Pah
Uber all member
Group Trains Air Force Cadets to Proselytize
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A06
Complete Washington Post article - registration required
A private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets to evangelize among their peers, according to a confidential letter to supporters.
The letter makes clear that the organized evangelization effort has continued this year despite an outcry over alleged proselytizing at the academy that has prompted a Pentagon investigation, congressional hearings, a civil lawsuit and new Air Force guidelines on religion.
"Praise God that we have been allowed access by the Academy into the cadet areas to minister among the cadets. We have recently been given an unused classroom to meet with cadets at any time during the day," the husband-and-wife team of Darren and Gina Lindblom said in the Oct. 11 letter to their donors.
Following allegations of religious intolerance at the academy, the Air Force issued interim guidelines in late August that caution senior officers against discussing their faith with subordinates. But the guidelines do not limit "voluntary, peer to peer discussions," and they do not say whether Air Force officials can provide office space or other assistance to professional missionaries who train cadets to evangelize among their peers.
The Lindbloms' letter was made public by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy alumnus who was a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration. He has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Air Force of violating the First Amendment's establishment clause by fostering evangelical Christianity over all faiths.
Weinstein, who has been joined in the suit by four recent graduates of the academy, said that some other religious groups are allowed onto the academy's campus, but only during certain hours and under close supervision by Air Force chaplains.
"The only group that gets 24/7 unrestricted access to cadets is this fundamentalist, born-again Christian group," Weinstein charged.
The Lindbloms are not chaplains hired by the military. They are private, full-time ministers assigned to the Air Force Academy by the Navigators, a Colorado-based group whose motto is: "To know Christ and to make Him known." It began in 1933 as a ministry to sailors and now has missionaries in 104 countries, according to its Web site.
<<snip>>
Libby also said that the Navigators are following the Air Force guidelines, which have been criticized as infringing religious freedom by more than 70 members of Congress and several Christian lobbying groups, including Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition. "Those are the guidelines, and we honor them," Libby said.
<<snip>>
Why are the "guideslines" allowed to stand? Do we have officers of the Academy in violation of their oath of commission?
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A06
Complete Washington Post article - registration required
A private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets to evangelize among their peers, according to a confidential letter to supporters.
The letter makes clear that the organized evangelization effort has continued this year despite an outcry over alleged proselytizing at the academy that has prompted a Pentagon investigation, congressional hearings, a civil lawsuit and new Air Force guidelines on religion.
"Praise God that we have been allowed access by the Academy into the cadet areas to minister among the cadets. We have recently been given an unused classroom to meet with cadets at any time during the day," the husband-and-wife team of Darren and Gina Lindblom said in the Oct. 11 letter to their donors.
Following allegations of religious intolerance at the academy, the Air Force issued interim guidelines in late August that caution senior officers against discussing their faith with subordinates. But the guidelines do not limit "voluntary, peer to peer discussions," and they do not say whether Air Force officials can provide office space or other assistance to professional missionaries who train cadets to evangelize among their peers.
The Lindbloms' letter was made public by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy alumnus who was a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration. He has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Air Force of violating the First Amendment's establishment clause by fostering evangelical Christianity over all faiths.
Weinstein, who has been joined in the suit by four recent graduates of the academy, said that some other religious groups are allowed onto the academy's campus, but only during certain hours and under close supervision by Air Force chaplains.
"The only group that gets 24/7 unrestricted access to cadets is this fundamentalist, born-again Christian group," Weinstein charged.
The Lindbloms are not chaplains hired by the military. They are private, full-time ministers assigned to the Air Force Academy by the Navigators, a Colorado-based group whose motto is: "To know Christ and to make Him known." It began in 1933 as a ministry to sailors and now has missionaries in 104 countries, according to its Web site.
<<snip>>
Libby also said that the Navigators are following the Air Force guidelines, which have been criticized as infringing religious freedom by more than 70 members of Congress and several Christian lobbying groups, including Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition. "Those are the guidelines, and we honor them," Libby said.
<<snip>>
Why are the "guideslines" allowed to stand? Do we have officers of the Academy in violation of their oath of commission?
. It is plain deleliction of duty and they should be cashiered from the military
(only half joking)