Service Before Self? Evangelicals Flying High at the U.S. Air Force Academy

INTRODUCTION

On October 6, 2005, Michael "Mikey" Weinstein, a second generation graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and father of a current cadet, sued the United States Air Force alleging numerous instances of evangelical Christian proselytizing and other Establishment Clause violations.1

While Weinstein alleges that the problem is systemic throughout the Air Force, most of the allegations underlying the lawsuit occurred at the Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Not surprisingly, Colorado Springs is also home to a number of national evangelical Christian2 organizations including, National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the Family, Compassion International, The Navigators, Youth with a Mission, Young Life and the International Bible Society, "earning the city the tongue-in-cheek nickname 'the Protestant Vatican'."3

In response, evangelical groups4 have filed motions to intervene in the lawsuit in order to protect what they see as the Free Exercise rights of service members to "worship according to their conscience and lead others in authentic expressions of personal veneration to Almighty God."5 According to them, the Weinstein lawsuit is nothing more than "an assault on religious speech within the United States Air Force" that will have a chilling effect on constitutionally protected rights of service members.6