NYT/AP: Air Force Academy Leader Admits Religious Intolerance at School

[DeepModem Mom]

Air Force Academy Leader Admits Religious Intolerance at School
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 4, 2005


BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 3 (AP) - The superintendent of the Air Force Academy acknowledged to leaders of a national Jewish group on Friday that religious intolerance permeated the military school.

"As a commander, I know I have problems in my cadet wing," the superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Rosa Jr., said at a meeting of the executive committee of the group, the Anti-Defamation League. "I have issues in my staff, and I have issues in my faculty - and that's my whole organization."

He said he had admonished the academy's No. 2 commander, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, a born-again Christian, for sending an e-mail message promoting the National Day of Prayer. "We sat down and said, 'This is not right,' and he acknowledged that," General Rosa said, adding that there had been other incidents that crossed the line. "Perception is reality. We don't have respect."

The academy has been under investigation because of complaints that evangelical Christians have harassed cadets who do not share their faith. Some cadets have complained of anti-Semitic slurs, and one of the top chaplains at the school claims she was fired because she criticized what she saw as proselytizing at the academy, near Colorado Springs....

***

"We walked away with the feeling that the man is committed to solving the problem," (Abe Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director) said after meeting with General Rosa earlier on Friday. "The question is whether the system will let him."


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/national/04airforce.html

[Hobarticus]

1. It's the fucking military....careers get trashed for rocking the boat...

It's all bullshit lip service.

Next up: some hare-brained GOP Senator decrying "anti-Christian oppression" at the Academy

[chaumont58]

2. You are right!

Also leading the charge will be the good reverend Pat Robertson and his 700 Club. I can see Newsmax.com's cry now: Christians persecuted!
That ought to be good for a whole night of contributions.

[AspenRose]

15. Try Focus on the Family

Dobson is right there in Colorado Springs.

It is amazing how much more conservative Colorado Springs has become since FOTF landed there.

[damntexdem]

11. Unless we can make sure that religious intolerance ...

is established as the behavior that rocks the boat. True, there is little evidence under the Bushistas of success in that regard; but we need to keep the focus on the AF Academy and try to keep them as honest as we can.

[confludemocrat]

3. rape coverups, now religious "intolerace" raze the place and start over

Its totally fucked. Like many other places in America. Shut it down blow up the buildings wait for a few years and then maybe reopen a new one somewhere else.

[Catch22Dem]

4. I like it anytime someone in charge ownes up to something

He knows the buck stops with him, and he's doing the right thing here.

[Tansy_Gold]

5. So far, he has only SAID the right things. That's the usual way.

When he actually starts DOING something, I'll give him some credit.

In the current regime, words are cheap, very cheap, and they often mean absofuckinglutely nothing.

[Catch22Dem]

7. Yeah, but in the current regime NO ONE even ownes up.

At least he's gone this far. We shall see though.

[damntexdem]

12. Yes, words are cheap in this Admin; but ...

admissions of mistakes and problems are still scarce and therefore valuable. Let's see what is done at the Academy. We do, indeed, need to watch for actions in conformance with the words.

[msongs]

6. why not murder the non christian cadets and get it over with?

worked in germany for a decade.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/liberaltshirts.htm

[DBoon]

10. Why not torture them until they convert?

Worked for the Spanish Inquisition for over a century

[MrBenchley]

8. There's also been a rape scandal there

at about the same time...and what has pResident Weakling done about either one, except pretend they weren't there?

[EST]

9. Further evidence of the inmates running the asylum.

And here I'd always thought that officers were chosen for their ability to make sound judgements without having every last detail of how it's going to turn out

My, my, my, now the intellectual requirement most highly prized seems to be the capacity to accept a public scolding for a privately held philosophy and not giggle at sham ferocity. I realize that Brig. Gen. is still pretty small potatoes, but, if the policy even tacitly approves of disdain for a major religion, the amount of damage a wormy brained BG can do could be extensive.
Several alternatives suggest themselves: The talent pool is so weak, the officers ranks are composed of such poor quality that all the folks in positions of responsibility are operating way above their abilities. The confidence at the top that we, as a country, will never have to go back to a mutual respect type of society is so palpable that only a little pro-forma wave toward a "we are all created equal" is necessary. The entire system has broken down and, like the Romans, we will continue to muddle along, for a while, as the magnificent experiment whimpers to a stop.
The barbarians will be at the gates and there is not a soul qualified to save the nation.

[havocmom]

13. Anybody knowledgeable about Academy appointments, a question:

Do young people still need a Congressional memeber to recommend them before they are even considered by the Academy? If that is still the case, it explains a lot.

Consider the current kow-towing to the fundy right by most of the cowards in Congress right now. One might wonder if they are the root of the problem. Is there a tendency to recommend young people of only certain religious leanings to the instutution in the first place?

It is evident that the far right/religious right are very far sighted about how they take control of various American institutions, even though they are devinately a minority fringe group. Can they be quietly filling the ranks of the officer corps of our military even as Rumfeld purges the top ranks of those who will not drink his Kool Aid? It is a very dangerous situation.

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Very good point, havocmom --

and a dangerous situation indeed, if this is what's happening.

[GCP]

16. The Airforce Academy is just down the road from this

http://www.newlifechurch.org/dsp_default.cfm?CFID=923739&CFTOKEN=60541462

There was a big NYT article about it recently, it's the biggest and fastest growing fundamentalist church in America.

[indepat]

17. Some have violated their trust and are unfit to serve, much less command

IMHO.