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Air Force reviewing all ethics training

The Air Force is reviewing all training materials related to ethics, core values and character development after more Christian-themed course work surfaced.

The Air Force suspended an ethics course for new nuclear missile officers July 27; three weeks later, an ROTC instructor, offended by the content of a leadership course, forwarded a presentation to the watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The foundation sent the slide show to Air Force Times.

The ROTC course is not offered during summer break, so it has not officially been pulled, said David Smith, spokesman for Air Education and Training Command. The briefing is taught at every college and university that has an ROTC program as part of the leadership diversity curriculum taught during cadets’ junior year.

“Air Education and Training Command is conducting a comprehensive review of training materials that address morals, ethics, core values and related character development issues to ensure appropriate and balanced use of all religious and secular source material,” Smith said. “This particular briefing ... is being looked at as part of this review to teach ethical issues in a religiously neutral way that assures we comply with the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.”

The ROTC briefing, called “Core Values and the Air Force Member,” contains references to the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments as examples of ethical values. Two additional slides list the New Testament teachings of Jesus known as the Beatitudes, and seven of the commandments, including “Have no other gods before me.”

The 22-slide briefing also cites the Golden Rule as an example of ethical values. One of the slides points out that the Golden Rule — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — is found in five of the world’s major religions.

Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the foundation, said he has been contacted by 21 instructors and 42 cadets from various universities about the training. He said the majority of both groups say they are Roman Catholic or Protestant.

‘Christian tsunami’

“This is further example of how wretched this fundamentalist Christian tsunami is and how pervasive it is,” Weinstein said of the ROTC training material.

The Air Force halted an ethics course for nuclear missile officers that had been offered for more than 20 years after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation threatened to file a lawsuit. The content of that training included images of a Christian saint and quotes from the old and new testaments of the Bible.

One former airman referred to the religious portions of that training as the “Jesus loves nukes” speech.

Weinstein said he believes people are coming forward about other training because of the publicity generated by the nuclear missile course. Service members often remain silent because they fear retribution, he said.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation obtained the nuclear ethics training material through a Freedom of Information Act request. It handed the material over to truth-out.org, where Weinstein serves as an advisory board member. The site published a story about the training and posted the 43-page PowerPoint presentation July 27, the same day the course was pulled from the curriculum for new missile officers.

Gen. Edward Rice, commander of Air Education and Training Command, ordered a review of training material as soon as he found out about content of the nuclear ethics briefing, Maj. Rosaire Bushey told Air Force Times.