USAFA Religious Respect

The following is an ongoing update of status related to the 2010 Religious Respect Conference itself as well as related developments. Also review the MAAF homepage and the MAAF watch list. In an unprecedented example of military outreach to nontheists, US Air Force Academy officials collaborated with MAAF and other endorsing agencies to review religious respect training at the Academy. The tone of the event was positive, direct participation (not just attendance) by several General-officer level leaders. In an additional show of confidence, two USAFA chaplains joined MAAF President Jason Torpy at a speaking engagement at Freethinkers of Colorado Springs that was held the day after the conference. The final outcome of training, training implementation, and tangible changes in the climate are yet to be seen. However, this event constitutes a first step forward out of the negative command climate that has characterized USAFA since the scandals of 2004-2006.

Breaking: Unfortunately, the 2012 Conference will include no nontheist representation. (see related article)

• (Oct 19, 2011) Academy-Atheist collaboration continues to bear fruit
• (Jul 4, 2011) Air Force Academy makes strides in religious respect
• (Mar 29, 2011) USAFA undergoes an additional religious climate review
• (Feb 28, 2011) MAAF update on the development of new USAFA training
• (Dec 5, 2011) Atheist Religious Respect – open article from MAAF about the conference
• (Nov 23, 2011) MAAF Press Release
• (Nov 21, 2011) Full MAAF Review of the event with important future checkpoints to gauge success.
• (Ongoing updates) the official Conference site with photos and documents of the event, including more recent updates
• (Nov 5, 2011) Review of Conference documents, including draft training documents with suggestions and annotations