Keep the Faith (to oneself)

Officers must not preach or give preferential treatment

By Robert F. Dorr - Special to the Times

Friday August 20, 2007

That Sunday morning, the word spread quickly around the basic training squadron.

If you wanted to attend church services, you could take three hours off.

If not, you would be assigned a work detail.

Airman Joseph H. Fives saw this as an inequity. He took his complaint to the training instructor. If practicing Christians could be given time off, Fives asked, why not everybody else?

Fives' views were extreme, even for those of us who question the role of religion in the armed forces. Fives said he didn't think public money should be spent on chapels and chaplains.

Half a century has elapsed since Fives and I endured basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas — and skipped church.

Much has changed since then. For example, training instructors no longer drag you behind the barracks and beat the hell out of you, as they did with Fives.

What hasn't changed is the tension in the Air Force between some who practice Christianity and most who don't.

If you're a Jew, Muslim or Buddhist, or you don't participate in a religion, today's Air Force has less room for you. "I often feel left out," a Jewish officer told me. "I feel that if I want face time with my commander on Wednesday, I need to be seen in church with him on Sunday."

Of course, not all Christians wield influence in improper ways. But today many with extreme views hold high places in the Air Force and in other service branches.

In 2003, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin remained on the job after being faulted for criticizing Muslims while appearing in uniform before church groups. Incredibly, an official inquiry found that Boykin violated no ethics rules.

Boykin is one of an large but unknown number of top officers who ascribe a religious purpose to the wars we're fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, the Pentagon's inspector general has found that seven officers, including four generals, improperly participated in a fund-raising video for an evangelical Christian group while appearing to operate within the scope of their official duties.

Air Force Maj. Gens. Jack J. Catton Jr. and Peter U. Sutton, who is now retired, are among those who appeared in uniform while praising religious groups. According to media reports, Catton said he thought he had approval to do this.

In an organization that talks about integrity — strong evidence that it needs some — using official status to spread religion is outrageous conduct that must not be tolerated. Anyone who does this cannot be entrusted to lead others and must be removed from military service.

Don't get me wrong — religion is fine. What isn't OK is using a position of public trust to proselytize.

Military officers have a special obligation. Officers must not try to convert others to their religious views, nor should they make decisions about promotion, assignments or even a work detail based on a subordinate's religion or lack of it.

More importantly, as Americans, we must disabuse ourselves of any notion that we are waging a Christian war against Muslims even though we do have officers who hold that preposterous belief.

We need to rebuild a solid wall between worship and work. And we need to muster out any officer who can't keep religion and duty in their separate places.

The writer, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of "Air Combat," a history of fighter pilots. His e-mail address is [email protected].