Religious Intolerance in the Air Force

Recent events at the US Air Force Academy indicate that the value of religious tolerance may be undergoing a challenge in the military services. Religious intolerance, or religious insensitivity, can be defined many different ways. A good working definition of religious intolerance is "not respecting the fundamental human right of other people to hold religious beliefs that are different from your own." The First Amendment's Establishment Clause prohibits government from favoring one religion another, and from promoting religion generally. That constitutional requirement applies to the military just as it applies to all other branches of government. So without surprise, when the US Air Force Academy was thrown into controversy over charges of religious intolerance, it didn't take long for critics to jump all over the topic. In an attempt to address the issue, senior leadership has now released two sets of interim guidelines concerning the free exercise of religion in the US Air Force. They only proved to be a futile attempt to squelch this rapidly growing problem.