Input sought - USAF Academy discrimination against non-Christians

[theliberalavenger]

I have a post up here:

http://liberalavenger.com/2005/04/air-force-cadets-see-religious.html

It is about a NYT article that describes a <i>heavy</i> evangelical Christian bent at the US Air Force Academy and cites some fairly aggregious anti-Jewish incidents ("The Holocaust was payback for Jews killing Jesus.")

My take on the issue, which seems so natural, is of course that there is no place for <i>institutionalized</i> religion in the Air Force Academy. Conservatives will lament that in the good old days, back when "everybody was Christian" (yes, I know...) we didn't have these problems. This isn't the "good old days," however. It is the good-now and we are a multicultural nation. The Air Force Academy has non-Christians as students. Deal with it.

The talking-point troll on my site side-steps the issue completely, and twisted it into an attack from the left against Christianity and faith (surprise, surprise!):

<i>The secularists won't be happy until there is only one universal religion in this country-taught in our schools, practiced in all our social, business, cultural and governmental affairs and inculcated in our military institutions such as the Air Force Academy.

There's no room for any other religion, belief or approach to earthly or spiritual life and heretics are to be silenced on the spot, dismissed in disgrace or threatened with court action.

The left wing plebiscite has spoken, the dogma is firmly in place and the ACLU and liberal courts are to enforce it without exception or remorse.

atheism:the doctrine or belief that there is no God

There is no doubt we'll all be much better off.</i>

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/liberalavenger/111397123238253341/#89354

Is there anybody here who can argue this point more eloquently than I can? That faith and state institutions be kept separate seems so self-evident, I am effectively at a loss for words to describe it.

If this is a topic of interest, please take a moment to stop by and weigh in. Thanks much.

[av8rdave]

1. 1980 Graduate

I'm not up to speed on this particular issue, but I am a graduate of the Academy. During my years there (admittedly long ago) I was impressed with the total lack of religeous pressure. Cadets were given ample opportunity to worship in what way their faith dictated, and those who were not religeous simply didn't attend any services. I truly don't recall any "faith based" doctrine in academics.

The Academy chaplains did, however, visit our squadrons during basic training to let us know they were available to us if we wanted to speak with them.

av8rdave

[theliberalavenger]

2. Thanks, Dave...

All of that sounds excellent. I certainly have no issue with any of that. Making chaplains available to students during basic training sounds like a great idea.

Did you read the NYT article yet? I'll be curious to get your feedback on the article.

Also, what do you think the faith makeup was amongst your fellow students back then?

[theliberalavenger]

3. The NYT article has stats on the religious breakdown of the student body

[RobinA]

4. USAFA

I never attended the AF Academy or any other military institution, but a relative of a friend went there and I visited with my friend for a week in early 2001. The most dominant building on campus is the chapel. The main area inside the chapel is your basic Christian, but other religions had little areas where they could worship, including Jews. Granted, the non-Christian areas were much smaller, but, in all fairness, it makes no sense to make the Jewish area the same size as the Christian area, given the realities of the number of Jews at the USAFA. Since militerism is kind of a form of fundamentalism, is it any surprise, in the era of rising religious fundamentalism, that there's a lot of it amongst people predisposed to join the military?

My problem with was not with that, but with the dominance of the "God is on our side" meme, which permeates the campus. It made me very uncomfortable, and this was BEFORE 9/11. I realize, of course, that this is a brainwashing technique that is necessary when teaching people to kill other people. I'm just perpetually perplexed as to why anyone would want to be controlled in this way.