Secret celebrity guest
Christopher Hitchens shares his godless views with Air Force cadets, even if he can't appear on campus
by Anthony LaneArticle Tools
- Anthony Lane
- Christopher Hitchens talks atheism and proselytism with AFA cadets.
A dozen Air Force Academy cadets listen silently as Christopher Hitchens, the internationally known writer, pundit and atheist, starts speaking Monday evening.
Hitchens mentions a just-publicized video of the United States military's top chaplain in Afghanistan advising soldiers in Bagram on how to convert Muslims to Christianity, explaining it's their duty to "hunt people for Jesus."
"Good people are going to get killed because of this stupidity," Hitchens predicts in crisp, Oxford-inflected English.
His words hang in the air for only a moment. Then an Old Chicago waitress breaks in with her own dilemma: She has two Dr Peppers on her tray but can't remember which is the Diet.
"I forgot which is which," she says with a giggle.
Hitchens regularly fills large lecture halls across the country, but he seems unruffled by the strangeness of speaking at a campus Freethinkers meeting on the patio of a northwest Colorado Springs restaurant. The cadets, warned by Academy officials that Hitchens would not be allowed to lecture on campus, quietly arranged a more intimate gathering publicized only by e-mails and word of mouth.
Hitchens talks for more than two hours, gently questioning the young men and women about their experiences at the service academy stained five years ago by allegations of an institutional bias toward evangelical Christianity. His argument against faith, presented in his book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, essentially boils down to this: Most religions evolved before humans had much idea how the world worked, and now they're sadly outdated.
The cadets, in street clothes, are still recognizable by their tendency to address Hitchens as "Sir." One asks Hitchens how an atheist can find meaning in life.
"I think it's quite possible we're here as a joke," he replies. "It's much better than being the plaything of a sadistic celestial dictator."
The cadets give Hitchens few examples of being proselytized or pressured by religion at the Academy. One says he arrived a Baptist, but went the other way and started questioning his faith. Another recalls a fellow student who confessed during a night of drinking that she wasn't certain of the evangelical views she espoused when sober.
"There's nothing like a smashed evangelical," Hitchens muses.
Hitchens was invited to Colorado Springs by Kyle Southard, a second-year cadet active with a student-run Jewish congregation and the Cadet Interfaith Council. Despite feeling that the Academy tolerates many religions, Southard felt a "vast lack of understanding" about those without faith.
Hitchens was willing to visit on his own dime, but officials "recommended" that the students not ask for him to be invited to speak on campus, says Academy spokesman Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth.
That recommendation was made because of comments by Hitchens judged to be "degrading to others," Ashworth says, and would have applied equally if he espoused evangelical Christianity. (Self-described former-terrorists-turned-evangelicals, who spoke on campus last year, were allowed as part of a terror briefing, Ashworth says.)
After Hitchens finishes, Southard says privately that the meeting could've been "beneficial" had it happened on campus with more cadets. Hitchens doesn't appear to mind, and seems tickled when the cadets give him a plaque with a small replica of the Academy's famous Cadet Chapel.
"Don't keep the faith," he tells them as a farewell. "And don't fly too close to the sun."
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makdisk, I agree with you for the most part as to the military. I had no issues at all as an athiest when I served in the Navy. HOWEVER, you appear to be unaware of the history of the Air Force Academy over the last several years. Christian Evangelism has been given official sanction in a way that I'm sure would shock you. You might want to google some of the news over the past decade. It's not as if this was some "rogue chaplain".
Posted by jazzmoose
on June 12, 2009 at 12:45 AM
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@PhotoBrent I served in the Air Force and I'm proud of my service. I didn't originally enlist for patriotic reasons so much as to pay for my way through college, but I am proud of my service to the country.
I didn't attend the Air Force academy, so I can't speak about how things are there, but I do firmly believe the Air Force does a lot to respect all beliefs in the active duty world. While it is true that the majority of the religions represented are Christian, that is honestly the breakdown of the demographics.
There are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Wiccan, and other types of Chaplains available to service members. Obviously it varies by installation, as a smaller base won't have as many of the faiths represented. While in Basic Training, our Training Instructor said that these six weeks are a great time to go to other services you may not be familiar with. I'm an atheist, and I have been for as long as I can remember, but I went to many different services just for the interest factor. Plus it beat just hanging out at the squadron.
The Air Force isn't perfect, but I do feel like they try. Obviously I don't recall any Atheist Chaplains for me, but atheist, along with any other religious association is an option on your dog tags.
At work, you are not allowed to talk about religion, just as you are not allowed to discuss politics. Some may disagree with this, but the point is that it keeps people in your unit from being singled out because they don't agree with the masses regarding their religion or political views. At some point, you may rely on these people to keep you alive and the last thing you want to be is an outsider.
Of course these are my experiences and maybe others have had more negative experiences. But for me, I lived my life just fine as an atheist Airman.
Yes, the military is a conformist society. Mental slavery not so much. Your freedoms are restricted and you are expected to live up to a set of standards. However none of those standards have anything to do with what church you attend or whether you attend church at all.
The Chaplain that had the sermon about saving Muslims is not the view of all Chaplains in the military. And no service member was forced to be at his service. They were there on their own accord just like they would be attending services back here at home getting the same drivel (in my opinion) spoon fed to them. The Chaplain should be admonished and hopefully will use better judgement in the future.
Posted by makdlsk
on May 13, 2009 at 8:55 AM
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I was lucky enough to have found myself at this meeting. The disappointing factor is when other cadet "faith" groups under the same program as this Freethinkers group are allowed to have whomever they wish come onto campus to speak to them, but they refuse to allow this group the same privilege.
Thank you for reporting on this.
Posted by mitch33
on May 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
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How sad that the Air Farce is still as close-minded and hypocritical, if not moreso, than it was when I left it 30 years ago. For all the talk about freedom, our military is as much an institution of mental slavery and conformity as ever.
Posted by PhotoBrent
on May 11, 2009 at 8:57 AM
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