The Air Force issued revised interim religious guidelines today, stressing that the service will remain neutral regarding religious beliefs and that voluntary participation in worship is integral to the free exercise of religion.
The guidelines, first issued in August, were rewritten after the Air Force received feedback from airmen, religious groups, people of no faith, legal and civil liberty groups, and congressional members.
The service-wide guidelines were recommended by an Air Force task force that visited the Air Force Academy last spring and found a perception of religious intolerance but no overt religious discrimination.
“The basics haven’t changed,” said Jennifer Stevens, spokeswoman for the Air Force. “We wanted to clarify language that was misunderstood in the first one.
“One of the major things we got a lot of feedback on was freedom of expression by chaplains. The revised guidelines make it clear that we respect chaplains’ rights to adhere to the tenets of their religious faiths, their individual faiths, and they’re not required to participate in religious activities that are inconsistent with their faith tenets.”
The one-page guidelines released today stress that leaders at every level need to ensure that their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to endorse or disprove of any faith or absence of faith. The guidelines say public prayer should not imply government endorsement of a religious and mutual respect and common sense should be applied.
The new guidelines were cheered by Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based ministry, and criticized by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said the new document “significantly backtracks” from the guidelines issued last year.
