An Air Force task force will investigate complaints of anti-Semitism and other religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy, the military announced today – the second time in as many years that the prestigious school has been plunged into scandal.
The announcement by Michael L. Dominguez, acting Air Force secretary, made clear that the actions of senior commanders would be reviewed to see if they “enhance or detract from a climate that respects both the free exercise of religion and the establishment clauses of the First Amendment.”
The No. 2 officer at the academy, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, is a self-described born-again Christian, and critics say he frequently mixes religion with his official duties. In an e-mail in May 2003 he urged cadets to “ask the Lord to give us the wisdom to discover the right. … The Lord is in control. He has a plan for … every one of us.”
Later he issued a memo stating that cadets are accountable first to their God.
School spokesman Johnny Whitaker said Weida now runs his messages by several other commanders before sending them. Weida did not immediately respond to a request for an interview today.
Two years ago, the top commanders at the academy were ousted after nearly 150 women came forward to say they had been assaulted by fellow cadets over the past decade. Many alleged that they were punished, ignored or ostracized by commanders when they spoke out.
The academy said the religious tolerance problem came to light through internal surveys, and commanders then invited staff and cadets to report religious discrimination.
Fifty-five cases were reported. A cadet who didn’t want to attend an official function in a church reported he was told he would be consigned “to the heathen flight.” Cadets who do not consider themselves born again said they were told they would burn in hell.
After the complaints became public, commanders organized special religious tolerance classes and ordered everyone at the academy to attend.
But critics said today evangelical Christians continued to wield too much power. “The close relationship between the academy and evangelical Christianity sends a message of exclusion to those of other faiths,” said Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Last week Lynn’s group gave Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld a report on a two-month investigation of religious intolerance at the academy. The report concluded that students, faculty, staff and members of the chaplains’ office frequently pressured cadets to attend chapel and receive religious instruction. Others said prayers were frequently conducted before official events.
Lynn praised the announcement of the task force but said his group will closely monitor the situation. “It is vital that the task force take this issue seriously and end the official promotion of evangelical Christianity at the academy,” Lynn said.
The regional office of the Anti-Defamation League, which also had expressed concern about the academy, also praised the announcement of an investigation. “We hope and trust that it will be conducted thoroughly and the results taken seriously by the Air Force. And if real problems are demonstrated, problems we believe to exist, we urge the Air Force to take all necessary steps to remedy the situation,” said Bruce H. DeBoskey, the league’s regional director.
Michael Josephson of the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics, who had predicted an ethics crisis at the academy after doing a study there earlier this year, said the problem is that no one has set rules.
“What are you going to allow cadets to say? What are you going to allow professors to say? I don’t see any solution until someone makes the tough decisions. They need to set limits,” Josephson said.
The academy released a statement saying it would cooperate with the investigation.
“Should the team turn up any additional issues or problems during their visit we will take immediate action to address them,” said academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox.
Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group whose headquarters are adjacent to the academy, criticized the investigation.
“The Air Force trains the cadets to make the ultimate sacrifice if necessary, and even to imply that it is wrong to talk about the ultimate meaning of life, which is religious, is absurd,” said Tom Minnery, director of public policy for Focus.
Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, N.M., a 1977 graduate who has sent two sons to the school, applauded the formation of the task force. He has said his younger son has been the target of anti-Semitic comments.
“It sounds as though the Pentagon is talking the talk, and that is step one,” he said. “Step two is whether they can walk the walk. There are too many afflicted by the unconstitutional evangelical control of the Air Force Academy at this point to offer any premature optimism until we see some positive, comprehensive action.” The task force will be led by Lt. Gen. Roger A. Brady, and is to give a preliminary report by May 23.
