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Air Force Academy Responds to Reports of Christian ‘Pressure’ with Religious Intolerance Training

Posted: Tuesday November 23, 2004 2:23 PM EST

By Katherine T. Phan

Air Force Academy’s football coach Fisher DeBerry agreed on Friday to remove a Christian banner from the team’s locker room, a day after the school’s Superintendent announced the school would do more to educate students on religious intolerance.

Air Force Academy’s football coach Fisher DeBerry agreed on Friday to remove a Christian banner from the team’s locker room, a day after the school’s Superintendent announced the school would do more to educate students on religious intolerance.

DeBerry put up the banner displaying the “Competitor’s Creed,” including the lines “I am a Christian first and last ... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ,” on Wednesday to encourage the team amidst one of its worst seasons in recent years, academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox told the Denver Post.

On Thursday, Superintendent Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa of the Colorado Springs academy announced the school would do more religious tolerance training after nearly a third of nonreligious cadets reported on an August survey that they felt Christian cadets were given preferential treatment. Over half of the survey respondents also say they have heard religious slurs, comments, or jokes while at the academy. But a little more than half of non- Christian students reported they “have not felt pressure to be involved in religion” during their experience at the military college.

Ninety percent of the academy’s cadets are from Protestant or Catholic backgrounds.

“Some students had a feeling that ‘If I’m not a Christian, I feel like I’m having Christianity crammed down my throat,”’ Rosa said.

There is particularly one incident in which some cadets reported feeling pressured. When “The Passion of the Christ,” a film about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life opened in theaters, some cadets e-mailed their squadrons inviting them to see it together.

While Rosa said that some “people felt they were being coerced,” he said he didn’t think Christians were “mean-spirited.”

However, he did acknowledge that officials “must ensure a climate free of discrimination and marginalization.”

Some cadets at the academy hold Bible studies in their dormitories and include Bible verses at the bottom of their e-mail messages, both which some academy officials have warned against.

On Nov. 2, the first day of the Respecting the Spiritual Values of People program head chaplain Michael Whittington told students to not hold Bible studies in their dormitories but Commandant Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida overruled his warnings and okayed the Bible Studies.

“Religion does have a place at the academy,” said a spokesperson Rep. Joel Hefley, who represents Colorado Springs, noting that the motto of the nation cadets are trained to defend is ‘In God We Trust’ and they are serving under a flag Americans pledge allegiance to under God.

Air Force Secretary James Roche issued a statement Friday reaffirming the academy’ s policy. “Tolerance of gender, racial, ethnic and religious diversity is required at our Air Force,” he said.

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