Team Jesus Christ
4 June 2005, The Washington Post

The reports of the religious climate at the Air Force Academy are unsettling: A chaplain instructs cadets to try to convert classmates by warning that they "will burn in the fires of hell" if they do not accept Christ. During basic training, freshman cadets who decline to attend after-dinner chapel are marched back to their dormitories in "heathen flights" organized by upperclassmen. A Jewish student is taunted as a Christ killer and told that the Holocaust was the just punishment for that offense. The academy's head football coach posts a banner in the locker room that proclaims, "I am a Christian first and last. . . . I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."

Though there are disputes over the specifics of some of these cases, academy officials don't disagree that there has been a problem on campus with religious tolerance. They argue that they recognized and responded to it promptly, instituting training programs for students and faculty alike. But critics say the response was belated and grudging, treating the problem as one of a few instances of insensitivity by out-of-line cadets rather than, as they see it, a broader culture of intolerance fostered from the top down.

A task force appointed by the Pentagon to examine the religious climate on campus reported last week to acting Air Force Secretary Michael L. Dominguez about its findings, and a public report is due soon. Although the task force's work should not be judged in advance, it is of concern that the group doesn't seem to have spent much time with those who have been most outspoken about the issue. Mikey Weinstein, a 1977 academy graduate who says his cadet son has been harassed for being Jewish, said his only contact with the task force was a phone call asking him to stop criticizing it. Capt. MeLinda Morton, a chaplain who spoke out against what she considers strident evangelizing on campus, said she was interviewed for a scant 15 minutes on the task force's last day of investigation. A Yale Divinity School professor who helped flag the religious problems at the academy was never contacted.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department's inspector general has been asked to look into the transfer of Capt. Morton, who says she is being punished for her views. The academy says a transfer was already in the works, but her removal does seem, at the least, to have been speeded up after she went public with her concerns. The inspector general will need to sort through these conflicting assertions.

More important, it's imperative that the Air Force ensure that the academy welcomes and accommodates cadets of all faiths, or none at all. Cadet training is, by its nature, an experience in which young men and women are under enormous pressure to conform. It is especially important, in that atmosphere, that cadets not feel that professing a certain religion is part of the norm to which they must adhere. Cadets need to know that they can serve the Air Force, and their country, even if they haven't signed up for Team Jesus Christ.

Air Force Cadet E-Mails Religious Quotes
1 June 2005, Robert Weller, The Washington Post/AP

DENVER -- On the eve of his graduation, the top cadet at the Air Force Academy sent out a religious-themed e-mail to thousands of fellow cadets, even as the school is grappling with complaints that some evangelical Christians are harassing others at the school.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the e-mail sent Tuesday by Wing Commander Nicholas Jurewicz to the freshmen, sophomore and junior classes, which is about 3,000 cadets. "Wing commander" is the title held by the top senior at the school in military ranking.

Jurewicz lists his favorite quotations in the message, including several about Jesus. One quotation, "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ," is a biblical verse.

The academy has been under investigation because of complaints that evangelical Christians have harassed cadets who do not share their faith, in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Cadets have been required to attend religious tolerance seminars, during which they have been reminded that Air Force policy bans the use of official e-mails for personal messages.

"We will look into it and if he violated any Air Force or academy policy we will take appropriate action after we've reviewed it," academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said.

Reached by telephone, Jurewicz declined to comment. He told The Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs that he "didn't think" to delete any of the religious messages from the e-mail.

Asked for comment about the academy's religious sensitivity training and a prohibition against citing scripture in government e-mail, he told the paper: "I'll leave that to the senior leadership to explain."

The academy's graduation ceremony is set for Wednesday; Vice President Cheney was scheduled to speak.

Capt. Melinda Morton, a chaplain who claims to have been fired as executive officer of the chaplaincy corps because of her criticism of the power of evangelicals at the academy, said the e-mail was exactly what the religious tolerance classes were meant to stop.

"It doesn't matter if it is Amway or preaching Jesus," Morton said. "It should only be official material if it is for general distribution." She added that the message "would have been fine if he had just sent it to his five best friends."

Mikey Weinstein, a 1977 academy graduate who has sent two sons there, said he wanted Congress to step in and address the atmosphere at the school.

"There couldn't be a more wretchedly timed example of the total and dismal failure of the senior leaders of the academy than having the No. 1 cadet breach the most fundamental and elementary rules of the religious tolerance program," said Weinstein, who is Jewish.

The results of an investigation by an Air Force task force charged with looking into the allegations of religious intolerance will be released later this month. Meanwhile, the Defense Department's inspector general is investigating Morton's claim about losing her job because of her complaints.

Air Force Academy Chief Admits School Bias
3 June 2005, Robert Weller, The New York Times/The Washington Post/AP

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) -- The superintendent of the Air Force Academy acknowledged to leaders of a national Jewish group Friday that religious intolerance permeates the military school.

