denver (ap) | A rabbi who retired as one of the military’s top chaplains was appointed by the Air Force last week to help carry out recommendations of a task force that investigated complaints of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy.
Arnold E. Resnicoff was named special assistant to acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez and chief of staff for values and vision.
Resnicoff said the Air Force plans to issue guidelines on what kind of religious remarks are permissible, fulfilling one of the panel’s nine recommendations.
“We are going to rush, I think, in terms of getting some basic questions out there, some basic ideas out there. We want to have something ready for the new class of cadets when they report in July,” Resnicoff said in a conference call with reporters.
A military task force reported last week there was no overt religious discrimination at the academy but that commanders failed to accommodate the diverse religious needs of cadets and staff.
The task force was created after reports that evangelical Christian cadets and staff harassed other cadets. A chaplain allegedly told cadets of other faiths they would burn in hell.
Resnicoff said such comments would be prohibited.
“When it comes to anything that puts another person down, then it is not even a religious question any more,” he said. “You cannot show disrespect to another person.”
Dominguez praised Resnicoff’s experience and called him “an exceptional choice to help the Air Force integrate our core values into Air Force operating concepts and vision.”