"I am a Christian first and last … I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."

[deep]

The cadet has been called a "filthy Jew," among other things..

Loosening Religious Grip at Air Academy

The school launches a sensitivity course in response to complaints about evangelical Christians infringing on other faiths.

By David Kelly
Times Staff Writer

April 24, 2005

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In a crowded room on the edge of the Air Force Academy, Chaplain Melinda Morton was doing her bit for culture change.

She dimmed the lights and rolled the video.

It was Mel Gibson in a scene from the film "We Were Soldiers" addressing his troops on the eve of battle. "We are moving into the valley of the shadow of death," he said solemnly. "Where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls his God."

Morton stopped the tape, and flicked on the lights.

"In past years we have had incidences of spiritual insensitivity here at the academy," she told the 25 civilian and military personnel in the room. "Sometimes it was out of ignorance but sometimes it was out of maliciousness. Respect is essential for mission success."

Morton was teaching an RSVP — Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People — class, a 50-minute exercise in trying to stop what critics called a culture of intolerance on campus. Over the last four years, there have been 55 complaints of insensitivity, many dealing with alleged harassment of religious minorities by evangelical Christians.

Cadets and employees are being told they can't proselytize on campus, use government e-mail to send religious messages, put up posters with religious themes or use positions of authority to endorse a particular faith. They must also attend one RSVP class.

About 90% of cadets here are Christian and many of them, as well as teachers and high-ranking officers, are evangelical.

Academy Commandant Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida is a self-described born-again Christian. Last year, football coach Fisher DeBerry hung a banner in the athletic complex that said, "I am a Christian first and last … I am a member of Team Jesus Christ." He later removed it and underwent sensitivity counseling.

When the film, "The Passion of the Christ" came out, some cadets hung posters and sent hundreds of e-mails on campus computers urging people to see it.

Lt. Col. Edie Disler, an English professor who helps run RSVP programs, said some Christians questioned the value of the classes. "They have said: We are in the majority, why do we have to do this?"

Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate and lawyer in Albuquerque, has a son who is a sophomore at the school. The cadet has been called a "filthy Jew," among other things, Weinstein said.

"This is not a Jew-Christian thing, it's an evangelical versus everyone else thing," he said. "I am calling for congressional oversight and for the academy to stop trivializing the problem by calling it nonsystemic. If they can't fix it and Congress won't fix it, the next thing to do is go to the federal court and file a lawsuit alleging a violation of the Constitution and civil rights."

Members of the Yale Divinity School, who visited the academy last year to observe pastoral care on campus, were surprised by the overtly evangelical tone they found. They sent a memo to school leaders

During Protestant worship services, the report said, cadets chanted, "This is our Chapel and the Lord is our God." They were encouraged to proselytize to others and "remind them of the consequences of apostasy."

"Protestant cadets were reminded that those not 'born again will burn in the fires of hell,' " the report said. "Protestant cadets were regularly encouraged to 'witness' to fellow Basic Cadets."

Kristen Leslie, an assistant professor in pastoral care at Yale, led the team.

"There was a religious arrogance," Leslie said. "It suggested that you would have to learn a whole different way of being to survive in that environment if it wasn't your faith tradition."

She was lukewarm about the RSVP program.

"It is geared toward cadets," she said. "I think it should be geared more to those who can effect change."

Accusations of religious chauvinism come as the academy struggles to recover from rape and sexual assault scandals that erupted two years ago. A number of female cadets said that they had been ignored or threatened with punishment when they tried to report rapes.

Col. Debra Gray, vice commandant, arrived in 2003 to help repair the damage done by those scandals and change the culture of the place. She began hearing anecdotes about religious harassment that matched concerns voiced in student surveys.

"I believe we have a few individuals who were a little out of the box in terms of how they were sharing their faith," she said. "I never perceived it as pervasive or systemic but to someone who feels persecuted maybe their perception is that it is systemic."

Gray said no one had been punished over the complaints but some had been talked to by school officials and could face more serious consequences if their behavior persisted.

"The RSVP classes are a kick-off," she said. "This gets the dialogue going and raises the collective consciousness."

Back in the classroom, Capt. Paula Grant, a law professor, told participants they must balance their right to exercise their religion with the right of others not to be intimidated or harassed.

"We are not trying to stamp out religion," Grant said. "It's a matter of how you go about it. You cannot use your uniform to further your personal agenda, whether it's religion or sports or anything."

So far 1,500 of 4,300 cadets have taken the class and eventually all 9,000 employees and military personnel at the academy will complete it.

As the class ended, one participant, Lt. Col. Marcia Meeks-Eure, paused before leaving.

"I think this sort of thing is very good because it underscores what we are supposed to be doing," she said. "I am Baptist but I won't talk about my faith unless someone asks."

 

[Do Miss America]

We are in the majority, why do we have to do this?

A very dangerous statement. Yet I see this attitude in here and in life everyday.

 

[melon]

Sounds like a great metaphor for the rest of the nation.

And back to "don't ask, don't tell," this is what should happen to homophobic cadets as well.

Melon

 

[Maggie1]

These evangelical people are getting out of control.
This type of harassment is starting to go on in the schools around my area and it needs to be stopped. These people are very extreme and a little scary.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I think that this is the exception and not the rule.

 

[Harry Vest]

Could it be...that this army of "Evangelicals" will turn into a so called fourth reich and take control of the United States. This could be the beginning of what was prophesied in the bible as "They will think they are doing God a service in killing you".
I know it's a bit far fetched but check out this website...
www.antipasministries.com
These are a group of Christians that have fled the united States and are now living in British Columbia, Canada
They beleive that the United States is Babylon and that George W. Bush and the Evangelical Right MAY be the forces of the Anti-Christ as predicted in the Bible. Some VERY INTERESTING articles. Check it out.

 

[A_Wanderer]

What a bunch of utter lunatics ~ I think that their ideas are groundless and laughable

 

[80sU2isBest]

Could it be...that this army of "Evangelicals" will turn into a so called fourth reich and take control of the United States. This could be the beginning of what was prophesied in the bible as "They will think they are doing God a service in killing you".

No, it really couldn't. Christ was talking to his disciples, his followers when he said that.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

Could it be...that this army of "Evangelicals" will turn into a so called fourth reich and take control of the United States. This could be the beginning of what was prophesied in the bible as "They will think they are doing God a service in killing you".
I know it's a bit far fetched but check out this website...
www.antipasministries.com
These are a group of Christians that have fled the united States and are now living in British Columbia, Canada
They beleive that the United States is Babylon and that George W. Bush and the Evangelical Right MAY be the forces of the Anti-Christ as predicted in the Bible. Some VERY INTERESTING articles. Check it out.

You got the "very interesting" part right.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

What we today call "Christianity" in the United States is NOT Christianity at all; it is in fact the antithesis of everything for which Christianity stands; indeed, it bears a striking and very foreboding resemblance to the "religion" that animated Hitler's Third Reich - and so much so that IF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA WERE TO LOOK AT THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR, WHAT THEY MIGHT FIND GAZING BACK AT THEM ARE THE GHOSTS OF ADOLF HITLER AND HEINRICH HIMMLER.

I looked myself in the mirror just now, and neither of those ghosts gazed back. Maybe I'm not such a bad guy after all...

 

[starsgoblue]

I think there can be a danger in holding an attitude of self-righteousness. Christ loved all...no matter who or what they were.

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

People really need to get off of the whole calling other people nazis thing. Only Nazis are Nazis, not everyone that you disagree with.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

People really need to get off of the whole calling other people nazis thing. Only Nazis are Nazis, not everyone that you disagree with.

Yep.

 

[melon]

People really need to get off of the whole calling other people nazis thing. Only Nazis are Nazis, not everyone that you disagree with.

That's fine, but I'm also tired of these kind of Christians condemning everyone who disagrees with them as "going to hell" or decrying them as "relativists," as if they have "loose morality" if they aren't an arch-conservative. I mean, if they want to spark an "absolute truth" argument, then fine. I'm right. They're wrong. End of discussion.

Melon

 

[80sU2isBest]

I looked myself in the mirror just now, and neither of those ghosts gazed back. Maybe I'm not such a bad guy after all...

I just saw an overweight short guy.

 

[coemgen]

Yeah, these people are a bit out there and way over the top.

 

[kaili]

I think people always compare fanatics with Nazis because they are both intolerant and aggressive. However, the Nazis were occultists who believed that they were direct descendants of Atlantis whose blood needed to be purified so that they could become Gods again. Technically, occultism is a cult--but a cult and a fundamentalist of any faith is equally dangerous if they preach intolerance, try to convert you, or threaten you if you don't share the same faith. Catholics during the Inquisition days were no less fanatical, dangerous and intolerant.

