Air Force Academy Cadets Decide They Must Pretend To Be Fundamentalist Christians

[cleanhippie]

A little over a year ago, a cadet at the Air Force Academy emailed the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to tell us about an “underground” group of about a hundred Academy cadets who, in order to maintain good standing among their peers and superiors at the Academy, were actually pretending to be fundamentalist Christians. Their charade included leaving Bibles, Christian literature, and Christian music CDs laying around their rooms; attending fundamentalist Christian Bible studies; and feigning devoutness at the Academy’s weekly “Special Programs in Religious Education” (SPIRE) programs. This group of cadets had decided to resort to doing whatever they had to do to play the role of the “right kind” of Christian cadets, all the while living in constant fear of being “outed.”

--snip--

Who makes up this group of over a hundred cadets who feel that they must pretend to be such devoted fundamentalist Christians? Well, surprisingly, they are mostly Christians — both mainline Protestants and Catholics — who aren’t “Christian enough” or the “right kind” of Christians for the Air Force Academy. The rest of the group is made up of other assorted heathens, which include members of non-Christian religions, agnostics, and atheists.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rodda/2011/10/12/air-force-academy-cadets-decide-they-must-pretend-to-be-fundamentalist-christians/

[SharonAnn]

1. Sort of a "Don't ask. Don't tell." for religious beliefs?

[cleanhippie]

2. More like a "Tell us what we want to hear, or we will persecute you".

[rug]

6. Good analogy.

[kickysnana]

3. This was going on as far back as 1980 so it is very institutionalized now and extends beyond the AF.

[struggle4progress]

4. My natural reaction would be to seek more information about this alleged abrogation

of the cadets' right to freedom of conscience and the apparent violation of church-state separation principles, since that might be relevant to certain policy concerns of mine

But, through years of diligently participating here in R/T, I've finally learned various other questions could be asked, such as:

If the cadets sometimes masquerade as Christians, who are we to say they are not really Christians?

Such questions, in this case, may suggest bold new directions for discussion of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy

:)

[skepticscott]

8. Did you even read the article?

If so, perhaps you can point to exactly where an "abrogation of the cadets' right to freedom of conscience" was alleged. If you can't, did you even get the point?

[struggle4progress]

18. Yes, my natural tendency would be to regard coercing people to express views, that they do not hold,

for promotion opportunities in the federal sector, as interference with personal conscience, and I would think the proper response would be to seek counsel from any of several fine organizations (such as Americans United) about how to seek remedy

But, of course, your reply suggests I poorly understand the issues as discussed in R/T. So, let me set aside my natural predispositions and attack this matter with the fine logical tools that have been developed in this forum. The case concerns some cadets pretending to be Christians in order to obtain higher ratings at the academy. To avoid being diced by the "No True Scotsman" fallacy, we must conclude, from the undisputed fact that the cadets pretend to be Christians, that they are (in fact) actually Christians -- and since they are pretending to be Christians, we deduce that they are Christian hypocrites. With a little more logic, I think we can easily prove further that they are Christian hypocrites who whine about being oppressed

:)

[skepticscott]

19. I was right, you didn't get the point

Your statement: "The case concerns some cadets pretending to be Christians in order to obtain higher ratings at the academy" shows near-total ignorance of what's going on there.

Or did you think this:

Who makes up this group of over a hundred cadets who feel that they must pretend to be such devoted fundamentalist Christians? Well, surprisingly, they are mostly Christians — both mainline Protestants and Catholics — who aren’t “Christian enough” or the “right kind” of Christians for the Air Force Academy.

was just a lie?

[struggle4progress]

20. We seem not to communicate well.

[skepticscott]

24. Irrelevant non-answer

which I will take as an acknowledgement that you have no real answer for the claim that your statement "The case concerns some cadets pretending to be Christians in order to obtain higher ratings at the academy." was basically BS.

[PassingFair]

27. Here, follow your "natural reaction" and educate yourself:

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

Mikey Weinstein's organization.

[Mist]

5. It seems we hear more of this in the Air Force than the other armed services. Under

Cheney/* there was a story about an air force colonel who let loose with some fundy speech at a public forum, IIRC.

[NMMNG]

7. Apparently Christian Soldiers (or Air Force members)

Are better killers than members of other religions, or the non-religious. :shrug:

[rug]

9. Atheist chaplains will help close the gap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27atheists.html?pagewanted=all

[NMMNG]

11. Chaplains don't engage in combat n/t

[rug]

12. They console and abet those that do.

[NMMNG]

13. And?

:shrug:

[rug]

14. Atheist chaplains should do it as well as religious chaplains.

[NMMNG]

16. Do what?

[rug]

17. Help them become better killers than members of other religions, or the non-religious.

Circle closed.

[darkstar3]

21. I think you missed his original point.

The brass at the Air Force Academy is pushing the evangelical and fundamentalist version of Christianity. The logical conclusion is that converting these cadets must make them better soldiers in some way. Perhaps they are more prone to listen to authority. Perhaps they are more acclimated to violence and killing. Perhaps they find the idea of aerial combat less frightening. More likely it's a combination of all of these and more.

[cleanhippie]

22. Is that what chaplains do now?

Help service members become better killers?

[nichomachus]

10. The AF Academy has turned into an evangelical seminary

There is even a huge evangelical office in the Pentagon, the mission of which is to convert high-ranking officers to the right-wing evangelical agenda. It operates almost like a government agency.

[MadMaddie]

15. Questions? We know that religious fundamentalist of all stripes

have a tendency to want to indoctrinate the world with their beliefs. They would do that with force and annihilation if needed.....

Sooooo...........why is the U.S allowing these type of fanatics to train our Air Force cadets
(future leaders) and then give them access to planes, bombs, nuclear weapons etc...

Does anyone not see the danger here? These fanatics are in positions that could take over the government.....

This is not paranoia, this is thinking outside of the box.....

[Deep13]

23. Considering how thoroughly Evangelical Christianity...

...has taken over that school, I have serious concerns about the loyalty of the USAF officer corps and, therefore, of the USAF itself. Do they take orders from the lawful C-in-C or from some preaching general?

[deacon_sephiroth]

25. wow, can't believe I missed this story

Until now I hadn't even heard of this one. I wondered why (when I posted a reply in general, revealing that I'm in the Air Force) I recieved all these strange replies about the AF leadership being "a bunch of fundies." I thought people were just making shit up because honestly, down here in the lower echelon, we don't hear any such thing. Doesn't surprise me though, I could count on one hand all the officers I've met that weren't "screaming preppy assholes". (To quote a movie I no longer recall the name of)

[dmallind]

26. I am quite pleased, and quite surprised, that some are in fact pretending

The fundy-force is strong in Colorado Springs, so if some believers are actually resisting going over to the Dark Side in reality it's much better news than the surface implies. Of course most of the cadets are believers. Most of the people in the country are believers, so it would be weird otherwise. But if a significant number find the extreme views of the top brass to actually BE extreme to them, that's a positive sign. Given what we all know about this place, I'd be a lot more concerned about an article stating all the cadets found it to be a perfectly normal and low-key religious environment.