For The First Time, I Have Witnesses…Firsthand

Dear Mr. Weinstein and MRFF:

During a recent class I monitored at USAFA, a student asked the instructor if he (the instructor) was a USAFA grad, to which the instructor responded, “No, I went to a small, private, Christian college”, (emphasis added on the word “Christian”, by this USAFA instructor). After the class, the student approached the instructor, asked if he was a “Christian”, and entered into a five-minute discussion of the instructor’s “Christian” alma mater, “Christian” faith, etc., etc. (So now, for the first time, I have witnessed how all that USAFA-sanctioned “Christian” exceptionalism actually works firsthand.) I and many others here believe this is not only egregious conduct for a USAFA instructor, (and was specifically identified as such during USAFA’s “RSVP” [Respecting the Spiritual Values of OTHER People] training I attended in 2005, but which has since been discontinued) but is also a deplorable example of the way in which evangelical USAFA faculty and staff self-identify and reach out to like-minded cadets, creating a seemingly innocuous but significantly damaging atmosphere of preferential treatment for fundamentalist “Christian” faith adherents or worse based upon individually held religious beliefs, or lack thereof. I might add that this particular instructor was hired at USAFA after describing himself as a “Christian” at least 3 times during a 15 minute initial interview. Keep up the fight, Mr. Weinstein and MRFF. We are all depending upon it.

USAFA Faculty Member’s name, rank, USAFA Faculty Dept., Title and Position Withheld