"As a commander, I know I have problems in my cadet wing," Lt. Gen. John Rosa said at a meeting of the Anti-Defamation League's executive committee. "I have issues in my staff, and I have issues in my faculty -- and that's my whole organization."

He said he admonished the academy's No. 2 commander, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, a born-again Christian, for sending an e-mail promoting National Prayer Day.

"We sat down and said, `This is not right,' and he acknowledged that," Rosa said, adding there had been other incidents that crossed the line. "Perception is reality. We don't have respect."

The academy has been under investigation because of complaints that evangelical Christians have harassed cadets who do not share their faith. Some cadets have complained of anti-Semitic slurs, and one of the top chaplains at the school claims she was fired because she criticized what she saw as proselytizing at the academy.

Academy leaders deny the claim, saying Capt. MeLinda Morton was simply reassigned to Japan. The Defense Department's inspector general is investigating.

Rosa said he has spoken with academy critics and agrees with many of their complaints. He said he didn't learn of a Yale University memo issued last year on religious intolerance at the school near Colorado Springs until much later.

Rosa said the problem is "something that keeps me awake at night."

"If everything goes well, it's probably going to take six years to fix it," he added.

Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate who has become a leading critic, said Rosa's acknowledgment "is too little and too late."

"We need new leadership at the Air Force Academy," said Weinstein, who has sent two sons to the academy.

Abe Foxman, the ADL's national director, said he was convinced the general wants to do the right thing.

"We walked away with the feeling that the man is committed to solving the problem. The question is whether the system will let him," Foxman said after meeting with Rosa for 90 minutes earlier Friday.

Religious Differences Part of Cadet Training
Air Force Academy's Program Urges Respect
1 June 2005, T.R. Reid, Washington Post

COLORADO SPRINGS -- A student officer approaches a group of underclass students in a classroom at the Air Force Academy and reminds the younger students that they must all attend a general formation of the school's cadet corps Friday evening. It looks like an ordinary, casual campus reminder -- but the exchange quickly flares into a tense religious standoff.

"Sir, that doesn't work for me," a female cadet replies. "I have worship services Friday night." The student officer, sensing a challenge to his rank, turns angry. "You have to be there," he snaps. "No more excuses!"

At that uncomfortable moment, the video screen goes blank and Lt. Col. Vicki J. Rast starts explaining what went wrong.

"We're not seeing much sensitivity there, are we?" Rast tells an audience of students, teachers and academy staff. "The guy seems to think that a Jew who wants to go to Friday night services is making excuses. That's not acceptable. And the woman, let's be frank, could have found a better way to handle this than to challenge her superior in public."

Prowling the classroom in her green camouflage fatigues, Rast uses that simulated exchange between cadets in the training video to press home, again and again, a message that is now an essential part of the curriculum here on the sprawling campus at the base of snow-capped Pike's Peak.

"We have to respect every individual's religious beliefs," Rast declares. "We may not approve or agree with them, but we will respect their right to believe what they choose."

All spring, a corps of chaplains, law professors and senior officers such as Rast -- she holds the new position of "Chief, Climate and Culture" -- have been running classes designed to impart the principles of religious tolerance and universal respect. The training program, known as RSVP, for "Respecting the Spiritual Values of All People," is required not only for the 4,000 cadets but also for everyone else, military and civilian, at the academy.

The RSVP program began this year after a series of accusations that evangelical Christians on the faculty and in the corps of cadets were using the authority structure at the military school to win converts and to punish those who did not share evangelical beliefs. Some cadets who chose to study rather than attend Christian chapel after dinner were called "heathens."

A study team from Yale Divinity School reported that religious pressure was particularly intense during basic cadet training, the boot camp each summer during which newly arrived high school graduates are indoctrinated into military life. "The whole camp is about authority and discipline," noted Yale professor Kristen Leslie. "And in that setting, the very Christian, evangelical voice was just dominating."

Under increasing criticism, the Air Force dispatched a task force to the academy last month to study the problem. After the task force reported its findings to the brass in Washington, the Air Force chief of staff sent a notice to all installations worldwide. "Commanders must be alert to the issue of religious respect throughout our Air Force," Gen. John P. Jumper's notice said.

Academy officials could not say whether the task force would issue a public report on its findings. But the issue of religious tolerance at the academy has become a public concern for the Air Force -- at the same time the school is shadowed by an earlier scandal in which female cadets said sexual harassment was common on campus but ignored by the school's administrators.

"It's an institution with clear lines of authority," noted Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), one of five dozen members of Congress who wrote acting Air Force Secretary Michael L. Dominguez demanding remedial action. "Well, if a person in authority over you says you are going to burn in hell unless you convert, that carries a lot of weight with a young cadet."

Concerns about religious intolerance at the academy initially emerged as part of the official response to the sexual harassment problem. Study teams looking into the academy's structure of pastoral care for cadets heard repeated stories of favoritism toward evangelical cadets and faculty members, and discrimination against those of other faiths.

