{"id":26148,"date":"2013-10-22T01:36:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T04:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=26148"},"modified":"2016-11-26T00:32:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T03:32:17","slug":"so-help-me-god-weinstein-gets-usafa-poster-pulled-in-68-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/22\/so-help-me-god-weinstein-gets-usafa-poster-pulled-in-68-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"“So Help Me God”: Weinstein Gets USAFA Poster Pulled in 68 Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, outspoken critic of Christians in the US military, once bragged he’d called the Pentagon and had a poster pulled off the wall of an Air Force base chow hall<\/a>\u00a0in less than an hour.\u00a0 Last week, he tried again, and he did it in 68 minutes.<\/p>\n

Pam Zubeck, a “journalist” with the Colorado Springs Independent<\/em> —\u00a0local to the US Air Force Academy — has long been an ally of\u00a0Weinstein<\/a> in his crusade against the Academy.\u00a0 Last week, she helped his cause when\u00a0USAFA sent\u00a0the CSIndy<\/em> some photos of the USAFA Prep School, one of which was a photo of a poster hanging on a wall.\u00a0 The\u00a0picture of the F-100F on static display<\/a> in front of the Prep School contained the following quote [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

We will not lie, steal [or cheat,]*<\/strong><\/span> nor tolerate among us anyone who does.\u00a0 Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

USAFA Photo<\/em><\/p>\n

Zubeck was clearly concerned about “so help me God.”\u00a0 Her reaction<\/a> [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

[It] featured…the academy’s famous honor code<\/strong>, with a second sentence we’d never seen before<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

So we sent the photo to Mikey Weinstein…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Zubeck and Weinstein, the framed\u00a0poster came down 68 minutes after Weinstein called the Superintendent’s office at USAFA.<\/p>\n

The new USAFA superintendent,\u00a0LtGen Michelle Johnson (USAFA ’81), wrote an email to Weinstein (USAFA ’77), that acknowledged\u00a0Weinstein’s intervention and detailed the serious stance USAFA was taking [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

This Honor Oath is one of the new things since my graduation, evidently in about 1984. Col Miller was able to bring together the Prep School and other entities on base to put together a way ahead<\/strong>. We\u2019ve already directed the Honor Review Committee to fix this next week<\/strong> when they meet. The Prep School poster has been taken down<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For her part, Zubeck was utterly\u00a0confused by LtGen Johnson’s forthright reply:<\/p>\n

We tried to find out more about what Johnson meant by “a way ahead,”<\/strong> and by the word “fix,”<\/strong> but she wasn’t available.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Weinstein, too, declared a premature<\/em> victory [formatting original]:<\/p>\n

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AFA honor code: ‘So help me God’<\/strong><\/p>\n

MRFF Founder and President contacts U.S. Air Force Academy, and in SIXTY EIGHT MINUTES<\/strong> <\/span>receives personal response from Superintendent assuring corrective action on TWENTY-NINE YEAR OLD<\/span> <\/strong>religious violation at USAFA<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why was Zubeck confused?\u00a0 And why was Weinstein’s victory dance premature?<\/p>\n

It turns out they’re both wrong<\/em>, and they don’t even realize it.<\/em>.\u00a0 It wasn’t<\/em> the USAFA Honor Code<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It was the USAFA Honor Oath<\/em><\/strong>, as LtGen Johnson explicitly stated in her email but they apparently missed.\u00a0 The sentence Zubeck had “never seen before” has been the USAFA Cadet Honor Oath<\/em> for nearly 30 years.\u00a0 It is administered every year during the Acceptance Parade, in which the Basic Cadets are “accepted” into the USAFA Cadet Wing and become Cadets Fourth Class.<\/p>\n

More importantly, LtGen Johnson seems to indicate USAFA will now review the Honor Oath, which, despite the poster’s demise, continues to exist.\u00a0 Weinstein was glad the poster was pulled, but it didn’t<\/em> end a “twenty-nine year old religious violation” — by which Weinstein apparently meant the phrase “So help me God.”\u00a0 Rather, the oath is still the oath<\/a>, as both USAFA’s own website<\/a>\u00a0and the Cadet Wing Honor Code Handbook<\/a> (local<\/a>) explain.\u00a0In fact, LtGen Johnson’s own Superintendent website explicitly calls out the oath<\/a> and justifies<\/em> it:<\/p>\n

