Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Intolerance at the Air Force Academy
At the Air Force Academy, 55 complaints of religious discrimination have been filed over the past four years.
Are these complaints by Christian fundamentalists that they are being discriminated against by secularists? Not exactly. Complaints by biblical literalists that they have been exposed to evolutionary theory by remorseless scientists? Well, no.
You see, at the Air Force Academy evangelical Christians are in the driver's seat. More than 90 percent of cadets there describe themselves as Christians.
That means, for example, that the climate is ripe for Jewish cadets to be called "Christ killers" and told that the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus.
Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, N.M., a 1977 graduate who has sent two sons to the school, told the New York Times that his younger son, Curtis, has been called a ''filthy Jew'' many times.
Some critics of the Academy say that public endorsements of Christianity by high-ranking officers have contributed to a climate of fear that exists there. Critics also believe the statements violate the separation of church and state in a public institution.
Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, told the New York Times that he doesn't believe evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, and complained that ''there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing'' at the school.
You see, if you don't let them call people "filthy Jews" whenever the mood strikes, you are discriminating against them.
Red State Rabble views these reports as a sort of portal into the future. If the influence of Christian fundamentalists continues to grow unchecked we will see more and more stories like this one. First we see it at the Air Force Academy, next we will see it in Kansas public schools -- not as an aberration, but as a direct result of policies put in place by the board of education.
Maybe Connie will pray over it.
Read the New York Times article here.
Are these complaints by Christian fundamentalists that they are being discriminated against by secularists? Not exactly. Complaints by biblical literalists that they have been exposed to evolutionary theory by remorseless scientists? Well, no.
You see, at the Air Force Academy evangelical Christians are in the driver's seat. More than 90 percent of cadets there describe themselves as Christians.
That means, for example, that the climate is ripe for Jewish cadets to be called "Christ killers" and told that the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus.
Mikey Weinstein of Albuquerque, N.M., a 1977 graduate who has sent two sons to the school, told the New York Times that his younger son, Curtis, has been called a ''filthy Jew'' many times.
Some critics of the Academy say that public endorsements of Christianity by high-ranking officers have contributed to a climate of fear that exists there. Critics also believe the statements violate the separation of church and state in a public institution.
Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, told the New York Times that he doesn't believe evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, and complained that ''there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing'' at the school.
You see, if you don't let them call people "filthy Jews" whenever the mood strikes, you are discriminating against them.
Red State Rabble views these reports as a sort of portal into the future. If the influence of Christian fundamentalists continues to grow unchecked we will see more and more stories like this one. First we see it at the Air Force Academy, next we will see it in Kansas public schools -- not as an aberration, but as a direct result of policies put in place by the board of education.
Maybe Connie will pray over it.
Read the New York Times article here.
