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Date: May 31, 2005
TAMPA, FL: The Hindu American
Foundation (HAF) expressed serious concern over multiple reports
that many in the faculty and staff at the Colorado Springs
U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) are abetting the spread of
evangelical Christianity on the campus while fostering a climate
of religious intolerance towards other religious traditions.
The Air Force, according
to a statement made in early May, was first made aware of
religious prejudice through a survey in 2004, in which Jewish
and other Christians claimed they were being pressured by
evangelical Christian. Although the Air Force created a program
for Respecting the Spritiual Values of all People (RSVP),
HAF noted that according to reports by former chaplains and
students from the campus, the program was significantly weakened
and inconsistently implemented.
"These reports of prosletyzation
by senior officers, teachers and chaplains represent flagrant
violations of the American ethos of religious tolerance and
pluralism that air force cadets will be asked to uphold,"
said Aseem R. Shukla, M.D., member of the HAF Board of Directors.
"Forcing a narrow religious viewpoint on cadets when they
are far from home for the first time and come to chaplains
seeking spiritual comfort and solace is deplorable."
According to a May 3 report
in the Washington Post, several cadets stated that those who
chose not to attend chapel after dinner at the USAFA are organized
into a "Heathen Flight" and taken to their dormitories; that
the "Chaplain of the Year" urged Christian cadets to advocate
that their fellow cadets convert or "burn in the fires of
hell"; that many born-again Christian faculty members push
students to become born-again; and that several mandatory
cadet meetings begin with Christian prayers.
A May 28, 2005 statement
by the most recent official taskforce to visit the academy
confirmed some instances of commanding officers imposing religious
views on others and demands these officers to be more sensitive
to these issues. HAF members supported these findings but
continued to demand concrete action and disciplinary measures.
They expressed particular concern that Hindus, as followers
of a non-Abrahamic tradition that is largely misunderstood
in the U.S., would be even more vulnerable to religious discrimination
and concerted prosletyzation.
"HAF strongly opposes any
effort to pressure cadets on the basis of religious affiliation,"
said Dr. Shukla. "We urge the United States Air Force to consider
the loss of morale and resentment prosletyzation effects on
students and take definitive measures to restore the American
tradition of real understanding and pluralism on the campus.
Officers abusing this responsibility must face real consequences."
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