Air Force-imposed logo change riles lawmakers - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Air Force-imposed logo change riles lawmakers

A steady line of criticism that the Air Force has excessively ignored the firewall between church and state in its policies has raised a ruckus among some members of Capitol Hill, who say the service is now bowing too far to appease those critics.

Thirty-six lawmakers fired off a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz on Monday, taking the men to task for a decision to alter a reference to God that appeared on a logo for the Rapid Capabilities Office, an acquisitions office at the Pentagon.

The reference, a Latin phrase that translates to “Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money,” was replaced with “Miracles With Other People’s Money” after the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers criticized the office’s patch. After a legal review, the Air Force changed the phrase.

That change comes after a year in which Air Force officials pulled an ethics briefing for nuclear officers because of its Christian themes and the Air Force Academy apologized to cadets for sending out through improper channels an announcement encouraging the support of a Christian-affiliated toy drive. Air Force leaders also were warned by Schwartz in a Sept. 1 memo against proselytizing and showing favoritism toward any particular faith.

The lawmakers, who are also members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, said this was the last straw.

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said the logo change is the latest in an Air Force pattern that is having a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of airmen. Forbes said he partly blames Schwartz, who he said “has been as bad as I have seen ... in defending religious liberties.”

Swartz’s spokesman, Lt. Col. Samuel Highley, said, “The Air Force has received the letter on this matter signed by Congressman Forbes and other members of Congress. We will respond and address their questions as quickly as possible.”

Forbes said the Air Force is probably the least protective branch of the services in protecting religious freedoms and liberties.

“This chief of staff doesn’t have balance. He doesn’t call other individuals that might have an alternative view,” he said. “This is more than a word on a patch, this is the Air Force chief of staff saying legally in the Air Force you can’t have the word ‘God’ because somehow it is a violation of the law.”

Schwartz’s September memo, titled “Maintaining Government Neutrality Regarding Religion,” instructed leaders to avoid even the appearance of using their position to proselytize, saying “the potential result is a degradation of the unit’s morale, good order and discipline.”