{"id":40023,"date":"2017-02-23T00:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T03:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=40023"},"modified":"2017-02-23T01:58:40","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T04:58:40","slug":"us-air-force-academy-hosts-annual-prayer-luncheon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/us-air-force-academy-hosts-annual-prayer-luncheon\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force Academy Hosts Annual Prayer Luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40025\" src=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/usafavanas1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"880\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/usafavanas1.jpg 880w, https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/usafavanas1-300x95.jpg 300w, https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/usafavanas1-768x244.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px\" \/>Quietly and without controversy, the US Air Force Academy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usafa.af.mil\/News\/ArticleDisplay\/tabid\/1487\/Article\/1089345\/academy-prayer-lunch-features-native-american-speaker-dj-eagle-bear-vanas.aspx\">hosted its annual prayer luncheon<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n<p>The keynote address came from motivational speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativediscovery.com\/about\/\">DJ &#8220;Eagle Bear&#8221; Vanas<\/a>, a 1993 USAFA graduate and &#8220;enrolled member&#8221; of the Odawa Nation, a Native American tribe:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOur spirituality makes us strong from the inside-out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt strengthens and sustains us&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>When we practice our spiritual faith, we make better decisions.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The USAFA article references only <!--more-->Vanas&#8217; &#8220;spiritual practices,&#8221; without specifying if they are Native American or simply generic spirituality (though his speaking business is focused on a &#8220;native&#8221; theme). Vanas spoke to the general virtues of faith.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps in a moment of self-awareness, the article made a point of commenting on the religious environment at USAFA [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Cadet 1st Class Sarah MacKinnon, president of the Cadet Interfaith Council, said <strong>the Academy is a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">safe and tolerant<\/span> environment for cadets of any faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough diversity of thought, we\u2019re a stronger institution,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a cadet, I\u2019ve strengthened my faith with the help of others on their journey regardless of their religious beliefs&#8230;&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It would be an interesting discussion to hear how one strengthens their faith with the help of those of <em>other<\/em> faiths.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it would seem the US Air Force Academy is making a pointed effort to publicize its support for military religious freedom, as put on display at the prayer lunch.<\/p>\n<p>Wonder why this event wasn&#8217;t as controversial as those in years past?<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-like\" data-layout=\"standard\" data-action=\"like\" data-size=\"small\" data-show-faces=\"true\" data-share=\"true\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><strong>ADVERTISEMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><!-- blogpost --><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6450825356098669\" data-ad-slot=\"2728423835\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quietly and without controversy, the US Air Force Academy hosted its annual prayer luncheon last week. The keynote address came from motivational speaker DJ &#8220;Eagle Bear&#8221; Vanas, a 1993 USAFA graduate and &#8220;enrolled member&#8221; of the Odawa Nation, a Native American tribe: \u201cOur spirituality makes us strong from the inside-out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt strengthens and sustains us&#8230; When we practice [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2444,6119,2,1380,6120,11,17,10,171,6121,874,65],"class_list":["post-40023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-cadet-interfaith-council","tag-dj-eagle-bear-vanas","tag-military","tag-national-prayer-luncheon","tag-odawa-nation","tag-prayer","tag-religious-expression","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-sarah-mackinnon","tag-spiritualism","tag-usafa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}