By Jay DeLancy, 12.06.06

The U.S. Air Force Academy is under scrutiny after suppressing religious tolerance. But surprisingly, it is the evangelical Christians accused of doing so.

A former Lutheran chaplain at the academy and a Yale divinity professor hope to reduce the strong presence of evangelical Christian ministries operating around the campus.

The battle started when Kristen Leslie, the Yale professor and Melinda Morton, the former chaplain issued a two-page report on the religious environment at the academy. The report blisters academy officials for giving privileged access to overtly Christian ministries and ideas. One example the pair cited was a Protestant chaplain who, during a service, reminded a 600-cadet audience that “those not born again will burn in the fires of hell.”

To avoid an ensuing media bombardment, Academy officials attempted to correct perceived religious intolerance against non-Christian faculty, staff and students at the closed campus while still allowing Christians to practice their faith.

“Eighty-five percent of our cadets are Christians,” said Johnny Whitaker, an official academy spokesman. “Eighty-five percent of Americans identify themselves as being Christian. The evangelical movement is here.”

Academy officials are confident in their leadership’s overall efforts to fight religious intolerance. They are attempting to balance their practices carefully between the free exercise of religion and the non-establishment of religion.

One example of their inclusion efforts involves increasing faculty and staff awareness about the practices of religious organizations not generally considered evangelical Christian. They are also trying to expand the variety of student groups available.

A group called Free Thinkers has asked to be included in the listing of religious organizations given access to the academy campus, according to Whitaker.

“People are obviously very passionate about what they believe or even what they don’t believe,” Whitaker said. “We do the best we can to accommodate them all, but they still have to be within the bounds of mission accomplishment and of good conduct and discipline.”

In the past, Academy leaders easily made accommodations for cadets whose religious services fell on Sundays, while not necessarily allowing cadet access on other days of the week.

“The burden of seeking out the [religious] event was on the cadet,” Whitaker said, “And often it got turned down. That’s completely reversed now. Accommodation is the rule and not the exception.”

But Abraham Foxman, national director for the Anti-Defamation League, has issued a statement saying these new revisions on behalf of the academy don’t go far enough in providing religious freedom.

"Taken as a whole, these revisions significantly undermine the much-needed steps the Air Force has already taken to address the religious intolerance at the U.S. Air Force Academy,” Foxman wrote.
Whitaker disagrees.

“Nothing goes on here that doesn’t go on at every campus in America,” Whitaker said, adding that Atheism is recognized by the Department of Defense as an official religion.