Air Force Academy should drop ‘Lord’s army’ speaker for prayer luncheon, religious freedom advocate

[unhappycamper]

Air Force Academy should drop ‘Lord’s army’ speaker for prayer luncheon, religious freedom advocate demands
By Nathan Diebenow
Friday, January 21st, 2011 -- 8:23 pm

The US Air Force Academy should withdraw its invitation for a former Marine to address the Academy’s National Prayer Luncheon next month, according to a religious freedom advocacy group.

“Egregiously sectarian statements like from former Lt. McClary blatantly exclude not only non-Christians, but also the many Christians who do not subscribe to a particularly fundamentalist view of Christianity,” Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, president and founder of Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), said.

Lt. Clebe McClary is a wounded Vietnam veteran who has since become known as an evangelical Christian motivational speaker.

The MRFF in a letter (PDF) to U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael C. Gould demands that the Air Force Academy instead select a speaker with an inclusive message for the attendees.

Former Lt. McClary, who has been endorsed by conservative Christians such as the late Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham, says on his website that "U.C.M.C. will always mean a U. S. Marine for Christ."