Posted on 06/04/2005 2:24:21 PM PDT by Valin
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.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
IN GOD WE TRUST
The phrase 'religious tolerance' has become a codeword for the suppression of religion. One might quote Thomas Jefferson or Karl Marx, but quoting Saul of Tarsus is a no-no.
Wing Commander Nicholas Jurewicz, if you're googling your name I hope you find this message.
Doing the right thing is never popular with the politically
correct crowd.
You didn't do anything wrong Nicholas when you sent
that email.
The problem with society today is political correctness.
Political correctness is a culture killer.
God bless you sir and take care of yourself.
Cindy
>> in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.
Which Constitution are they talking about? I can't find the part about separation of church and state in the US Constitution, just a reference to no establishment of religion.
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."
Good man.
"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 should have stopped here. She's right. But then, . . .
She added that the message "would have been fine if he had just sent it to his five best friends."
Wrong. Not unless the policy says, "content of private email sent to your five best friends is exempt from this policy."
This woman is an ugly, America hating dyke.
Oh it's there. You just have to hold it just right so the the light casts a shadow, it's right there in the penumbra.
I just hope this doesn't hurt Nicholas Jurewicz's career. When you're a butterbar it doesn't take much.
A Godless government is a doomed and immoral government.
Uh oh, if Amnesty International finds out about this they will say The United States Air Force Academy has become the "brain washing" Gulag of our time. Don't tell them. Have all the liberals in world gone "nuts"????
"You didn't do anything wrong Nicholas when you sent
that email."
That's right... It's perfectly fine to violate Air Force regulations. Cindy, what other regulation violations are OK for our troops..?
She said without a trace of irony in her voice.
Haven't been around very long have you ... read the Constitution and cite for me where separation of church and state is mentioned ...
Freep that mailbox!
"Haven't been around very long have you ... read the Constitution and cite for me where separation of church and state is mentioned ..."
I didn't mention anything about separation of church and state.. The cadet violated US government regulations..period. Without regulations, where would our military be..?
Buddy, if your name isn't "Wing Commander Nicholas Jurewicz;" then bug off. That letter was addressed to one specific person and posted to "all" so that we all on FR can read the little letter I wrote to Nicholas.
The question then is whether the senior cadet sending a message to everyone is a personal message, or whether he was sending out a congratulatory message or whatnot to everyone, which would be permitted since he is Wing Commander.
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