Posted on 01/22/2011 4:23:01 PM PST by Sad Hill
Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary Next, they'll be trying to snuff out officers who are too straight, or too white...
(Gazette) A religious rights group is calling for the removal of the Air Force Academy’s top officer after a flap over a speaker planned for a February prayer luncheon at the school.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation says the academy’s choice of retired Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary shows that superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould remains tilted toward evangelical Christianity and tolerates an environment where proselytizing is accepted.
Lt. Gen. Mike Gould
“We’re done,” said academy graduate Mikey Weinstein, the foundation’s founder and a frequent foe of religious practices at the school. “Gould needs to go.”
An academy spokesman, Lt. Col. John Bryan, defended the choice of McClary and said the planned prayer gathering is optional and inclusive of a broad spectrum of religious views.
“Nobody is being forced or coerced to go to this luncheon,” Bryan said.
McClary is a wounded Vietnam veteran who overcame his disabilities and now says he’s in the “Lord’s Army.”
Bryan said he’s heard McClary speak and came away with inspiration for overcoming obstacles rather than religious philosophy.
“He’s a nationally recognized motivational speaker,” Bryan said.
McLary’s website lists testimonials from celebrities including The Rev. Billy Graham and former Denver Broncos coach Dan Reeves.
The academy first sought retired Army general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell to speak at the luncheon, but when he couldn’t make it due to schedule conflicts, McClary was picked to keynote the annual event. He’ll be paid $2,500 and airfare reimbursement.
Weinstein points to McClary’s website for evidence that the speaker is too evangelical for the academy.
“To him, USMC will always mean a U. S. Marine for Christ,” McClary’s website says.
“Such statements are not only antithetical to the clear mission of the United States Air Force Academy, they are totally anathema to the purportedly globally inclusive purpose of this National Prayer Luncheon,” Weinstein wrote in a letter to Gould and Defense Department officials.
Several groups, including the Colorado branch of the American Civil Liberties Union have written Gould in support of Weinsten’s effort.
Weinstein has battled the academy in recent months over the school’s failure to include him in a conference on the school’s religious tolerance practices and the academy’s initial failure to release results of a survey that showed concerns about prosyletizing there.
Gould hasn’t responded to Weinstein’s latest letter.PLEASE let the United States Air Force Academy Public Affairs know what's on your mind. Tell 'em Sad Hill sent ya...:
Mailing Address HQ USAFA/PA 2304 Cadet Drive Suite 3100 U.S. Air Force Academy, CO 80840-5016
Phone: 719.333.7731 Fax: 719.333.4094
Community Relations: pa.comrel@usafa.af.mil Media Relations: media.pam@usafa.af.mil
He's a pompus, self-centered twit that seems to be rabidly anti-Christian.
Makes me ashamed to be a former zoomie.
/johnny
THE Only advise I can offer, not being military...is “What Ye say about Christ Jesus?” Your Eternal salvation depends upon the correct answer. Christ is eternal and died for the sins of the world, free grace salvation is afforded to anyone who believes that Christ rose from the dead...that is the only eternal issue for the days in which we live...
I'd love to hear his rationale how that could possibly be true.
Intolerant Weinstein wants to be included in a conference on tolerance? No surprise.
Will USAF personnel now have to omit the last line every time they recite “High Flight”?
glad i retired before atheism and queerism became mandatory.
Let’s see if the USAFA Supt has cojones. The general is far too classy to say what’s probably in his mind as a fighter pilot - “bite me”.
USAFA has a tradition of loser grads who normally get their law degrees (having proved far, far deficient in physics, math, and the real courses there). Methinks this complainer must be one of those...he’s gotta prove his “superiority” in some way.
I am glad I retired when I did 30 years ago, the alleged leadership is destroying our Armed Forces.
I damn sure won't.
/johnny
Yep, ol’ Mikey’s an embarrassment to the Blue Zoo.
Mikey? I’m sorry, I’m going to immediately assume he’s a homo.
BTW “Mikey”: isn’t the most recognizable landmark at the AF Academy the chapel?
Homo dufus.
BTTT
Well, what can you say about a grown man who calls himself "Mikey?" Just a whiny littl twerp.
What a absolutely Orwellian name for that organization.
Oh, for heaven’s sake. My husband and brother are Air Force vets. We don’t need any crazies, thanks.
The only Air Force Academy graduate I know is a Latin Mass Catholic. He found himself in a minority there, *of course*, but figured it was part of life. Any Catholic from Oklahoma knows that some evangelicals want to convert you, but if you say, “Thanks, honey, I already have a church home,” they bless your heart and move on.
And this is the guy? He’s in the wrong line of work. He could get good money doing commercials playing your average everyday slob.
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