Josh over at Thoughts from Kansas wrote this up before I had a chance, and rather than rewriting much the same information I would implore you to visit his post. The gist is that the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has long been known as a hotbed of evangelical Christianity. There have been allegations of discrimination against recruits who did not buy into this belief system. As a result, there are new regulations to spell out exactly what officers can and can’t tell their recruits about religion. Josh continues:
But Ryun, Tiahrt and Brownback signed a letter calling on the Air Force to rescind these rules. A Focus on Families spokeswoman said “We should be encouraging spiritual reflection at the Air Force Academy and the other service academies.”
I’d say that we shouldn’t discourage spiritual reflection, but the Air Force Academy isn’t a seminary. The people there are learning to fight for America, not run monasteries. There’s no excuse for evangelical officers to tell Jewish students that they killed Christ, that half of the cadets have heard religious slurs, or that Christians should get special treatment.
While this issue has not received much attention in the mass media, Christian organizations have been lobbying hard for the reversal of these rules. By signing this letter, Brownback is again laying the foundation for running as the “Christian Candidate” in 2008.
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Interesting that evangelical Christian bullying of those who dissent is going on at the same academy where it was recently revealed that 1/3 to 1/2 of female cadets are sexually assaulted by fellow cadets or instructors during their time there.
Yeah, I would think mixing military indoctrination with religious indoctrination would be a dangerous mix.