tagged w/ Air Force Academy
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12 millas de recorrido en un extraordinario bosque con colinas y un sendero hecho solo para bicicletas. Una gran experiencia. Se las recomiendo.
Air Force Academy's Falcon trail. Beautiful mountains, weather and people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdDqR-W2sEU&feature=player_embedded12 millas de recorrido en un extraordinario bosque con colinas y un sendero hecho solo... more
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The Air Force Academy recently provided a worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, and other Earth-centered religions and the event passed surprisingly quietly given the religious culture wars of our times. Still, there's always one in the crowd.The Air Force Academy recently provided a worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids,... more
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The Air Force Academy has set aside an outdoor worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other Earth-centered believers, school officials said Monday.
A double circle of stones atop a hill on the campus near Colorado Springs has been designated for the group, which previously met indoors.
"Being with nature and connecting with it is kind of the whole point," said Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, who sponsors the group and describes himself as a Pagan. "It will dramatically improve that atmosphere, the mindset and the actual connection."
The stones were moved to the hilltop last year because erosion threatened to make them unstable in their previous location near the visitors center. Crews arranged them in two concentric circles because they thought it would be a pleasant place for cadets to relax, Longcrier said.
When Longcrier and academy chaplains were looking for an outdoor worship space, they discovered one already existed in the form of the circles.
Lt. Col. William Ziegler, one of the academy's chaplains, said designating the space is part of the school's effort to foster religious tolerance and to defend the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
"It's about our commitment as airmen to protect freedom and defend freedom. To me this is a freedom thing," he said.
The school also has worship facilities for Protestant and Catholic Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists.
The academy superintendent, Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, has made religious tolerance a priority. It became a concern in 2004 when a survey found many cadets had heard slurs or jokes about other religions and that some felt ostracized because they weren't religious.
Longcrier and Ziegler said they've heard no criticism of the new worship space but both noted its presence was just made public.
"Not to say that it's not coming, but so far we haven't had any real issues," Longcrier said.
He said 15 to 20 cadets have shown an interest in Earth-centered beliefs, and eight to 10 regularly attend Monday night meetings. Of those, six or seven are devout believers and the others are "searchers," Longcrier said.
The academy has about 4,000 cadets. The school is one of five U.S. service academies, including West Point and Annapolis. Cadets graduate as second lieutenants.
"Earth-centered" spirituality encompasses many beliefs, Longcrier said, many that recognize multiple gods and goddesses and observe holidays tied to the seasons.The Air Force Academy has set aside an outdoor worship area for Pagans, Wiccans,... more
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Three years after a scandal at the Air Force Academy over the evangelizing of cadets by Christian staff and faculty members, students and staff at West Point and the Naval Academy are complaining that their schools, too, have pushed religion on cadets and midshipmen.
The controversy led the Air Force to adopt guidelines that discourage public prayers at official events or meetings. And while those rules do not apply to other branches of the service, critics say the new complaints raise questions about the military’s commitment to policies against imposing religion on its members.
Religion in the military has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, especially because the close confines of military life often put two larger societal trends — the rise of evangelicals and the rise of people of no organized faith — onto a collision course.
At the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., nine midshipmen recently asked the American Civil Liberties Union to petition the school to abolish daily prayer at weekday lunch, where attendance is mandatory. The midshipmen and the A.C.L.U. assert that the practice is unconstitutional, based in large part on a 2004 appellate court ruling against a similar prayer at the Virginia Military Institute. The civil liberties group has threatened legal action if the policy is not changed.
But the academy is not persuaded.
“The academy does not intend to change its practice of offering midshipmen an opportunity for prayer or devotional thought during noon meal announcements,” Cmdr. Ed Austin, an academy spokesman, said in an e-mail message. Three years after a scandal at the Air Force Academy over the evangelizing of cadets... more
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The actor, model, gay rights activist and winner of "The Amazing Race" has written a book on being secretly gay in the Air Force Academy. Here he shares his opinion on the Air Force's policies on gays in the military.The actor, model, gay rights activist and winner of "The Amazing Race" has... more
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