CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY March 13, 2014 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact CHAPLAIN ENDORSERS at info@chaplainalliance.org or call (571) 293-2427
Air Force Academy’s action puts Christians in the closet,
violates federal law
Colorado Springs, Colo. — The U.S. Air Force Academy’s recent removal of a Bible verse from a cadet’s personal whiteboard in the hall outside his room puts Christians in the closet and violates both his constitutionally protected rights and federal law, according to Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
The military erased the Bible verse, Gal. 2:20, in response to a complaint filed by Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Weinstein, an activist who actively seeks to censor constitutionally protected religious expression in the military, claims that the verse, which states “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…,” somehow “massively poured fundamentalist Christian gasoline on an already raging out-of-control conflagration of fundamentalist Christian tyranny, exceptionalism, and supremacy at USAFA.”
Unsatisfied with removal of the verse, Weinstein is now demanding that the military punish the cadet and his superiors for “misconduct.”
“No American, especially those who defend our freedom, should be denied his constitutionally protected religious liberties,” said Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews, USAR retired, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “The Constitution does not share Mr. Weinstein’s over-the-top hostility toward religion, and neither should the military. This cadet was clearly within his rights to express his faith in this non-disruptive way. We are grieved that the Air Force has decided to put this cadet and other Christians at the academy in the closet.”
Crews said the academy’s censorship of the cadet clearly violates a provision in Section 533 of the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act that protects military members from religious discrimination.
Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is an organization of chaplain endorsers, the faith groups that provide chaplains for the U.S. military and other agencies needing chaplains. The endorsers in Chaplain Alliance speak for more than 2,600 chaplains serving the Armed Forces.
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