Cadets for Christ

Dear USAFA:

I am a psychologist and former fundamentalist Christian.

As I am sure you know, the Christian religion spans a broad range of belief and practice, ranging from open inquiring Quaker and Unitarian congregations to extreme authoritarian cults like those run by David Koresh and Jim Jones. Everything I have read about Cadets for Christ leads me to suspect that they are closer to the cult end than the center of the spectrum.

The kinds of Christian groups that have targeted the U.S. military as their mission field in the last ten years fall within a narrow range of theology. They are people who believe that the Bible is the literally perfect word of God (bibliolatry); that Jesus was –essentially—a human sacrifice (atonement theology); and that the prime directive of Christianity is to seek converts (Great Commission trumps Great Commandment). It is from within this narrow range of theologies that the “shepherding” movement has grown. This movement seeks to isolate young converts by grooming them to submit to the authority of church insiders while cutting off outside contacts and activities (except for the purpose of proselytizing). In particular, single young people are shepherded into within-group marriages to further insulate the community from outside beliefs.

Shepherding as a technique of social control has been practiced my many small counter cultural cults –the Moonies or Unification Church being a prime example. Perhaps you can picture their mass weddings, with spouses chosen by the church leadership. I doubt that Unification “chaplains” would be granted unfettered access to unsuspecting cadets, because their techniques of manipulation and mind control are fairly well known. I hope that you can see that Cadets for Christ should be treated with similar caution.

Seattle University, a Jesuit school with a wide range of Christian students has denied Campus Crusade for Christ (the parent organization of Christian Embassy) access to their facilities. The university’s chaplain and leadership believe the college years should be a time of spiritual deepening and inquiry rather than a time when students encounter glib evangelists seeking converts to their “one true” form of belief. Seattle University recognizes that their students are vulnerable. I believe that Air Force cadets are even more vulnerable than students in a Christian university. Military training is, of necessity, hierarchical and authoritarian. In many situations cadets are trained to suspend judgment and trust those in command, because this is the only way that our military can function as a tight, responsive force. But the emphasis on hierarchy and authority in a military setting may make some cadets particularly vulnerable to the solicitations of hierarchical authoritarian religious groups that demand a similar suspension of judgment, though for their own purposes. I hope that you will respect the spiritual maturation of your students and safeguard them from such predations.

Respectfully,

Valerie Tarico, Ph.D.
Author, Trusting Doubt
Founder, WisdomCommons.org
www.valerietarico.com