Posted on 05/12/2005 12:41:32 PM PDT by wagglebee
Here’s a story that will throw you for a loop: a "chaplain” at the U.S. Air Force Academy is complaining that the school’s administration has a "systemic and pervasive” problem of promoting religious religious values with a Christian bent.
The chaplain, Capt. Melinda Morton, a "Lutheran minister” spoke out publicly on Tuesday as an Air Force task force arrived at the academy to investigate charges that officers and staff members pushed their religious beliefs on cadets.
And she claimed that a tolerance program developed at the academy, called Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People (R.S.V.P.), was watered down after it was shown to officers.
Maj. Gen. Charles C. Baldwin, chief of chaplains for the Air Force, screened the 90-minute R.S.V.P. film in October, according to Capt. Morton, and asked her: "Why is it that the Christians never win?” in reaction to some of the program’s depictions of cadet interactions.
"Chaplain” Morton’s complaints about too much religion at the military academy is creating waves, and earned her hero status in a report in the New York Times Thursday.
Gen. Baldwin acknowledged in an interview that he felt too many scenes in the film portrayed Christians at fault for excessive evangelical proselytizing.
He also said he asked that the Air Force cut segments on non-Christian religions such as Buddhism, Judaism and Native American spirituality.
The problem in dealing with proselytizing and church-state issues at the academy, he explained, "always is, when is a person crossing the line, or when are they being a positive person of faith, like our president.”
Last year, the Colorado Springs academy invited Yale Divinity School professor Kristen Leslie and six Yale graduate students to visit the school and observe how the chaplains minister to the cadets.
A memo from the Yale team cited the "stridently evangelical themes” at a worship service attended by 600 new cadets.
Leslie said a chaplain urged cadets to pray for those who didn’t attend and "remind them of the consequences ... those not ‘born again will burn in the fires of hell.’”
But academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker disputed that account, saying several other chaplains told him that no one mentioned burning "in the fires of hell.”
Morton, a 48-year-old "Lutheran minister," said she was removed from her post as executive officer to the chief chaplain, Col. Michael Whittington, last week. She claimed the dismissal came after he pressured her to deny details of what happened at the religious service.
But Whitaker said Whittington sent Morton an e-mail on May 4 saying he was removing her "to ensure a smooth and complete transition” for new leaders.
Morgan said she had stepped forward because "it’s the Constitution, not just a nice rule we can follow or not follow. That includes not using your power to advance your religious agenda.”
She acknowledged that after speaking out, "I don’t think I have much future in the Air Force.”
It is obvious: Neither of you was an airman.
They can sit there and take it because they were ordered to as part of their studies.
Besides, it still sucks less than PT and probably provides some welcome naptime.
That's the problem.
How dare our brass subject the best & brightest men to harrangues by butch-dyke womyn?!
Worse, they'll be commanded by some bull-dyke "officer" after they graduate.
Shame.
,,, no chance for you. It's a long road to the perfumed halls of paradise.
Well, soldiers need to be made familiar with possible torture techniques of the enemy and ways to resist...
Do you suppose this is the result of what is taught in seminaries today?
If being an airman involves having to tolerate a fundamentalist chaplain (who outranks me) telling me I'm going to hell if I don't listen to his preachin', I thank God I missed the fun.
ECLA lutherans. To be fair, Missouri-Synod does not allow female pastors.
this dike in disguise wouldn't think much of Patrick Henry or the original G.W. either. Add to that list Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
Dollars to donuts she received her "commission" as a payback during the tailhook scandle.
Just be done with it and go find a nice San Francisco neighborhood where nobody likes judgement sermons and everyone can say "oooooommmmm" until the rapture.
Whaaaaaatt? we got left??????
I can just about promise you that Lori Salerno never got an invite to speak while Clintoon was President.
Google her.
She had an impact on the conversions that have occured at the Air Force Academy and none were forced.
unfortunately there are.
The Southern Baptist convention fiasco a couple of years ago led by the "churches" who thought that scripture interpretation on "submission" had gone too far were actually arguing over the man-inspired , God-inspired parts of scripture.
It was a sad sight to read about.
The difference between a Northern Baptist and a Southern Baptist.....Northern Baptists say "there ain't no hell" and the Southern Baptists say "the hell there ain't"
This chaplain is also an attorney and is married to an attorney. She was brought back on active duty just a couple of years ago. I have attended some of her briefings to cadets...she has a very difficult time relating to them. Way too intellectual - very little common sense. And a bit of an odd bodkin...and yes, that is a picture of her.
Sobering.
What do her looks have to do with her faith? Post those stud muffin pix of yourself and we'll be the judge, mkay?
I'm awfully fem and Mr. Okie likes me to show it.
,,, stud muffin? Thanx for that unexpected burst of interest. What have my looks got to do with her religion, or you for that matter? Also, are you convinced the shots on my homepage are me?
Never heard any "fundamentalist" Christian chaplain tell anyone they would go to hell if they didn't listen to his preaching. I've known of many "skypilots" who gave encouragement and hope to young men going into battle. There's an old saying that "You don't find many athiests in foxholes." You don't. The "fundamentalist" Christian chaplain most often offers the love of Jesus, and His promise of eternal life. Methinks you are just closed-minded and too willing to parrot the mantras of secular leftists, rather than actually ever having spoken with a "fundamentalist" Christian chaplain. With an obvious chip on your shoulder, you condemn that which you have never tried.
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