In an LATimes piece over the weekend, Chaplain Major Darren Duncan argues that the recent investment by the Air Force Academy in a worship center for pagans and other Earth-based faiths is no accident. The space underscores the Academy's commitment to religious freedom for cadets of all religious beliefs.
"We're here to accommodate all religions, period," Duncan says….
This is not about religious tolerance — a phrase Duncan, a Christian, rejects as implying that the majority religion is simply putting up with the minority. He calls it a 1st Amendment issue. If the military is to defend the Constitution, it should also be upholding its guarantee of religious freedom. "We think we are setting the standard," Duncan says.
In addition to providing worship space, new policy dictates that all cadets take courses in understanding the religions of those who may someday fall under their command. Recently he's fielded calls from West Point and Annapolis about replicating the Air Force's efforts.
This sounds great. But of course the proof is in the experience on the ground of those in training of minority faiths or of no faith. Here's hoping Major Duncan's point of view is a popular one going forward.
