AF Academy Flameout On Religion

The U.S. Air Force Academy failed to accommodate the diverse religious needs of cadets and staff, although there has been no overt discrimination, a military investigative panel concluded Wednesday.

The Air Force investigation, released by the Pentagon, required academy leaders to clarify their policies on appropriate and inappropriate religious expression. But it also credited them with moving to confront these issues.

The investigation also cited a perception of intolerance among some cadets and staff.

"The (Air Force) team found a religious climate that does not involve overt religious discrimination, but a failure to fully accommodate all members' needs and a lack of awareness where the line is drawn between permissible and impermissible expression of beliefs," the report says.

The Air Force team was appointed to investigate the religious climate at the 4,300-student school in Colorado Springs, Colo., after hearing complaints that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive.

It assessed Air Force policy on religious respect and tolerance and looked into whether commanders' actions encouraged or discouraged free expression and free exercise of religion.

Earlier, Capt. Melinda Morton, a chaplain who spoke out against religious intolerance there, resigned her commission. Morton resigned Tuesday after 13 years serving the Air Force.

Critics, including Morton, have said evangelical Protestants were harassing cadets of other faiths at the school in violation of constitutional principles of separation of church and state in the military. An academy critic said the report being released Wednesday concluded the problem was serious.

The investigation was initiated after critics of the academy's handling of religion told Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that students, faculty, staff and members of the chaplains' office frequently pressured cadets to attend chapel and receive religious instruction.

Others said prayers were frequently conducted before official events.

Brady said he found seven specific incidents that he referred to the military's chain of command for possible investigation. He did not provide details.

The Air Force report cites some incidents but does not go into details: religious slurs and disparaging remarks between cadets and statements from faculty and staff with strong religious beliefs that some cadets found offensive.

"There is a lack of awareness on the part of some faculty and staff, and perhaps some senior cadets, as to what constitutes appropriate expressions of faith," said Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for personnel, in a press conference at the Pentagon.