Tag Archives: Religion

USAFA Should Rescind Atheist’s Religious Respect Training Invite

A recent article on the US Air Force Academy Cadet Interfaith Council made a passing reference to an upcoming USAFA “religious respect conference” in November.  The purpose of the conference is reportedly to work on the cadet “religious respect” training program.  It seems this is the “next step,” following the respect training given to all basic trainees this past summer that was designed and developed by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

Jason Torpy, a former Army Captain and current president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, recently announced on his website that he had been invited to the religious respect conference.

Broadly speaking, it is not at all unreasonable that an atheist would be invited to such a conference, as the military environment is one that favors no particular faith, or lack thereof.

Jason Torpy is an abysmal choice, however, and the Academy should rescind his invitation.

Torpy has actively worked against religious freedom in the military; he has Read more

USAFA Cadets Discuss Faith, Freedom, Proselytizing

One of the results of the religious “scandals” that have plagued the US Air Force Academy over the past few years was the creation of the Cadet Interfaith Council.  The CIC was the subject of the latest USAFA news article on religious expression and diversity at the Academy.

The 20-member cadet group serves as a focal point for religious issues in the cadet wing.  Current president Cadet 2nd Class Philicia Fahrenbruch notes the Council helped ‘protect’ the time set aside for SPIRE on Monday evenings last year, and has helped deal with other issues since then.

Some of the topics noted in the article highlight the continued sensitivity of religion at the Air Force Academy:  Read more

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: The Military Christian’s Perspective

The ongoing public debate over homosexuality and the US military (most often referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”) presents a unique conflict for Christians in the military.  There are those who believe homosexuality is morally wrong and must be prohibited at every possibility, and there are those who believe people have the freedom to do as they please in their private lives.  This situation has implications from both the Christian perspective and the military perspective (in isolation), though they must be integrated to form the military Christian’s perspective.  Each of these three is addressed individually below.

The Christian Perspective

The Christian faith considers homosexuality a sin, just as theft, adultery, murder, and lust are sins.  Still, Christianity does not condemn the person who expresses a homosexual preference.  In addition, while many people in this world are tempted to sin (as was Jesus during his incarnation), the temptation to participate in sinful conduct is not itself wrong.  Finally, man is a fallen creation and has a sinful nature; thus, succumbing to temptation and sinning are a common experience of many on this earth — even the stereotypically staunchest Christians.

For a Christian, it is disheartening to see the culture, government, and now military move to end opposition to immoral behavior.  This is a dramatic indicator of the direction of cultural morality in the United States:  Few other issues have so rapidly moved from Read more

Soldier Saw No Atheists in Foxholes

An interesting article from Illinois notes the return of a local Army unit from Afghanistan, and focuses on the spiritual support sought by both the troops and their families:

Army Spc. Brian Peters witnessed firsthand what is meant by the familiar adage, “There are no atheists in foxholes…”  A noncommissioned officer he was with began praying during a firefight last year.  “I saw it right there on the battlefield,” Peters said. “We were in a ditch taking sniper fire.”

This suggests people often will appeal to a higher power when their lives are on the line even if they consider themselves atheists.

Several families also noted the importance of local churches in Read more

USAFA Releases Anti-Climactic Climate Survey Data

As previously noted, the US Air Force Academy responded to Freedom of Information Act requests by holding a press conference and releasing the previously withheld results of the 2009-2010 climate survey.

The release was part of an official Air Force announcement; the Academy announcement contains a link to the presentation made by USAFA Superintendent Lt Gen Michael Gould at the press conference (available here, 5.6MB pdf).

The Academy made a concerted effort to explain the results (or, more accurately, describe how the results couldn’t be explained).  It appears the Academy survey was “imperfect” in several respects:  Read more

Fort Campbell Breaks Ground on $8.4M Chapel

An effort by local businesses and military leaders has garnered the sprawling Fort Campbell military facility the finances it requires to build a new chapel.  A group of 55 local business leaders and public officials

explained to lawmakers that at that time, Fort Campbell was at only 31 percent of the military requirement for chapels. The existing chapels — aging World War II-era “temporary” structures — often had inadequate capacity for Eagle Remembrance ceremonies to honor fallen comrades.

The large facility will allow assemblies of over 1,200 and provide space for a variety of religious services.  The local paper editorializes:  Read more

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