Chaplains, legal officers and Rast's Climate and Culture office then created the RSVP program, which will be required for all students and employees at the academy.

At an RSVP session last month, Rast was joined by Air Force Maj. Henry Close, an Orthodox priest, and by Howard Eggers, who teaches law courses to the cadets. The three emphasized that religious tolerance is not only a matter of principle but is also essential to help the service achieve its mission. "We know that a lack of respect for the whole range of religious beliefs prevents people from doing their jobs well," Close said.

The training program uses simulated campus encounters, such as the one involving the Friday night formation. It also includes clips from television shows and movies, such as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "School Ties." An excerpt from "We Were Soldiers" says that tolerance for others can be a matter of life or death on the battlefield. "When you need a man's help, you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls God," the narrator says.

Some critics have argued that the training effort is too little and too late. "That RSVP program is putting lipstick on a pig," says Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate who says he and his two sons who attended the school all suffered discrimination for being Jewish. "The problem is a leadership that encourages the evangelicals and tolerates bias."

But Rast, an academy graduate who was teaching in the political science department when her new job was created, says she is convinced the academy and the Air Force are committed to change. "I think the attitude is more that we know we have a problem, and that means we have to work it."

Military Chaplain Says She Was Fired
Air Force Academy Chaplain Says She Was Fired for Speaking Up on Reported Religious Intolerance
12 May 2005, Robert Weller, ABC News/AP

A top Air Force Academy chaplain said Thursday she was fired for speaking up about anti-Semitism and other reports of religious intolerance among cadets and staff, including allegations that evangelical Christians wield too much influence.

Capt. Melinda Morton said she was fired last week by her boss, Col. Michael Whittington, after he pressured her to deny a professor's account of a religious service for new cadets last year.

Both chaplains had been scheduled to leave the school this year, with Whittington, the academy's chief chaplain, retiring and Morton, his executive officer, scheduled for an overseas assignment. She called that an excuse to get rid of her.

"I believe I was fired and I believe the other staff would say I was fired and that was the point of doing it," she said in a telephone interview.

The Air Force's chief chaplain, Maj. Gen. Charles C. Baldwin, said Morton was not fired. Her duties have changed, however, because Whittington will retire in June, rather than in July as originally planned. Morton has been scheduled for reassignment to an Air Force base in Japan for some time, he said.

The academy said Whittington was unavailable because he was being interviewed for a Pentagon investigation into more than 50 complaints of religious intolerance in the past several years, including cases in which one Jewish cadet was reportedly told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a Christ killer by a fellow cadet.

Morton said she was pressured to deny a report by Yale Divinity School professor Kristen Leslie that a chaplain told 600 cadets during basic training last year "to go back to their tents and tell their fellow cadets that those who are not born again will burn in the fires of hell."

"I was told by Chaplain Whittington that if someone was going to be loyal to the chaplaincy and the Air Force, then someone would take a certain view of the Yale report and view Dr. Leslie as disloyal," Morton said. Morton also said a religious tolerance training program she helped create was watered down after Air Force officials screened it last fall. She said Baldwin ordered the removal of several video clips, including one from the Holocaust movie "Schindler's List" and another about American Indian religion.

She said he also objected to dramatizations of interactions between cadets of different religions, saying they were unfair to Christians.

Morton recalled him asking: "I would just like to know why in your presentation Christians never win."

"Our mouths fell open," she said.

Baldwin said Thursday he believed Christians were portrayed too often as being at fault.

"I wanted it to be more representative of the religious scenarios that exist there," he said. "I wanted more diverse scenarios, perhaps a Buddhist cadet asking about permission to get their religious needs met."

He said the movie clip, which showed Nazi soldiers shooting Jews, was too extreme, and that the Indian religion clip was superfluous.

Academy officials said the tolerance program will evolve as officials study cadets' reactions. The school recently started requiring staff members and all 4,300 cadets to take the 50-minute class.

"We believe the class is teaching what we want it to teach, and that is: respect others' beliefs," academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said. "Did we get it 100 percent correct? No, but we're going to continue to try to make it better."

The scandal follows claims in 2003 by scores of female cadets who said they had been sexually assaulted; many also claimed they were punished or ignored by their commanders when they spoke up. The Air Force responded by overhauling leadership and instituting new policies.

More than 90 percent of the cadets identify themselves as Christian. A cadet survey in 2003 found that half had heard religious slurs and jokes. Asked why such problems exist at the academy and apparently not at West Point and the Naval Academy, Morton pointed to nearby Colorado Springs, home to several influential conservative Christian organizations.

"Because it is surrounded by very powerful evangelical organizations that have an agenda and have a lot of influence at the Air Force Academy and at the White House," Morton said.

Tom Minnery, a spokesman for the Colorado Springs-based ministry Focus on the Family, has disputed such claims, saying an "anti-Christian bigotry" was developing at the school.