Restoration of Military Religious Freedom Coalition, consisting of more than 20 members
Thoughtful religious freedom organizations announced on Thursday that they are ready to help any Air Force Academy students who are affected by writing Bible verses on the corridor whiteboard.
The Air Force Academy admitted on Wednesday that a student leader had to delete the Bible verses he showed outside the dormitory because it offended
Christians may "make subordinates doubt the religious impartiality of the leader.
"The dispute began with a young leader posting a passage on the whiteboard, citing Galatians in the New Testament.
The verse of Galatians 2: 20 wrote: "I am already crucified with Christ, so I am no longer alive, but Christ lives on me . ". [pullquote]
The friend of the student told me that a few months ago, the young man had posted the poem and thought that the passage of the New Testament was the source of inspiration.
Mikey Weinstein, director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told me that 29 trainees and 4 faculty members contacted his organization to complain about the passing of Christianity.
If it's in his room-
"No problem," Weinstein told me.
"It has nothing to do with faith.
It's about time, place and way.
"He said that the Bible Scripture on the student's personal whiteboard has created a hostile environment in the college.
It obviously raised a religious belief.
The Christianity teach purpose
For all the others, in a super that is already full of energy
"The Fundamentalist Christian institutions," he said.
"It's heavily used to the already raging fundamentalist Christian gasoline --of-
Control of fundamentalist Christian tyranny, exceptionalism and hegemonism in USAFA.
"Just two hours and nine minutes after Weinstein complained to Air Force Academy president Michelle Johnson, the Bible scripture was removed from the student leader's whiteboard.
A spokesman for the Air Force Academy confirmed that although there were no specific rules prohibiting the publication of religious information, religious texts had been cleaned up from the board.
"The whiteboard is for both official and personal use, but we fixed the issue when someone raised it and the comment was deleted," Lt. Col.
Brus Vidal, spokesman for the Air Force Academy, told me in a written statement.
Johnson said in a written statement that the poem was deleted because of the "potential perception" issue.
"The Bible is lower than the student's name on the whiteboard and may make subordinates doubt the religious impartiality of the leader," the supervisor said . ".
She added that the initial complaint was made by an unnamed student.
"The other trainee, in line with the policy that the leader will avoid actual or obvious use of his position to promote personal religious beliefs to subordinates, promotes discussion of suitability.
Christian students "voluntarily choose to delete the Scriptures," Johnson said ".
"Does anyone else believe it?
The Christian cleansing of the Bible scriptures led to a small uprising among the cadets.
At least a dozen Bible verses were posted on their personal whiteboards, and some even posted passages of the Quran.
The verses were not deleted, presumably because the trainees did not hold leadership positions.
So I asked the following questions to the Air Force Academy.
Will they instruct Muslim student leaders to remove a passage from the Quran?
The college has not answered my question yet-but I suspect everyone knows the answer.
Retired Army General Jerry Boykin, who is now working on the Family Research Council, told me that the director's statement is an example of a "politically correct double speech.
"What is the constitutional right for Christian students to express their personal beliefs? ” he asked.
"If the Bible makes the faculty so scared, then they are unlikely to be very effective when faced with a loyal enemy willing to die for his or her faith.
Boykin accused the college of violating the constitutional rights of these students.
"This academy should be the Warriors who train to handle difficult situations and to strengthen their enemies," said Boykin . ".
"The Bible is not a threat.
"Several students contacted me by phone and shared with me their serious concerns about how the Air Force Academy treated Christians.
They agreed to be interviewed if I did not disclose their identity.
"It was suggested that we maintain confidence in ourselves," one student told me . ".
"It's too risky to go to the hallway and talk to a Christian friend about your faith.
This is because people here are easily offended.
If someone overheard us talking about Christianity, they could file a complaint.
They can say we discussed it in public.
"This is the point where you can't walk to class without stepping on someone's toes," another student told me . ".
The students told me that many of their peers were angry at anonymous people who complained to the Weinstein group.
"Whoever did this did not even speak to the trainees first," the student said . ".
"This is very disrespectful to the students-carrying him behind their backs.
Is this the kind of officer you want in the army leadership?
The trainees said they were sick and tired of Uber.
Infected with the sensitivity of the College ".
"It's easy for people to be offended by things that are fully respected," he said . ".
"If you read the verse that guy put on the door-it's a personal expression of faith.
There is nothing disrespectful about this.
But the Air Force Academy may not agree with the assessment.
The two students told me that yesterday afternoon, their leaders told them to "respect what you put on the bulletin board and what you put in public places.
"This means that Bible scripture is a bit disrespectful," the student told me . ".
Weinstein vowed to bring the Air Force Academy to court unless they punished every student who posted Bible verses on the bulletin board.
"This is a very terrible, shameful shame," he told me . ".
"I don't think I 've ever seen such a public rebellion at any military academy.
Just like they put the middle finger on what the college did.
Weinstein compares the posting of Bible verses to racism.
"You can't put a picture of a white man beating a black man in front of your room," he said . ".
"You can't put any pictures outside the room that discredit you.
"He also wants the military to consider bringing a military court case against the young leader who originally issued the Galatians verse.
He called the student a "fundamentalist ".
So how does Weinstein define "fundamentalist?
"When they want to follow the great Committee at a time, place or manner that violates the Constitution or the Ministry of Defense Directive," he said . ".
"This is a perfect example in this case.
Bringing this information up is a violation of time, place, and manner, which puts you into the perspective of Christian fundamentalism.
"The Coalition for the restoration of Military Religious Freedom has announced that it stands ready to represent any accused student.
The alliance includes the Family Research Council, the Alliance for the defense of freedom, the freedom lawyers, the Freedom Institute and the Thomas More Legal Center.
"It is wrong to suppress religion behind the Iron Curtain or in the corridor of the dormitory," said Gary McCaleb, who defended the Liberal Union.
"Of course, this original reaction
Religious discrimination has no place in the US Air Force.
The brave student I spoke to said it was disturbing to watch the college trample on the Constitution.
They say the status quo of the Air Force Academy can be summed up by the information that someone posted on the dormitory wall.
"You can't choose the freedom you want to defend," the poster says . ".
"You can either defend them or you can defend them.