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.”
Damned christians..
This kind of thing could get in the way of a good rape coverup..
Oh worse any Lesbian carpet merchants..
or Homo vacuum studies..
I didn't look at your homepage. I apologize, since you have sent me kind FRmail. I get cheesed about anyone attacking one's looks on the internet.
You are so whacked. Thank the Lord you found your little corner of the faith.
,,, I'll be clear on this. No way was I attacking her religion at all. However, I disapprove of her self perceived authenticity given the position she holds and what she has to say... it's totally incongruous. As for her looks, you have a problem with people attacking other people's looks on the internet? I don't have that problem. If a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll choose just one to sum her up.
As a Roman Catholic, I get "the Papist treatment" frequently from fundamentalists.
Do you not see how a chaplain or an upperclassman could apply pressure, however subtle, to the non-believing underclassman?
Offer prayer and encouragement to those you know are Christians. Leave everybody else alone.
"It is obvious: Neither of you was an airman."
True. I was a soldier.
Does the Air Force have some sort of institutional proselyzation requirement? Are those who join the Air Force required to convert to a particular flavor of evangelical Christianity, or else be harrassed by their seniors for their heresy?
You don't know much about sinkspur or chaplains, in my opinion. Let it go.
No.
And you oughta know that.
You're just being silly.
Let go of what?
You're the apologist for feminaziism on this thread.
Why don't you let go?
I don't care what she looks like or what she feels is interperative as per doctrine. I get pissed about people proclaiming her looks are indicative of her beliefs. Many are the homely and hunky priests I've known over the years.
I got over him a long time ago.
You and me both. I'm sorely tired of getting whipped up on for being Catholic. I have the additional sin of having been raised as a Lutheran.
Kill me now.
"No. And you oughta know that. You're just being silly."
Well, could someone please tell that to the seniors who are harrassing subordinates for their heresy?
,,, so, nothing really left to say, is there? The issue is simply the opinions of people regarding her looks.
Glad to learn that. I hate it here anymore. If I wanted a religion forum. there are tons of them.
Show us how handsome you are and we'll carry on.
,,, what have my looks got to do with the issue?
What have the Lutheran chaplain's got to do with the issue?
Isn't it nuts how folks will proclaim, "Well that is a religious forum, but this is a political forum?!
"Religion," politics, philosophy - they can all be distilled down to a basic word: opinion.
It is just someone's opinion about how the world or the universe works - their "worldview" if you will.
Thomas Jefferson, and our other founding fathers, realized this. One of Jefferson's most famous quotes, against forcing people to pay taxes to fund government schools: "It is both a tyranny and sin to compel a man to furnish contributions for the propogation of opinions with which he disagrees."
When we hear the Left clamoring for "separation of church and state," what they really mean is that they want opinions that they don't agree with to be banned from the public square. And the best way to ban those opinions is to refer to them as "religion." We should avoid getting sucked into their rhetorical devices.
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