A Peterson AFB chaplain assistant was featured in a recent article about his experience fighting a brain infection and going through multiple brain surgeries:

[Staff Sgt. Anthony Bean] was transferred out of the emergency room and into a facility that could handle treating brain infections. They told him he needed brain surgery.

With the seriousness of the surgery looming in his mind, Bean said he was comforted knowing his pastor and his Air Force family were reaching out to him and praying for his speedy recovery.

The article is fairly short and is an uplifting look into dealing with adversity — which makes the final “editor’s note” all the more disconcerting [formatting original]: 

*EDITOR’S NOTE: Staff Sgt. Bean is a chaplain’s assistant at the Peterson Air Force Base Chapel. The chapel provides religious services for all denominations and does not exclude anyone based on religious preference.*

Why does the Air Force feel the need to engage a “proactive defense” to reassure people that the chapel “does not exclude anyone”?

Is a chaplain assistant’s personal survival story — which makes exactly one strong reference to God and prayer — really that potentially offensive?

Ladies and gentlemen, the world we have created…

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