Any kind of heirarchy needs to be watched closely for abuse of power, especially a military one.

Re: the US is Babylon--we still have more individuality here than anywhere else in the world. It's a huge strength against that kind of total absolutism.

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

That's fine, but I'm also tired of these kind of Christians condemning everyone who disagrees with them as "going to hell" or decrying them as "relativists," as if they have "loose morality" if they aren't an arch-conservative. I mean, if they want to spark an "absolute truth" argument, then fine. I'm right. They're wrong. End of discussion.

Melon

I am tired of that as well. When I said that I'm tired of people calling all conservatives Nazis, I didn't mean to imply that I agree with said conservatives.

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

I think people always compare fanatics with Nazis because they are both intolerant and aggressive. However, the Nazis were occultists who believed that they were direct descendants of Atlantis whose blood needed to be purified so that they could become Gods again. Technically, occultism is a cult--but a cult and a fundamentalist of any faith is equally dangerous if they preach intolerance, try to convert you, or threaten you if you don't share the same faith. Catholics during the Inquisition days were no less fanatical, dangerous and intolerant.

Any kind of heirarchy needs to be watched closely for abuse of power, especially a military one.

Re: the US is Babylon--we still have more individuality here than anywhere else in the world. It's a huge strength against that kind of total absolutism.

I agree, but people seem to be throwing around the term all over the place which 1. makes people ignore any credible arguments that they have 2. overuse tends to lessen the term's meaning IMO.

 

[financeguy]

Living in a country that has gone the other way over the past thirty years (i.e. from near-theocracy to secular country, and no, the change of Pope won't make a damn difference in my no-so-humble opinion) I find these kinds of developments in America bizarre.

 

[verte]

These people are crazy. It's scary that people this nutty have this much power.

 

[80sU2isBest]

I personally think it's scary that people as nutty as Ted Kennedy, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry have any power.

So I guess being scared of nuts is relative.

 

[Irvine511]

I personally think it's scary that people as nutty as Ted Kennedy, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry have any power.

So I guess being scared of nuts is relative.

it is hugely false to characterize these center-left politicians, who are very mainstream in most of their views, as bieng the left-wing equivalent counterparts to those depicted in the article.

 

[melon]

I personally think it's scary that people as nutty as Ted Kennedy, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry have any power.

I'd be interested in knowing what about those three are "nutty."

Melon

 

[youtooellen]

It was Mel Gibson in a scene from the film "We Were Soldiers" addressing his troops on the eve of battle. "We are moving into the valley of the shadow of death," he said solemnly. "Where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls his God."

I love what he said. this is how people should act towards each other.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

it is hugely false to characterize these center-left politicians, who are very mainstream in most of their views, as bieng the left-wing equivalent counterparts to those depicted in the article.

I don't see Ted Kennedy as "left of center", neither does this site:

"Ted Kennedy is a Hard-Core Liberal."

http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Ted_Kennedy.htm

 

[Irvine511]

I don't see Ted Kennedy as "left of center", neither does this site:

"Ted Kennedy is a Hard-Core Liberal."

http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Ted_Kennedy.htm

he is left of the center, about a 70 on that chart.

and that's what you and the site say, i dont' think that's a national consensus. also, our definitions of "left wing" in the US tend to be skewed much further to the right than in the rest of the west. finally, he is still nowhere near as left as the "nuts" described in the article are to the right.

it's another false dichotomy, like saying CNN is as liberal as Fox News is as conservative.

(and CNN is not liberal)

 

[verte]

I personally think it's scary that people as nutty as Ted Kennedy, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry have any power.

So I guess being scared of nuts is relative.

I think of these people as centrists. They're not exactly socialists. Leftist politicians in Canada and Europe are a hell of alot more leftist in their views than are our avowed "liberals". So yes, "nutty" is a relative term. It depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Do Miss America]

I don't see Ted Kennedy as "left of center", neither does this site:

"Ted Kennedy is a Hard-Core Liberal."

http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Ted_Kennedy.htm

You always show diagrams from this site yet they don't exactly back up your claims. I don't see "hard-core liberal" from that diagram. He's at 50 in a scale that goes to 100.

 

[LPU2]

I grew up an evangelical and nothing scares me more than the political power of the evangelical church.