Mickey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation have been fighting the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for a very long time. Weinstein’s group is working to restore normal constitutional rights and practices in a military organization that has been hijacked by Christian Zionists who call themselves “Evangelicals.” The idea is simple. To get into the Academy or to remain there, un-raped, unbeaten, you have to attend regular “bible study” groups and continually mumble prayers.
No Jews allowed. No homosexuals allowed. No Muslims allowed. It doesn’t stop there. Reports received today tell us that women attending the Air Force Academy are being told they are “second class citizens” and subject to “male domination.” How can someone serve as an officer in our armed forces and see themselves as a “sheep to be shepherded” by male “protectors.” This is what the Air Force Academy is teaching. Members who refuse to go along are threatened, attacks are reported. We are told it is safer to announce you are a gay communist than to let fellow classmates know you are not an “Evangelical.”
The controversy over religion is mostly just a front. The real issue is politics, not just any politics but extremist right wing politics and making sure that properly indoctrinated officers command our strategic nuclear forces. Why do they want that? We can’t say, but we are certain that serving a “higher power” or protecting the United States from enemies, particularly “domestic,” is not on the agenda.
There have long been religious controversies in the military. The Marine Corps is famous for attempting to build a religion out of tradition, alcohol and bar fights. Evening prayers were simple: “Goodnight Chesty Puller, wherever you are.” Puller’s attempts to have beer vending machines put into barracks and whore houses opened on bases was resisted by Congress but not by many Marines.
There are clear constitutional prohibitions that make it illegal for the military to advocate any religion whatsoever. Simply put, if it is unconstitutional, it’s unAmerican. You might just as well call it communist. Disrespect for the constitution, the law of the land, is disrespect for the United States, the Founding Fathers and every American that has given their lives to keep America free.
These are the most basic tenets of American citizenship, the first things any child is taught and, not only that, violating these rights is not only unconstitutional, it is dishonorable. It involves violating an oath. It involves lying, it is a form of cheating and deception, and it is also a crime.
Why does the Air Force believe it can act as though it is not only above the law, but frankly, not American at all?
The Air Force is at war, as is the United States. In fact, 21% of those serving overseas are Air Force personnel. However, some members of the Air Force feel that, for some reason, they should follow different laws than the rest of the military services. First, a reminder to the Air Force. Those other services, in particular, the Army and Marines, are the “tip of the spear” in our current wars.
21% of those in the war zone suffered only 1% of casualties. The Marine Corps has only 10% of those in the war zone but suffered 24% of the casualties. Army casualties are similar.
A reality check for those who demand special treatment outside the laws of the United States: A Marine is 48 times more likely to be killed or wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan than a member of the Air Force.
48 to 1.
Were the numbers the other way around and the Marines were asking for special dispensation from constitutional law, something they have never asked for, some could see why. Do we want to bring up the fact that Army and Marine troops are regularly outnumbered in battle, often faced with nasty and even superior firepower?
For those of you in the Air Force Academy, the officers, the leadership, perhaps you should remember that the Air Force has not faced a combat challenge since Vietnam, 40 years ago. Not one single officer at the Academy has faced a likelihood of those challenges that the Army and Marines see every day.
The actions of the Air Force, actions inconsistent with American values, are disrespectful to every American who has faced combat.
The shameful part of this is that the Air Force is an excellent organization, highly trained, highly professional and a vital part of the defense of the United States. We cannot allow an organization like this to be shamed by a few bad apples. We know that only a few dozen are responsible for this travesty, a few dozen that must be rooted out like the cancer they are.
However
Are we supposed to trust our safety and the welfare of the United States to people whose loyalties are to a religious sect that seeks a nuclear apocalypse? When nuclear weapons disappeared at Minot Air Force Base, some of us began to ask some hard questions. We began to wonder why there was no fighter response on 9/11. Any religious agenda that overrules an officer’s oath to the constitution will also overrule loyalty to the United States of America. What is an officer to do, an officer trained, not trained by “brainwashed” to obey a “back woods preacher” and not his commander in chief when ordered to steal a nuclear weapon or fire an ICBM?
Anyone who doesn’t think that this is the risk isn’t paying attention.
This is exactly what things are about.
A Threat To Command Authority
Members of the military should be allowed to attend any religious services they wish or none at all. This is the law. However, this isn’t the problem. It isn’t about a religion or morality but rather about command authority. The religious affiliations being foisted upon our officer candidates at the Air Force Academy directly contradict the nature and intent of military discipline, the system of honor at the Academy and the command structure that is represented in American law as expressed in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Article II, Section II of the Constitution states:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.
No mention is made of a certain set of religious beliefs, rapture, biblical prophesy, socialism, homosexuality, prayer groups or nuclear apocalypse. What is clear is that the group within the Air Force that is challenging the constitution is also directly tied to political movements inside the United States that are also challenging the authority of the President of the United States. These aren’t “Evangelicals” at all but rather extremists. Were one to survey, it would be easy to discover the truth.
Leadership within the Air Force Academy that advocates “Evangelicalism” by force also espouses political beliefs inconsistent with the “good order and discipline” of the military services of the United States, beliefs, some privately expressed, some publicly, that make honorable service impossible. Thus, such individuals are serving with intent to deceive.
One reason for rules is simple – national security. It should never be an issue for someone in the military as to whether they serve “g-d or country.” They had always been one and the same. They had been until members of the Air Force took it upon themselves to define who g-d is. The g-d at the Air Force Academy is clearly a creation of man and man alone.
It isn’t just that the Academy has taken upon itself to teach candidates that they have a higher duty than to their country. They have gone further, so much further than that. They have created their own religion and used their positions of trust and authority given them by the people of the United States to anoint themselves prophets.
I am not sure any of us are safe when the most hideous weapons known to man are in the hands of, well, is there a reason we can’t call them “fanatics?”