[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 64 (Monday, May 16, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3266-H3268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AIR FORCE ACADEMY INAPPROPRIATELY AND IMPROPERLY PUTTING PRESSURE ON 
              CADETS TO FOLLOW CERTAIN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, a couple of weeks ago I 
was disturbed to read of reports that people at the Air Force Academy 
were inappropriately and improperly putting pressure on cadets to 
follow certain religious practices. In this particular case, cadets who 
did not follow a certain brand of Christianity were being ridiculed and 
being criticized, and the allegations were that they were even being 
pressured by officials of the Academy to follow this specific set of 
religious practices.
  Obviously, we should create a situation in which people of any 
religious persuasion are free at the Academy to follow that. But for 
young men and women who were sent to the Academy to learn to lead our 
Air Force and defend our country in that important institution to be 
subjected to religious

[[Page H3267]]

pressures, religious ridicule and criticism because they do not 
particularly follow one or another religion is terrible public policy, 
and, of course, unconstitutional.
  When I heard that, my reaction was to give the Air Force the benefit 
of the doubt. I wrote a letter to the Air Force Academy and the 
Secretary of the Air Force asking that the Air Force be looking into 
this, and I had read that in fact they were. So I thought, well, I hope 
we are talking with reasonable people. These allegations sounded to me 
like things that no reasonable person would allow to go forward. Let us 
see what happens. I decided I would wait to see what the Air Force did.
  Well, I am not waiting anymore, because the Air Force has acted. They 
have made things worse. They have done some things that confirm the 
view that I and others have that there is something seriously wrong.
  Captain Melinda Morton, an Air Force chaplain, number two in the 
chaplaincy there, was just transferred, well ahead of when she was 
supposed to be transferred, to Okinawa.
  Now, I mean no disrespect to Okinawa. For the people that live there, 
it is home, and it is a wonderful home. It has a lot of advantages. But 
when you are the number two in the chaplaincy in Colorado and you are 
sent to Okinawa very suddenly, it is clearly meant to be a rebuke, and 
the reason that the number two in the chaplain's office was sent to 
Okinawa was because she was supporting the criticisms.
  According to a New York Times article, which I will include for the 
record, she was told by the Chief Chaplain, Colonel Whittington, after 
a critical report on this subject from a team from the Yale Divinity 
School, she was asked to denounce the report and defend the Academy. 
But she said she could not do that because she agreed with the report. 
It was about 2 weeks later that she was transferred to Okinawa.
  So we have here not just a refusal to deal with inappropriate abuse 
of people on religious grounds, but a punishment of a very brave 
officer, a woman of integrity, a chaplain, a member of the clergy, who 
in pursuance of her faith and her obligations and her understanding of 
the Constitution refused to say something that she thought untrue about 
a report.
  When intelligent people say silly things, it generally means that 
they do not want to tell you the truth. The explanation the Air Force 
gives for sending her to Okinawa makes no sense at all. I do not 
believe we have put in charge of the Academy people incapable of making 
sense, so when they tell us things that are just silly, I think they 
are covering up.
  They gave a convoluted argument about, well, the other guy is going 
to leave, so she is going to have to leave afterwards, and, therefore, 
they both have to leave together. It makes zero sense. If anything, you 
would probably say if a new person was coming in, it would be better to 
have her there to help train him.
  Then we were also told by both the New York Times and the Associated 
Press that Colonel Whittington, the chaplain who apparently asked her 
to denounce the report, and when she disagreed with him and said she 
could not denounce the report she agreed with, and the report said 
there had been inappropriate religious pressure, he apparently was part 
of an effort to penalize her. We are told that he could not give an 
interview to the New York Times and the AP because he was being 
interviewed by the Air Force Special Study Panel.
  Now, I doubt very much that the Air Force Special Study Panel is 
grilling him 18 hours a day, or even 10 hours a day. In other words, 
there is obviously no conflict between being interviewed by this panel 
and also talking to the press.
  Why do they not let the chaplain talk to the press? Because they are 
afraid if he told the truth it would be embarrassing, is my inference. 
If there is a different argument, let them give it to us.
  Madam Speaker, we should note that among those who brought these 
allegations to light originally is a proud Air Force Academy alumni, 
Michael Weinstein, who worked for the Reagan Administration, whose son 
is now there, who said he has spoken to 117 people at the Academy who 
validate the accusation that there is inappropriate pressure put on 
people and that people are subject to disadvantages if they do not 
follow a particular religious view.
  The Air Force has got to reverse this pattern of religious oppression 
at the Academy, of religious abuse, ``oppression'' may be too strong; 
it has got to stop the transfer of a brave woman for speaking out; and 
they have got to take seriously a problem, rather than make it worse.
  Madam Speaker, I include for the record the May 15, 2005, New York 
Times article entitled ``Air Force Chaplain Says She Was Removed for 
Being Critical.''

