Sociology > Education > AIR FORCE SHOULD BAN OFFICIAL PROMOTION OF RELIGION, SAYS AMERICANS UNITED
| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
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| Date: |
06 Nov 2005 08:41:01 AM |
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AIR FORCE SHOULD BAN OFFICIAL PROMOTION OF RELIGION, SAYS AMERICANS UNITED |
For Immediate Release
November 4, 2005
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Contact: Rob Boston or Jeremy Leaming
http://www.au.org/site/R?i=vndW4EYGaZWHFAlCeeZ7EQ..
AIR FORCE SHOULD BAN OFFICIAL PROMOTION OF RELIGION, SAYS AMERICANS UNITED
Watchdog Group Urges Military Branch To Reject Religious Right Overtures
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has urged the Air Force
to adopt guidelines that bar the official sponsorship of religion and
coercive forms of proselytization by senior officers and chaplains.
Attorneys with Americans United were invited to comment on proposed
guidelines on religious activity by Air Force officials. In a seven-page
letter delivered Nov. 2, AU Legal Director Ayesha Khan and Assistant Legal
Director Richard Katskee outline a series of recommendations to strengthen
and clarify the guidelines.
Khan's and Katskee's recommendations include: prohibiting official prayer
at any event where attendance is mandatory; adopting a clear rule barring
the proselytization of subordinates by senior officers; banning
proselytization by chaplains and developing clear guidelines dealing with
use of government e-mail system to disseminate religious messages.
Noted Khan and Katskee in the letter to Mary L. Walker, U.S. Air Force
general counsel, "There is much in the proposed guidelines that is
excellent. But there are also several aspects of the proposed guidelines
that give rise to constitutional concerns by misleading individuals or
otherwise engendering confusion about the legal requirements for
permissible religious expression under the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Earlier this year, Americans United asked Air Force officials to look into
allegations of official preference toward evangelical Christianity at the
Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. A team that investigated the
atmosphere at the Academy recommended the adoption of guidelines governing
religious activity in the Air Force.
The proposed guidelines have been attacked by Religious Right groups and
their congressional allies. U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) and 70
members of Congress have written to President George W. Bush, urging him to
issue an executive order permitting chaplains to pray in a sectarian
manner.
Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn criticized Jones and his
supporters for dismissing the need for religious diversity in the military.
"The Air Force exists to defend the country, not spread evangelical
Christianity or any other faith," Lynn said. "We urge the Air Force to
adopt guidelines that respect individual religious practice but bar the
official promotion of religion."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington,
D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the
importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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