Religious Bias at the Air Force Academy

The Colorado Springs Gazette recently reported that the Air Force Academy is facing some allegations of religious bias.

Some of the more serious incidents include:

• “Nonbelievers” were forced to march in the “heathen flight” during basic training.
• For at least 10 years, an advertisement proclaiming, “We believe that Jesus Christ is the only real hope for the World,” ran in the base newspaper signed by hundreds of academy staff, leaders and spouses. Money to fund the ad was solicited using the academy’s e-mail system.
• Some academy staffers cited New Testament scripture on official academy e-mail messages.
• Inspections and training are held on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, but aren’t from 8 a.m. to noon Sundays, when Christian services take place.
• A Jewish cadet was called “a (expletive) Jew” and “Christ killer” by other cadets, who were not punished.
• A recent workshop to discuss religious sensitivity was scheduled on Rosh Hashanah. It was changed only after staffers noted the conflict to academy leaders.

Cadets and graduates, who asked to remain anonymous fearing reprisal, say these are indications that academy leaders sanction Christianity and have a lack of understanding of religious freedom.

Administrators at the Academy acknowledge that there is a problem and are working to fix it. The superintendent imposed new training after an August cadet survey showed more than half of cadets reported hearing religious slurs, comments and jokes, and 32 percent of non-Christian cadets feel Christian cadets are given preferential treatment, while less than 10 percent of Christian cadets feel that way.

UPDATE: The Denver Post has a slightly more in-depth article on this issue, which includes some statistics (and pretty little charts).