFA:
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The veterans recommended that all of the U.S. military academies "adopt as part of their curricula courses in cultural, religious and ethnic diversity to fight bigotry and hatred."
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2005-MAR: A 2004 survey was conducted after allegations surfaced
that female cadets had been sexually assaulted by other cadets. Write-in
remarks on the survey resulted in at least 55 complaints, including reports
of slurs experienced by non-Christians and preferential treatment given to "born-again"
Christian cadets. The Academy then implemented a 50 minute religious tolerance
program for both the cadets and staff -- 4,000 personnel in total. Over 90% of
the cadets identify themselves with Christianity; this compares with
about 75% for the U.S. as a whole. The survey
found that half had heard religious slurs and jokes on campus. The training
course is called RSVP for "Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People."
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![]() | 2005-APR: The three largest academies in the U.S. Armed Forces are the Air Force Academy, West Point and the Naval Academy. Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, (AUSCS) said:
He said the atmosphere there "becomes more poisoned" every day. 4 He did not give any data on the other two federal service academies: the merchant marine and coast guard.
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This timeline continues in a separate essay
References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Patrick Martin, "Christian fundamentalist bigotry reigns at US Air Force Academy," World Socialist Web Site, 2005-APR-30, at: http://www.wsws.org/
- Patrick O'Drioscoll, "Academy critic says she was fired," USA Today, at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
- "JWV Condemns Anti-Semitism and Urges Training in Cultural Diversity at Military Academies," Jewish War Veterans, 2005-FEB-25, at: http://www.jwv.org/
- "Chaplain says she was fired. Claim comes amid inquiry into alleged intolerance at AFA," Associated Press, 2005-MAY-13, at: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
- "Americans United Report Details Instances Of Religious Favoritism At U.S. Air Force Academy," Americans United, 2005-APR-28, at: http://www.au.org/
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Copyright © 2005 to 2010 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2005-MAY-14
Latest update: 2010-NOV-23
Author: B.A. Robinson