http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=6737Focus on the Family 1, Air Force Cadets 0
The Air Force has apparently neutered their previously released religious guidelines to stop coercion by Evangelicals:
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The Air Force, under pressure from evangelical Christian groups and members of Congress, softened its guidelines on religious expression yesterday to emphasize that superior officers may discuss their faith with subordinates and that chaplains will not be required to offer nonsectarian prayers.
“This does affirm every airman’s right, even the commanders’ right, to free exercise of religion, and that means sharing your faith,” said Maj. Gen. Charles C. Baldwin, the Air Force’s chief of chaplains.
The guidelines were first issued in late August after allegations that evangelical Christian commanders, coaches and cadets at the Air Force Academy had pressured cadets of other faiths. The original wording sought to tamp down religious fervor and to foster tolerance throughout the Air Force. It discouraged public prayers at routine events and warned superior officers that personal expressions of faith could be misunderstood as official statements.
But evangelical groups, such as the Colorado-based Focus on the Family, saw the guidelines as overly restrictive. They launched a nationwide petition drive, sounded alarms on Christian radio stations, and deluged the White House and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne’s office with e-mails calling the guidelines an infringement of the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and free exercise of religion.
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-snip- this holds comments by the blogger and many responses
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you are watching the crumbling of our air force