Washington, USA - The U.S. Air Force on Monday named a rabbi who has served as a senior military chaplain to help change the religious climate at the Air Force Academy amid concern over inappropriate proselytizing by evangelical Christians.
Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, previously the top chaplain in the U.S. military's European Command, will serve as a special assistant for "values and vision" to acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez and Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper, the Air Force said. Resnicoff is a retired U.S. Navy captain.
The Air Force said Resnicoff will advise Dominguez on implementing recommendations made last week by Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, who headed an assessment of the campus religious climate at the academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Brady's report faulted the academy for failing to accommodate "adherents to minority beliefs," but concluded there was no "overt religious discrimination." It found that some faculty and staff inappropriately expressed strong religious views, and that Jewish cadets on campus faced anti-Semitic comments.
The report recommended that the Air Force set new guidelines on appropriate religious expression, and provide training in religious diversity and respect.
The assessment was prompted by allegations that the academy, which produces junior officers for the Air Force, promotes evangelical Christianity and a climate of intolerance toward other religious beliefs including Judaism.
Resnicoff has served as national director of inter-religious affairs for the American Jewish Committee advocacy group. Before becoming a chaplain, he served as an officer in the Vietnam War. Years later, he was involved in the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
Capt. James Cunningham, an Air Force spokesman, said Resnicoff was not picked because he was Jewish.
"He was hired because of his credentials. He was selected because he has inter-religious and military experience," Cunningham said.
A team from Yale Divinity School said in April it found evangelical Christian proselytizing commonplace on campus, and noted "stridently evangelical themes" by staff. The team described a campus chaplain telling cadets they would "burn in the fires of hell" if they were not born-again Christians.
Dominguez said in a statement on Resnicoff's appointment: "It is imperative that we continue to emphasize and ingrain in all we do the importance of mutual respect among airmen."