AFA's evangelical bias 'systemic,' group says

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 29, 2005 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

A religious liberty watchdog group Thursday condemned the Air Force Academy's "pervasive and systemic" bias toward evangelical Christianity as violating the U.S. Constitution.

Religious bias and intolerance reaches "the highest levels of the academy command structure," Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said in a report issued Thursday.

"If this conduct is allowed to continue, then the graduates will increasingly feel it is their right or responsibility to promote evangelism in their official capacity elsewhere," Americans United executive director Barry Lynn told The Gazette.

"It's a national and international matter," he said, "because one does not want to give the impression to other nations that the purpose of the U.S. military is to convert people of other faiths to Christianity. That is the worst possible message at a time like this" when the nation is at war in an Islamic nation.

The 14-page report went to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez, Air Force Judge Advocate General Jack Rives and Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper on Thursday. Academy officials are to receive it today.

The Washington, D.C.-based group demanded a response in 30 days, saying prompt attention to the issue could prevent a lawsuit.

The defense secretary's office referred questions to the Air Force.

Although The Gazette provided a copy of the report to the Air Force and the academy Thursday morning, officials refused to comment until they receive it officially. The Air Force said it had not received it as of 6 p.m.

Without addressing the report, the Air Force said in a statement that religious beliefs or nonbeliefs shouldn't be grounds for unlawful discrimination. The service also expressed confidence in the academy.

"Together we will promote selfcritique, self-inspection and selfimprovement in all areas," the statement said. "The Air Force and the academy actively promote a respectful educational and spiritual environment."

The academy has said the problem isn't deeply rooted and is being addressed with respect training that began last month.

Americans United, a nonprofit agency that often prevails in suits involving religious issues, said it investigated the academy for two months and interviewed faculty, staff and cadets.

It found "flagrant and egregious" violations of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which bars the government from favoring one religion over another or promoting religious beliefs over nonbeliefs.

Highlights:

Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida has openly advocated his Christian faith and told cadets they are "accountable first to your God." He also created an exchange with evangelical Christian cadets whereby he would say "Airpower," and they would answer, "Rock, Sir," a reference to a New Testament parable of a house built on rock, or Jesus, being a firm foundation. Weida told cadets that if asked the meaning by classmates, they could discuss their faith.

Recently, senior academy officials, including Weida, during duty hours attended an evangelical Christian meeting that identified secularism and pluralism "as specific threats to the followers of Jesus," a message that contradicts the academy's religious respect training.

Prayer is a part of mandatory functions, including awards ceremonies and training dinners. Courts have ruled prayer in most government settings unconstitutional.

Some faculty members have introduced themselves to classes as "born-again" Christians and encouraged students to become born again. A history instructor ordered students to pray before a final exam.

Football coach Fisher De-Berry prays with his team and hung a banner that said, "I am a Christian first and last... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ." Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa Jr. has said De-Berry's prayers are all right if they don't promote a particular religion. Americans United cites court decisions that say otherwise.

- Christians are given passes to attend Sunday services off- campus; those celebrating their faith on other days are not. Mandatory training, parades and football games are held on Saturdays, preventing cadets who observe their religion on those days from practicing their faith. Such mandatory events are not scheduled on Sundays.

- Thirty percent of the cadets are Catholic, 30 percent are nonevangelical Protestant, 30 percent are evangelical Protestant and 10 percent are Jewish, Islamic and other non-Christian faiths. Yet most of the chaplains are Protestant, virtually all of them evangelical Christians.

Mikey Weinstein, a 1977 graduate who is Jewish and has sent two sons to the academy, has been a critic of the academy's handling of religious bias issues.

"I'm more hopeful than I've been in a long time that maybe this report will spur serious, substantial and comprehensive improvement at the academy, because I love the academy," he said Thursday. "The First Amendment is not a law of convenience."

GROUP'S LEGAL TRAIL

About 75 percent of the issues Americans United for the Separation of Church and State takes on are handled through agreements rather than legal action. The group often wins the lawsuits it files. Some of its recent cases: