Air Force Academy not religiously neutral

[matis]

FYI, the Soviet Union was not religion-free. Communism was the state religion complete with saints, the holy book, rituals and priests. The Nazi Germany was quite religious. (Gott mit uns, anyone?) Was it also highly moral?

Your argument could possibly hold water if there was one universal religion that everyone followed. That's not the case, is it? (White Horseradish)
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I guess you're making my argument.

There will never be one universal religion.

But if the Soviet Union and the Nazis both had a state religion, then you do agree with me that it takes religion to inculcate values?

My point is that it is necessary to inculcate something. And inculcate means to start with children in the home and then to follow that up in school and wherever else, perhaps even in the Air Force Academy. It is not easy to tame this beast.


So we need only to determine which religions are malignant, which benign and which truly promote human welfare.


So YOU browse the history of the nations and decide for yourself which religions promote human welfare.


By the way, Minnesota IS in the USA, isn't it? Can I take any sort of hint from that?


matis

 

[bigun15]

It's been pretty well known for a while now that religion is a very touchy subject for many non-religious people. Is it really hard to a government to stay neutral?

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Just because someone files a lawsuit doesn't make it so.

Correct.

Unfortunately, I have been aware of this situation since long before this report appeared, and I believe the problem is very real.

Air Force officers and instructors should stick to offeicering and instructing. The military (all branches) has chaplains, whose job it is to "minister" (literally) to the needs of the personnel. But at least in the Army, chaplains are "cross-trained." Smaller units can't have a Catholic chaplain and a Protestant chaplain and a Hebrew chaplain and a Muslim chaplain and a ...

So all chaplains get a basic exposure to the other mainstream religions/denominations, whatever. Enough so that when someone from another faith comes to them for help, they can at least understand the person's background and how his/her religion might play into whatever the problem is. They also get a handy-dandy "playbook" for conducting services according to the way denominations other than their own might do it. Of course, a non-Catholic chaplain can't administer the sacramants, but he CAN conduct a spiritual but non-sectarian service that fits a great many denominations at once.

Chaplains are supposed to assist people in practicing their (the individuals') faith ... not make converts. If any chaplains at the USAFA are prosletyzing rather than ministering, they NEED to be given the boot, posthaste.