New Air Force religious guidelines cheered by evangelical groups

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New Air Force religious guidelines cheered by evangelical groups

By Tom Roeder, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO), February 9, 2006

New Air Force religion guidelines issued Thursday angered a group that had been happy with old rules issued last summer and pleased evangelicals who had been upset.

The rules, issued to address claims of religious discrimination that began at the Air Force Academy, ban officers from using their rank to convert subordinates and caution chaplains against most workplace prayer. In a change that pleases evangelicals, chaplains won't be required to offer non-denominational prayers or take part in activities "inconsistent with their faiths."

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, said the breathing room allows evangelicals to stick to their beliefs.

"We think this is an imnportant and positive move by the Air Force," said Sekulow, whose group gathered 173,000 signatures to protest old guidelines that would have required all chaplains to give non-denominational prayers at public events.

That change angered Barry Linn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He said while it provides freedom for religious practicioners, it doesn't give non-beleivers freedom from religion.

"This document reads like a bill of rights for chaplains," he said. "It doesn't deal with the fact that a lot of non-beleivers exist in the Air Force."

The Air Force Academy, which was investigated last year after claims that commanders and chaplains prostyletized and used rank to push Christan beliefs, issued a statement supporting the new rules.

"We welcome the revised guidelines and - while we're already in compliance with them - will continue to refine and improve all of our programs encouraging and supporting religious respect among everyone at the Air Force Academy, staff and cadets alike," spokesman John Van Winkle said in an e-mail.

Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein filed suit against the Air Force last fall, claiming that cadets faced non-Christian religious discrimination at the school. Weinstein wants an outright ban on uninvited prostyletizing in the service.

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