Schwartz: Don’t endorse religious programs
The Air Force’s top officer issued a memorandum cautioning leaders to balance the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom and the prohibition on government intrusion, the Air Force Times reported.
Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz sent the memo about a month after the Air Force halted an ethics course for new nuclear missile officers that contained biblical references, and announced a review of ethics and character development training.
“Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectivity,” Schwartz wrote in the Sept. 1 memo, titled “Maintaining Government Neutrality Regarding Religion.”
He went on to say that the potential result would be a degradation of the unit’s morale and discipline.
“I expect chaplains, not commanders, to notify Airmen of Chaplain Corps programs,” Schwartz wrote.
Read more on the memorandum issued by Schwartz in the Air Force Times.
