Additionally, the amendment strikes language in the bill that calls on the Air Force Secretary to detail how the Academy will halt religious coercion and harassment in a report to Congress 60 days after the bill is signed into law.

Congresswoman Capps released the following speech on the proposed amendments:

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Obey Amendment and opposition to the Hunter amendment.

Religious freedom is a bedrock principle for which the United States stands, and which the military is meant to defend.  Unfortunately the environment at the US Air Force Academy appears consumed by religious intolerance.  Some chaplains encourage cadets to convert their colleagues to Christianity.  And one has publicly declared that cadets who do not accept proselytization will “burn in the fires of hell.”

The football coach is reported to use his position to urge players to go to church and to be Christians.  He even went so far as to put a banner in the Academy football team locker room reading “I am a Christian first and last.  I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.”

Cadets who do not go to church are organized into groups called “Heathen Flights” by their cadet officers.  And high ranking officers, including the Commandant of Cadets, have given the Academy’s official sanction to religious events geared towards promoting Christianity, including screenings of “The Passion of the Christ.”

The problem is so pervasive that the Superintendent of the Academy, Lt. General Rosa, publicly acknowledged it in a speech to the Anti-Defamation League.

It is appalling that the young men and women who volunteer to defend our nation should be subject to religious harassment and intolerance of this kind.  It clearly violates the Constitution.  And it undermines the unity of the armed forces.

If this were going on at University of Colorado students could easily just ignore it as they probably do almost everything else the school tells them.  But Air Force cadets are members of the military and part of the chain of command, and all that entails.  The Academy tells cadets when to wake up and go to sleep, when to eat, how to dress, where to go and when to go there, when they can leave campus and how they must behave.  If the cadets ignore their superiors on any of these issues they would be sternly disciplined. 

This is why it is critical that the officers and staff at the Air Force Academy not be permitted to inappropriately press their religious beliefs onto their cadets.  This is where the coercion that Mr. Hostettler was asking about takes place.

The military has a special obligation to ensure that its members do not abuse the extraordinary influence that chain of command gives them.  Clearly, that has not been the case at the Air Force academy.  And now Congress has a duty to address these concerns.   When the Constitution of the United States is being disregarded in such blatant fashion we have no choice.  We must act.

For that reason I applaud the leadership of Ranking Member Obey and the members of the Appropriations Committee.  The language they included clearly expresses our objection to these practices, and demands a plan of action from the Air Force Secretary.  I also want to commend my colleague Mr. Israel for offering this same language in the Armed Services Committee.

Last month I, along with 45 of my colleagues, sent a letter to the Air Force Secretary asking for a thorough and public investigation.  I am pleased to know that the Air Force’s internal investigation of these issues will soon be complete.  This is a good first step. 

Unfortunately there has been a history at the Air Force Academy of trying to cover up embarrassing scandals rather than deal with them.  It took considerable Congressional pressure to force the Air Force and the Academy to take the matter of sexual harassment and assault seriously.  The Academy’s initial response to the issue of religious freedom has not inspired confidence that they are acting differently here.

One Academy chaplain, Captain MeLinda Morton, pressed hard for changes to ensure religious tolerance and was recently removed from her post and her reassignment has the appearance of the Air Force punishing an officer for looking after the spiritual well being and constitutional rights of all the cadets.  So the Congress clearly has enough information to take the step included in this bill.

The language in this bill will send an unmistakable signal to the Air Force that we are watching, and we will not allow them to sweep this under the rug.