                [From the New York Times, May 25, 2005]

       Air Force Chaplain Says She Was Removed for Being Critical

                         (By Laurie Goodstein)

       A chaplain at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs who 
     has accused her superiors of using their positions to promote 
     evangelical Christianity among the cadets says she was fired 
     from an administrative job because of her outspokenness and 
     was given orders to ship out to Japan.
       An Air Force task force, meanwhile, has finished an 
     investigation at the academy into charges by the chaplain and 
     others that officers there were inappropriately proselytizing 
     the cadets.
       The academy chaplain, Capt. MeLinda Morton, said she had 
     disagreed with her boss, the academy's chief chaplain, Col. 
     Michael Whittington, after a critical report by a team from 
     the Yale Divinity School was released to the news media in 
     April. The report, dated July 2004 and which she helped 
     write, found that some academy chaplains were insensitive to 
     the religious diversity of the cadets.
       Captain Morton said her boss asked her to denounce the 
     report and defend the academy, but she told him she agreed 
     with it. She said that about two weeks later, on May 4, she 
     received an e-mail message from Colonel Whittington 
     dismissing her from her position as his administrative 
     assistant, or ``executive officer.'' However, she remains a 
     chaplain, retains her rank and earns the same salary.
       ``That is pretty plainly, in my mind, retribution,'' 
     Captain Morton said. ``That makes a big point on a staff. The 
     point is, `We don't regard Mel as trustworthy and we 
     humiliate her by firing her.' However, in the whole scope of 
     things, that's pretty minor to what's going on in the 
     academy.''
       She also said that in March she received orders to transfer 
     to Okinawa, and from there could be deployed to Iraq or 
     Afghanistan. Captain Morton said she was surprised because in 
     December she was told by Colonel Whittington that she would 
     be staying at the academy through summer 2006 to see several 
     projects through. At the time, Captain Morton was developing 
     a sensitivity training program for the academy and was 
     involved in pastoral care for cadets who were victims in a 
     sexual abuse scandal that swept the academy in 2003.
       An academy spokesman, Lt. Col. Laurent Fox, said in an 
     interview that Captain Morton's dismissal as executive 
     officer and her reassignment to Okinawa were entirely 
     routine, and not retribution. He said that Captain Morton was 
     removed from her position in order to make way for a new 
     executive officer because Colonel Whittington was leaving the 
     academy in June and Captain Morton is leaving in July.
       ``We don't see this as a dismissal,'' Colonel Fox said. 
     ``This kind of a transition is a normal process that happens 
     in squadrons across the Air Force.''
       Colonel Fox said he knew nothing about a meeting that led 
     to a quarrel over the Yale Divinity School report. A request 
     to interview Colonel Whittington was denied because he was 
     being interviewed by the task force investigating the 
     religious climate at the academy. The task force is expected 
     to release a preliminary report on May 23.
       Complaints about the religious climate at the academy first 
     surfaced after fliers were passed out in the dining hall 
     advertising a showing of the movie ``The Passion of the 
     Christ.'' An alumnus of the academy, Mikey Weinstein, grew 
     concerned after he visited his son at the school last year 
     and learned that he had been subject to repeated religious 
     slurs because he is Jewish.
       Mr. Weinstein, who served in the Reagan administration, 
     said yesterday that he became enraged and set out to see if 
     others had similar experiences. He said he has now spoken 
     with 117 academy cadets, staff members and faculty members 
     who complained about religious intimidation and proselytizing 
     at the academy. Of the 117 people, 8 are Jewish, one is an 
     atheist, about 10 are Catholic and the rest are 
     nonevangelical Protestants.
       His son was interviewed by the task force this week, Mr. 
     Weinstein said. He said he was not interviewed by the task 
     force, even though ``I have a boatload of information,'' he 
     said.
       ``I can't reveal people's names, but I thought it might be 
     useful,'' he said.
                                  ____


                 [From Associated Press, May 13, 2005]

                      Chaplain Says She Was Ousted

                   (By Robert Weller and Jon Sarche)

       Denver.--A top Air Force Academy chaplain said Thursday she 
     was fired for speaking

[[Page H3268]]

     up about anti-Semitism and other reports of religious 
     intolerance among cadets and staff, including allegations 
     that evangelical Christians wield too much influence.
       Capt. Melinda Morton said she was fired last week by her 
     boss, Col. Michael Whittington. Morton said she was pressured 
     to deny a report by Yale Divinity School Professor Kristen 
     Leslie that a chaplain told 600 cadets during basic training 
     last year ``to go back to their tents and tell their fellow 
     cadets that those who are not born again will burn in the 
     fires of hell.''
       ``I was told by Chaplain Whittington that if someone was 
     going to be loyal to the chaplaincy and the Air Force, then 
     someone would take a certain view of the Yale report and view 
     Dr. Leslie as disloyal,'' Morton said.
       Both chaplains had been scheduled to leave the school this 
     year, with Whittington, the academy's chief chaplain, 
     retiring and Morton, his executive officer, scheduled for an 
     overseas assignment. She called that an excuse to get rid of 
     her.
       The Air Force's chief chaplain, Maj. Gen. Charles Baldwin, 
     said Morton was not fired.
       Her duties have changed, however, because Whittington will 
     retire in June rather than in July as originally planned. 
     Morton has been scheduled for reassignment to an Air Force 
     base in Japan for some time, Baldwin said.
       The academy said Whittington was unavailable because he was 
     being interviewed for a Pentagon investigation into more than 
     50 complaints of religious intolerance in the past several 
     years.

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