DENVER — The Air Force Academy, still recovering from rape and sexual harassment scandals, is facing charges that some Christian cadets have bullied and berated Jews and students of other religious backgrounds.
School officials said Tuesday they had received 55 complaints over the last few months and were requiring students -- and eventually all employees -- to attend a course on religious tolerance.
"Some complaints had to do with people
Air Force Academy -- An article in the April 20 Section A on allegations of religious intolerance among cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy said there had been 55 such complaints over the last few months. The complaints occurred over the last four years.
About 90% of the academy's 4,300 cadets identify themselves as Christians; the school's commandant, Brig. Gen. Johnny A. Weida, describes himself as a born-again Christian.
Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate and a lawyer in Albuquerque, said that his son Curtis -- a sophomore at the academy -- had been called a "filthy Jew."
"When I visited my son, he told me he wanted us to go off base because he had something to tell me," Weinstein said. "He said, 'They are calling me a
Weinstein, 50, said he wanted Congress to investigate what he said was a pervasive Christian bias at the academy.
"When I was at the academy, there wasn't this institutional notion that if you didn't accept Christ you would burn eternally in hell," he said. "I want the generals to come out and say, 'Yes, we have a systemic problem and we are working to fix it.' "
Air Force officials said they got an inkling of a problem after reading the results of a student survey last May.
Many cadets expressed concern over religious respect and a lack of tolerance. Then "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's film about the crucifixion, was released. Hundreds of movie posters were pinned up in the academy dining hall advertising the film. Cadets did mass e-mailings urging people to see it.
School leaders denounced the e-mails, saying students should not use government equipment to promote their religion.
At that point, officials began looking into the situation.
"We started getting people coming forward," Whitaker said. "Folks sent e-mails to the chaplain describing events -- none of which were reported when they happened. Many of the complaints have been addressed."
Two years ago, the academy's reputation was tarnished by a scandal in which dozens of female cadets said their complaints about sexual assaults had been ignored.
In response to the complaints of religious intolerance, the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus created the RSVP program, which stands for Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People.
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