'Religious bullying' at US academy


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The sprawling campus of America's elite Air Force Academy is silent for the summer holiday, but the din surrounding its role as an alleged hot-bed of religious intolerance is only getting louder.

For months now, unsavoury stories have circulated - first in the local media and now nationally - of cadets at the academy, situated at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, being bullied and discriminated against by evangelical Christians.

The academy, already rocked by a rape and sexual abuse scandal, has admitted that all is not well.

Authorities have received more than 50 complaints from students who felt they were being inappropriately proselytised.

A few months ago, a religious respect and awareness course was established which all 9,000 cadets and staff are expected to attend.

But critics both inside and out are saying that it is nowhere near enough to resolve a problem they say is systematic and endemic.

'Preyed upon'

One man leading the charge is Mikey Weinstein, a graduate of the academy who served in the Reagan White House.

His eldest son is also a graduate, and his youngest son had been there just a few months when he complained of abuse from evangelical cadets.

Mr Weinstein said his son had complained of being called an "f-ing Jew" and was told Jews were responsible for "executing Jesus".

Mr Weinstein said 117 people had given him examples of abuse. Only eight of them were Jewish, he said - the rest were Catholics, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Methodist.

"There're not used to being preyed upon... by their evangelical brothers and sisters. But that's exactly what's happening."

Mr Weinstein believes that some senior officers are so heavily involved in a culture of intolerance - and the rest are so blase about what is going on - that the entire academy leadership should be replaced.

A Yale Divinity School report and a liberal group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, cite many examples of alleged abusive behaviour by evangelicals.

Examples include placing "Passion of the Christ" flyers on every place-setting in the mess hall to frogmarching cadets who fail to attend chapel into their barracks.

'Abuse of uniform'

There are more than a dozen chaplains who look after the religious and counselling needs of cadets, and one of them - Captain Melinda Morton - says she has been punished for breaking ranks to complain that the problem merits more far-reaching measures than those proposed so far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4091956.stm

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holy hell, how does a cadet let something like this happen to them? personally, i don't feel sorry for anyone in this situation. there has to be more to this story...i'm sure the media just beefed it up. i'll be damned if a fundie even tries this garbage on me or anyone else i know.

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Humans will always fight over religion, sad but true :(

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which is unfortunate. people just can't let others be.

people have tried to inappropriately proselytize me too, though not to the extent of bullying. it disturbs me.

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