Air Force Religion
By Montag | Related entries in Military, ReligionThe Air Force is issuing new guidelines on religious tolerance:
The document directs chaplains to “respect the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs.”
Good.
However, I can’t quite square this statement:
The guidelines do not ban public prayer outright and say short, nonsectarian prayers may be included in special ceremonies or events, but only to lend a sense of solemnity and not to promote specific beliefs.
with this one:
The guidelines state that members of the Air Force “will not officially endorse or establish religion, either one specific religion, or the idea of religion over non-religion.”
Does “nonsectarian prayer” leave room for “non-religion”?
Associated Press: Air Force discourages public prayer
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 and is filed under Military, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 30th, 2005 at 12:34 pm
This country was not founded on a respect for athiesm. I think that the government, at its foundation, believes in a “higher power”, and by that logic, athiests are not protected.
August 30th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
I don’t think there is an issue with nonsectarian prayer really. And advising chaplains on this is really not who it should be directed at, the people that need guidance on this are the commanders, at least that is the impression I had after 9 years in the USAF.