Michael Weinstein is taking the US Air Force to task, again, for using the word “chapel” in a course from Squadron Officers’ School (SOS), a junior officer military education course.

The sentence at issue is important in context. Therefore, the surrounding text is included below.  Weinstein’s lawyers have declared these words “unconstitutional,” saying the SOS course

mandates that regular chapel attendance is part of the “Spiritual and Ethical Responsibilities” of a commissioned Air Force officer…

That’s an extraordinarily tortured reading of the text.  It’s also ignorant, since it is a commentary on leadership, not an Air Force policy document.

The manufactured offense over a single phrase is so stretched Weinstein likely views this as a test case.  Will the Air Force knee-jerk and scrub the course for the offensive reference to a chapel?  Or will it take a more measured response — or even acknowledge the virtue of the text he is attacking?  The Air Force’s reply will be enlightening.

The “again” portion of this is notable.  The perpetually offended Weinstein has brought up this SOS course before, in 2009, without success.  Weinstein is apparently trying to capitalize on recent publicity in an attempt to win a do-over, presenting it as a ‘new’ scandal over which to wail and moan.

The offensive language is below, included as a module of the correspondence course of SOS, entitled “Three Important Documents.”  Contrary to the insinuations of Weinstein’s “religious freedom” group, the text is exceedingly appropriate commentary on leadership, particularly given the shocking leadership failures in the military in recent times.  It is well worth the read, even if you’re an experienced leader.

Spiritual and Ethical Responsibilities of the Leader

Officership is more than your professional responsibility — it is your moral responsibility as well.  The government has entrusted you with a position of leadership, and it has the right to expect that your conduct will reflect the ideals and values that our nation cherishes.  Your commission expresses our nation’s trust.  The oath of office expresses your willingness to accept trust.

You represent our government and you are a servant of the people. Because of your influence as a leader of people, you need a clear understanding of what American values are, and how they affect human behavior.  You have to be alert to the moral and spiritual forces at work in our nation’s life.  At the same time, you must exemplify the ideals of our democratic philosophy in your own life.  You must possess the qualities of character that we think of as truly American.  If your personal life rests on sound moral principles, your leadership will prove more resolute, responsible, and best exemplify the American way of life.

Because of the nature of the military organization and the authority that you hold as a leader, you exert tremendous influence on the morale, morals, habits, actions, and attitudes of your subordinates.  You create an atmosphere.  When you take over an organization, the people watch with interest to see what kind of person you are.  In time, the unit reflects, consciously and unconsciously, your attitudes and actions.  If you reveal a deep concern for the Airmen, other officers and noncommissioned officers will evidence this concern.  If you are indifferent to the civilian community, public relations will deteriorate because the people in the command take their cue from you.  If you attend chapel regularly, both officers and Airmen are likely to follow this example.  If you are morally lax in your personal life, a general moral indifference within the command can be expected.  On the other hand, if you give evidence of being a person of integrity who is as strict with yourself as you are with others, who measures yourself by the same standards that you expect of your command, your sense of moral responsibility will pervade the organization.

Moral responsibility is not practiced in a vacuum.  It exists only in relation to principles that are sincerely accepted and practiced consistently.  It is demonstrated by your personal code of conduct:  your sense of honor, sincerity, integrity, honesty, justice, fairness, self-respect, personal dignity, and the dignity you accord to others.  The moral principles are the stars by which you set the course of your life.  The rank you wear on your shoulders symbolizes duty constituted by external authority.  Your loyalty to moral principles provides the internal authority that gives power to your leadership.  Our society places demands upon you as a commissioned officer.  When you take your oath, you become a member of a profession with a special code of conduct, which is well expressed in the West Point code: Duty, Honor, Country.  Gen Douglas MacArthur offered a classic tribute to this code, and the people who follow it, in his retirement speech at the US Military Academy on 12 May 1962:…