The one true religion in the military

Humanist, Sept-Oct, 2007 by James E. Parco, Barry S. Fagin

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) has been under scrutiny for issues of religious tolerance that have caused many to wonder, "What on earth is going on at that place?" On the one hand, the same thing is happening at USAFA that's happening at colleges across the United States. Students are leaving home (many for the first time) and embarking on individual journeys of self-discovery to meet new people from different backgrounds with different perspectives and to engage with trained faculty who will strive to motivate each of them to discover life's truths for themselves. On the other hand, unit cohesion, morale, and the U.S. Constitution have all been challenged at USAFA by a growing evangelical Christian community that espouses a duty to proselytize to non-Christians and to the "unchurched."

The media has done a fairly thorough job identifying cases of religiously intolerant behavior at USAFA and also on the military's response and official findings. (Examples also listed in accompanying timeline.) In the popular press, Mikey Weinstein's 2006 book With God on Our Side ("One man's war against an evangelical coup in America's military") offers a very personal and impassioned portrayal of the evolution of the Academy's evangelical climate. Our aim here isn't to retell the stories that brought us here, but rather provide a larger context to help explain why these issues occurred and suggest appropriate action.

The Air Force Academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is quite similar to many other small colleges. With a student body of 4,300, there are approximately 530 faculty members, many with terminal degrees. The core curriculum requires ninety-plus credit hours in the humanities, social sciences, engineering, and basic sciences. Students have the opportunity to select most of the majors available at any world-class institution of higher learning, and many of them are accredited by national professional associations.

But it isn't the similarities between the Academy and other colleges that help one to understand the genesis of problems, but rather the profound differences. Unlike other universities, military academies (West Point and Annapolis included) are part of the Armed Forces and so hire 100 percent of their students after graduation (many of whom stay on the job for the next twenty years). This places an additional responsibility on military academies to ensure that each admitted student is "acceptable" to work for and alongside other commissioned officers.

Additionally, students (cadets) at the academies are considered constantly "on-duty" and thus live and work in the same environment. Although in most cases college students are free to do as they choose once they're off-campus, cadets aren't. They have at best limited authority to criticize or speak their minds, and, typically, the only allowable place to address a grievance is through an individual's chain of command. But what if the grievance is within that chain of command? Other avenues such as the Office of the Inspector General or the local Equal Employment Opportunity office exist, but many cadets are unaware of them. And those who do know about them are often reticent to "complain"

Given the homogeneity among the military academies, one still wonders why the Air Force Academy has had publicly visible religious tolerance issues arise, whereas the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and U.S. Naval Academy have not. Clearly the large evangelical presence in Colorado Springs is a contributing factor. Colorado Springs is home to Focus on the Family, The Navigators, New Life Church, and dozens of other evangelical Christian groups. Beyond these influences, a systems perspective is required to truly understand the underlying issues at the Academy.

In truth, USAFA is an absolutely amazing place. Located on some of the most beautiful real estate in Colorado, it attracts some of the most capable and dedicated staff (comprised of military officers, noncommissioned officers, and civilians) devoted to the development of recent high school graduates into second lieutenants capable of serving in the Air Force. The Academy is very well funded and its institutional processes well established. So, how is it possible that there could be scandals of sexual harassment and religious intolerance there?

Part of the answer is simple, but not obvious: structural instability. The Air Force embraces a culture of mobility, and for good reason. In today's security environment, it's essential that military forces be able to operate globally in joint operations and readily execute their missions. Thus, to ensure that the personnel base has a requisite variety of experiences, the human resources function routinely moves its personnel from place to place in the spirit of "professional development." Every two to four years, officers (primarily) move to new jobs in order to gain a broad base of experiences sufficient to readily adapt to complex and uncertain environments. The philosophy is that by having a wide range of experiences, the individual will be a more capable commander when reaching that point in his or her career. The Academy's military staff and faculty are included in this model of constant turnover.