The Last Thing We Need

Today’s New York Times has a story by Laurie Goodstein about evangelical-Christian proselytizing at the U.S. Air Force Academy.  According to the story, “an Air Force task force arrived at the academy in Colorado Springs on Tuesday to investigate accusations that officers, staff members and senior cadets inappropriately used their positions to push their evangelical Christian beliefs on Air Force cadets.”  There have been similar reports on that subject in recent days. 

The mainstream media has a pronounced tendency to bash what it regards as the religious right.  So I’m suspicious of the recent chorus that the Academy is allegedly dominated by evangelicals. 

But as a former Navy officer myself, not to mention the son and brother of career officers, I can tell you that absolutely the last thing this country needs would be a theocratic military.  I don’t see that as a serious threat, but neither is it beyond the realm of possibility — over time, it could happen entirely by natural- and group-selection processes.

One AF Academy chaplain was quoted in the Times article as saying, "It's the Constitution, not just a nice rule we can follow or not follow. We all raised our hands and said we'd follow it,[*] and that includes the First Amendment, that includes not using your power to advance your religious agenda."  

Amen.

[*] The chaplain was referring to the enlistment– or commissioning oath "that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same ...."