I have posted here before about my concerns about the evangelization of the US Air Force Academy. That is, cadets and others view the USAFA as an outpost of a very specific definition of Christianity rather than as a military academy aimed at teaching the next generation of US Air Force officers (training them to think!!!).
Well, one of the opponents of a sectarian USAFA is Mikey Weinstein, who was told by some folks not to attend his 35th reunion since he is a force for evil. See this letter. It is disturbing on so many levels, including the need apparently to distinguish insincere "born again evangelicals" from "spirit-filled born-again" folks. Their notion of spirit is so filled of hate and contempt that it is pretty much the antithesis of spirit as we mean it in ultimate frisbee--where friendly competition is emphasized. Nor can these folks dance with the appropriate spirit fingers unless they are holding up on only their middle fingers.
I jest, but the idea that a guy who graduated from one's school (a public institution, not a private religious college) is told to not attend his reunion because he "worships" the Constitution "as an idol in place of the Son of God." Again, this is the UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY we are talking about, not a school founded by a devout Christian (that would be John F. Oberlin).
I knew that the present and recent past of the USAFA was disturbing because of the effort to establish a religious hegemony over the place, but 35th reunion problems reminds us this is a deep and long history of a challenged public institution.
I am glad that Mikey is going back and I am glad he is speaking to the Secular Students. I hope the overly religious and intolerant folks get just a bit of reflux as they watch him attend his reunion. I am not praying that they die--I am just engaging in some wishful thinking that they are uncomfortable--that their intolerance poisons themselves just a wee bit.
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