c. 2005 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ A military panel released its report Wednesday (June 22) on the religious climate at the Air Force Academy, finding no “overt religious discrimination, but a failure to fully accomodate all members’ needs.”
While the report did not find institutional abuse, it criticized some officials at the Academy for insensitivity, citing “a lack of awareness over where the line is drawn between permissible and impermissible expression of beliefs.”
The Air Force convened a 16-member panel last month to study the religious environment at the academy after numerous reports alleged that students and staff had inappropriately promoted evangelical Christianity at the school.
“I think there were cases where people have said some things, perhaps from a lectern, that were overreaching, forgetting their position, that put cadets perhaps in an untenable position in terms of `Gee am I going to pass Physics 101 if I don’t agree with this guy?”’ said Gen. Roger Brady, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for personnel, who led the investigation.
While noting that the school’s policies regarding religious expression are adequate, Brady said in a press conference at the Pentagon that commanders have not been given “useful operational guidance” as to appropriate boundaries.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, welcomed the report. It “confirms many of ADL’s concerns” and shows “that change is necessary,” he said in a news release.
The 100-page report, based on interviews and focus group discussions the panel led during a visit to the academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., found that while there is a “perception of religious intolerance,” cadets say instances of religious slurs and disparaging comments by students have become less frequent over the last two years.
The report described several instances in which cadets were “overly aggressive in the expression of their faith.” In one case, students placed posters promoting the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of the Christ” on each of the more than 4,000 place settings in the cadet dining hall.
Faculty and staff have also shown “a lack of awareness that their position as instructors and government officials made these expressions inappropriate in a particular setting,” according to the report.
The report noted that in December 2003, 250 individuals, including “key officials” at the Academy, paid for an advertisement in the base newspaper that included the message, “We believe that Jesus Christ is the only real hope for the world.”
The report said these and other cases had been addressed internally by the academy.
In April, the academy initiated a mandatory religious sensitivity program, designed by the academy’s chaplains and other staff members, called “Respecting the Spiritual Values of All People.” But the report quoted critics at the academy who said the course “did not do a good job of teaching respect or tolerance.”
The panel called for several changes to the training, including having the school’s top official show his support by introducing the course.
The Air Force team also studied a program that allows religious groups to visit the campus on Monday evenings. Seventeen of the 19 chaplaincy programs are led by Christian groups. The panel found that guest speakers at the widely attended meetings “may not be sufficiently aware of (Air Force) standards regarding religious respect.”
The report did not investigate the case of a former school chaplain, the Rev. Melinda Morton, who resigned her commission on Tuesday. Morton, a Lutheran pastor, served as an Air Force officer for a decade.
She resigned after alleging she had been inappropriately reassigned to Japan when she spoke out against anti-Semitism at the school. The Defense Department’s inspector general is studying Morton’s reassignment in a separate investigation.
MO/RB END RNSEditors: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for file photos of graduating cadets and the iconic chapel at the Air Force Academy.
