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Chaplain Wants Christ Out of Air Force Academy
NewsMax ^ | 5/12/05 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 05/12/2005 12:41:32 PM PDT by wagglebee

Here’s a story that will throw you for a loop: a "chaplain” at the U.S. Air Force Academy is complaining that the school’s administration has a "systemic and pervasive” problem of promoting religious religious values with a Christian bent.

The chaplain, Capt. Melinda Morton, a "Lutheran minister” spoke out publicly on Tuesday as an Air Force task force arrived at the academy to investigate charges that officers and staff members pushed their religious beliefs on cadets.

And she claimed that a tolerance program developed at the academy, called Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People (R.S.V.P.), was watered down after it was shown to officers.

Maj. Gen. Charles C. Baldwin, chief of chaplains for the Air Force, screened the 90-minute R.S.V.P. film in October, according to Capt. Morton, and asked her: "Why is it that the Christians never win?” in reaction to some of the program’s depictions of cadet interactions.

"Chaplain” Morton’s complaints about too much religion at the military academy is creating waves, and earned her hero status in a report in the New York Times Thursday.

Gen. Baldwin acknowledged in an interview that he felt too many scenes in the film portrayed Christians at fault for excessive evangelical proselytizing.

He also said he asked that the Air Force cut segments on non-Christian religions such as Buddhism, Judaism and Native American spirituality.

The problem in dealing with proselytizing and church-state issues at the academy, he explained, "always is, when is a person crossing the line, or when are they being a positive person of faith, like our president.”

Last year, the Colorado Springs academy invited Yale Divinity School professor Kristen Leslie and six Yale graduate students to visit the school and observe how the chaplains minister to the cadets.

A memo from the Yale team cited the "stridently evangelical themes” at a worship service attended by 600 new cadets.

Leslie said a chaplain urged cadets to pray for those who didn’t attend and "remind them of the consequences ... those not ‘born again will burn in the fires of hell.’”

But academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker disputed that account, saying several other chaplains told him that no one mentioned burning "in the fires of hell.”

Morton, a 48-year-old "Lutheran minister," said she was removed from her post as executive officer to the chief chaplain, Col. Michael Whittington, last week. She claimed the dismissal came after he pressured her to deny details of what happened at the religious service.

But Whitaker said Whittington sent Morton an e-mail on May 4 saying he was removing her "to ensure a smooth and complete transition” for new leaders.

Morgan said she had stepped forward because "it’s the Constitution, not just a nice rule we can follow or not follow. That includes not using your power to advance your religious agenda.”

She acknowledged that after speaking out, "I don’t think I have much future in the Air Force.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 666; airfarce; airforce; airforceacademy; antichrist; antitheist; apostacy; apostate; butch; butchdykes; chaplain; christianity; churchandstate; coloradosprings; dyke; dykes; elca; feminazi; feminazis; feminism; feminist; feminists; lesbian; lesbians; lutheran; lutherans; methodist; methodists; purge; radicalfeminism; sac; usaf; usafa; usairforce; wcc
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To: wk4bush2004

"Women shouldn't be pastors in the first place."

Amen. This illustrates why.


21 posted on 05/12/2005 12:50:52 PM PDT by Busywhiskers (If you are not fishin you're just fritterin away your life.)
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To: wagglebee

This woman looks so much like a dike.

22 posted on 05/12/2005 12:50:58 PM PDT by bahblahbah
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To: LouAvul

Who are these "American Baptists"? I'm guessing that isn't the Southern Baptist Convention.


23 posted on 05/12/2005 12:52:09 PM PDT by bahblahbah
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To: wagglebee

So why did she bother becoming a chaplain anyway? This just doesn't add up.


24 posted on 05/12/2005 12:52:39 PM PDT by shekkian
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To: wagglebee
How about:
Christ wants Chaplain out of Air Force

25 posted on 05/12/2005 12:52:39 PM PDT by scripter (Tens of thousands have left the homosexual lifestyle)
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To: wagglebee
Leslie said a chaplain urged cadets to pray for those who didn’t attend and "remind them of the consequences ... those not ‘born again will burn in the fires of hell.’”

That's a manufactured quote if I ever read one.

26 posted on 05/12/2005 12:52:57 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: cripplecreek

That's like getting on a plane and hearing the pilot say that he doesn't have a clue how to fly.


27 posted on 05/12/2005 12:53:12 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: wagglebee

Is there anyone left in this world (like me) that can go their entire life without needing that fleeting moment of infamy? ;)


28 posted on 05/12/2005 12:53:32 PM PDT by G.Mason ( Save the Republic from the shallow, demagogic sectarians.)
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To: wagglebee
Morgan said she had stepped forward because "it’s the Constitution, not just a nice rule we can follow or not follow.

Too bad she doesn't feel the same about the bible.

29 posted on 05/12/2005 12:53:51 PM PDT by Godzilla (History teaches us that we never learn from history.)
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To: wk4bush2004; wagglebee; little jeremiah

<< Women shouldn't be pastors in the first place. >>

They aren't.

If one is called "pator" it but changes the definition of the word "pastor" to include whatever the Hell it is she is!

Bit like calling what male and female faggots simulate with one another "sex" or -- God forbid -- "love" or "marriage."


30 posted on 05/12/2005 12:54:19 PM PDT by Brian Allen (I fly and can therefore be envious of no man -- Per Ardua ad Astra!)
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To: LouAvul

I'm surprised that LCMS pastors were so negative on the Scriptures.


31 posted on 05/12/2005 12:54:44 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: LouAvul

That proves the fact that a lot of them are unfit for their jobs.


32 posted on 05/12/2005 12:54:59 PM PDT by DarthVader (Liberal Democrat = Fat, drunk and stupid is a hell of a way to go through life)
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To: LouAvul
I'm thinking that poll should have checked with Southern Baptists. I've yet to attend a Southern Baptist church where there was any doubt About the resurrection, virgin birth, or the inspired status of the scriptures.
33 posted on 05/12/2005 12:55:17 PM PDT by Stonedog (I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's difficult to pronounce.)
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To: shekkian
So why did she bother becoming a chaplain anyway? This just doesn't add up.

Hell, our schools are full of teachers who can't read and write, this is the same thing.

34 posted on 05/12/2005 12:55:18 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: wagglebee

"" Chaplain Wants Christ Out of Air Force Academy ""

She'd be better to get the Hell outta there!


35 posted on 05/12/2005 12:55:30 PM PDT by Brian Allen (I fly and can therefore be envious of no man -- Per Ardua ad Astra!)
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To: LouAvul

Too many people join the Clergy for money and power not because they believe in Christ.


36 posted on 05/12/2005 12:55:46 PM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." AYN RAND)
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To: bahblahbah

AHHHHHHH! A Beast!!


37 posted on 05/12/2005 12:55:57 PM PDT by DarthVader (Liberal Democrat = Fat, drunk and stupid is a hell of a way to go through life)
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To: LouAvul

Sir. I don't believe your poll. Please give your reference.


38 posted on 05/12/2005 12:56:37 PM PDT by encm(ss) (A Bible believing LCMS Lutheran)
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To: wideawake
I'm surprised that LCMS pastors were so negative on the Scriptures.

If they don't believe the Bible then what the hell are they basing their ministry on? Walden?

39 posted on 05/12/2005 12:56:38 PM PDT by Semper Paratus
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To: wagglebee

"complaining that the school’s administration has a "systemic and pervasive” problem of promoting religious religious values"

Virtues like fidelity, charity and compassion?


40 posted on 05/12/2005 12:57:20 PM PDT by Spok (Everything I know about intolerance I learned from a liberal.)
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