Faith in the USAFA

written by John C. Buckley III

June 10th, 2005

You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more. You should never wish to do less.

Robert E. Lee

As a new cadet at the USAF Academy (USAFA) in 1973, two young men became friends for life. We learned concepts of duty while there, further reinforcing what we learned from our parents. In my family (and, I believe, in Mikey Weinstein’s family as well), I was taught that it is my duty to right injustice when I see it. My friend has always been a man of great integrity and character. But he presides over a very public effort to dismantle all displays of faith at USAFA. I disagree with my lifelong friend, and it is my duty to speak out for the faith-based community currently under attack at my alma mater.

I wore a uniform for 28 years (officer and cadet). I graduated from USAFA in 1977, along with Mikey and our other classmates. We dispersed throughout the Air Force, and I was honored to serve in the combat arms and fly fighters in the first part of my career. In 1985, I returned to USAFA, where I served as an Air Officer Commanding (Cadet Squadron Eight, or “Eagle Eight”), assistant fencing coach, political science instructor, and flying instructor. I now serve as the Graduate Associate for Eagle Eight, working with Major Mark Baroni, a superb professional officer who serves as the squadron’s Air Officer Commanding. I retired from the USAF Reserves in 2001 as a lieutenant colonel. I believe that I am one of only a handful of the 36,000 USAFA graduates who have worked in all mission elements at the Academy.

In recent weeks, I watched as the press, my classmate and others attacked one segment of the faith-based community, 900+ cadets strong, at the Academy – specifically, the segment known by some as “evangelicals”. It hurt me to learn that a handful of cadets used ethnic slurs to refer to cadets. I also read that there have been displays of faith that may have stepped over the boundaries of Air Force Regulations seeking to insure that officials in the USAF show no favoritism to any single faith. But the evidence shows that these few incidents were not mean-spirited, or intended to demean any person at USAFA. The ethnic slurs are different – they violate everything the Academy teaches. As a commander in the USAF, I might have prosecuted any person (cadet, officer or enlisted) who committed such egregious acts against fellow service members. But the handful of incidents over several years led to the present outcry in the press, by my friend and others, to remove all displays of faith from the Academy public square. They are wrong, and their demands are unconstitutional.

The First Amendment guaranteed freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers passed the First Amendment to prevent the establishment of a government church, as England had at the time of the American Revolution, and as some Scandinavian countries such as Iceland have today. The First Amendment did not guarantee freedom from religion – such a guarantee by government would be unconstitutional. My study at Harvard Law School, coupled with my life experience, teaches me that freedom from religion is a religion in itself. It is called atheism, and history shows that it was primarily men and women of faith, not atheists, who founded America. My words are not intended to demean our citizens who are atheists. I respect their belief, but more importantly our Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to their religious belief. But the tolerant attitudes of our nation for all citizens, including those of minority faiths, arose from the Judeo-Christian ethic shared by most of our Founding Fathers. That tolerance did not have to be seized from men and women representing the Christian faith. Rather, it was given freely to all Americans by the predecessors of the very faith-based community currently under attack at the USAF Academy.

Is the faith-based community at USAFA prejudiced against non-Christians? In my decades of experience, working in diverse roles that comprise all aspects of the Academy mission, I never observed prejudice by cadets in the Spires program, Baptist Student Union, Officers Christian Fellowship, Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ, or any other faith-based group. Practicing evangelicals, Jews, Catholics, Orthodox, Buddhists or mainline Protestants do not generally cause problems that rise to the level of some of the problems presented by the press in recent years. I learned that most cadets are good people who take care of their classmates, care about integrity at the Academy, and practice acceptance for cadets of all faiths. I found that all problems I encountered arose from cadets’ more secular pursuits…overuse of alcohol, sex in the dorms (or on dive trips), relationship problems between cadets and officers, and professional failings by both groups. Men and women of faith working within faith-based communities like the evangelical community under attack today have never been the problem. Interestingly, I have talked to numerous officers and cadets now serving at the Academy. They agree – men and women of faith are not the problem presented by the press and a small minority who believe in government enforcement of freedom from religion, even though that belief is unconstitutional.

America is at war. We need men and women from all faiths and backgrounds to carry the torch of liberty if our freedoms are to survive. To the handful of fellow graduates and members of the Long Blue Line who disagree with my views…please stop the attacks against the 900+ cadets who participate in faith-based communities at our alma mater. Those attacks are wrong. It is my duty to tell you so. I hope you agree, for the sake of tolerance at our Air Force Academy.

John C. Buckley III (USAFA ’77, Lt.Col. USAFR, Ret.)

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