The phrase, “so help me God,” is taken from the oath of office and affirms a higher standard of living.\u00a0 Cadets are expected to keep the spirit of the code in all endeavors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Interestingly, that appears to be an old version of this USAFA webpage<\/a>, which is identical — except for all references to the Honor Oath.)<\/p>\n

To be clear, then:\u00a0 A “reporter” sent a picture to an external critic of USAFA, who predictably complained — and USAFA reacted by pulling the poster.\u00a0 That\u00a0appeased those critics, but\u00a0USAFA went further<\/em>, directing the Honor Committee\u00a0to “fix”\u00a0the 30-year old Honor Oath — something those same critics didn’t seem to realize existed<\/em>.<\/p>\n

No one reportedly complained.\u00a0A reporter and a private critic caused USAFA to order a “fix” to its benign Honor Oath.<\/p>\n

In the end, USAFA can have whatever Honor Oath it wants, or none at all. It is not beholden to simple tradition, as evidenced by the very creation of that oath in 1984 or the demise of the “Bring Me Men”<\/a> ramp a few years later.<\/p>\n

It is disappointing, though, that Weinstein retains — or has regained<\/em> — such unnecessary control over USAFA.\u00a0 It is unnecessary because there is no reason to pull down the poster<\/em>.\u00a0 It does not establish a religion, nor prefer one religion over another nor religion over none.\u00a0 It violates no policy or ethic.\u00a0If nothing else, it is an accurate representation of the Honor Oath that has existed for 30 years.\u00a0 Ultimately, it should be little\u00a0different than a photo of the Bring Me Men ramp pre-2003, which shouldn’t be pulled off the wall just because it retains an image of the words written by Samuel Foss.<\/p>\n

Gen Johnson’s predecessor, General Mike Gould, initially tried to placate Weinstein<\/a>, but Weinstein’s half-life with Air Force leadership is generally measured in months.\u00a0 Gen Gould ultimately and famously closed the door in Weinstein’s face<\/a>.\u00a0 General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, seemingly had a similar experience,\u00a0initially corresponding personally with\u00a0Weinstein — but ultimately he, too, seems to have shown Weinstein the door<\/a>.\u00a0 With the exception of a few\u00a0people who have actively supported Weinstein’s crusade<\/a>, most\u00a0who have dealt with Weinstein have ultimately<\/em> ignored him after discovering\u00a0his personal crusade against US military Christians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As in other cases, granting Weinstein\u00a0special treatment —\u00a0different than any\u00a0other private citizen and well-funded critic — runs the risk of appearing to grant legitimacy to his cause (and raising the ire of Congress<\/a>).\u00a0 Weinstein’s\u00a0cause harms<\/em> the environment of religious liberty at USAFA and in the Air Force.<\/p>\n

When Weinstein finally has the epiphany about what LtGen Johnson meant<\/em> — which will likely occur after Chris Rodda tells him about this article — he’ll be on his drum again, and another celebration will occur a few weeks or months from now, when the cadet wing announces a policy altering the Honor Oath.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, common sense will prevail and USAFA will take the same approach to that oath as the rest of the US government does:\u00a0 “So help me God” is simply optional — which, shockingly enough, it has been for years<\/em>.\u00a0 The oath is administered in a mass formation, so no one would even know<\/em> if a cadet chose not to say those words:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[video\u00a0width=”320″ height=”240″ wmv=”http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/honor.wmv”][\/video]<\/div>\n

\u00a0AOG Video<\/em><\/p>\n

The oath can remain, the poster can return to a proper place, and the Cadet Wing can learn an important lesson about religious tolerance — so there may yet be positive results.\u00a0 In an age where Weinstein has returned to sit in the Superintendent’s office from which he was once banned, though, anything can happen.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Chris Rodda, by the way, it would seem she’s been upstaged by an unpaid outsider who is actually doing research<\/em> for her employer.<\/p>\n

In an interesting twist, the USAFA Prep School commander is Col Rodda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/span>The typographical error\u00a0in the poster — the omission of part of the oath — may be cause enough for it to be replaced regardless of any reference to religion.\u00a0 Then again, if it sat there for years and that error wasn’t noticed, it’s a stretch to say it was ‘imposing religion’ on anyone.<\/em><\/p>\n

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