A top Pentagon official has ordered the appointment of a special task force to investigate “lingering allegations” about religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy toward cadets who are not evangelical Christians.
The announcement, following several months of allegations about an atmosphere of religious harassment and discrimination at the Colorado Springs, Colo., institution, comes four days after attorneys for Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force officials a 14-page document alleging that large numbers of top administrators, chaplains and faculty members openly and regularly advocated on behalf of evangelical Protestantism, often using coercive means.
Associated Baptist Press