“Defending The Faith”

Dear Mikey,

Yesterday, April 18, 2011, members of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA)’s alumni group called the Association of Graduates received by email a monthly newsletter.  It is named 7258′, the elevation of the cadet area at USAFA.  On the front page of the newsletter is the promotion of the sale of prints of paintings by Stan Stokes.  The headline of the promotion section is “Defending The Faith” the same name as a Stokes’ print showing an F-16 soaring above the Cadet Chapel.

I have been a professor of economics at USAFA for 13 years, and I have received several complaints from AOG members about the insensitivity about promoting “The” faith of establishmentarians who seek to promote a form of Christianity over all other beliefs.  I too am offended by the promotion of my faith as an evangelical Christian over the duty of officers to defend the Constitution. As a Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) client, I have become aware that MRFF has received over 100 complaints from AOG members over the past day.

How can the AOG say that this promotion is neutral toward the various beliefs of USAFA alumni?  It is all the more offensive given a recent event.  The Executive Vice President of the AOG stated that a 2010 Veterans’ Day dinner to honor the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) alumni service in the Air Force was meant to embarrass the Air Force and could not be held at Doolittle Hall, the AOG building on USAFA grounds.  The Blue Alliance, an organization of LGBT alumni of USAFA, and OutServe, a network of actively serving gay and lesbian military members, hosted the dinner off grounds.

Now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is repealed, the AOG needs to become more sensitive to the diversity of beliefs of those who serve in the Air Force.
Sincerely,

David Mullin