"So help me God" is optional in the Air Force - And what's wrong with that?

“So Help Me God” is now Optional

• Some of the media "talking heads" are already screaming about the decline of America.  But the change by the Air Force simply recognizes the reality of many different religions in the U.S. and even the lack of any religion at all.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — Air Force Academy cadets are no longer required to say “so help me God” at the end of the Honor Oath.

School officials said Friday the words were made optional after a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group.

Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson says the change was made to respect cadets’ freedom of religion.

The oath states, “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.
 Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.”

The academy says cadets are required to take the oath once, when they formally enter the school after boot camp.

The school outside Colorado Springs has about 4,000 cadets. When they graduate, they are commissioned as second lieutenants.

US Army Captain Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi poses in Times Square, New York, on September 14, 2010 , wearing his US Army ACU Digital Camouflage turban along with his ACU uniform. Kalsi, who is the first Sikh in the US Army, is an emergency room doctor and emergency medical services (EMS) Director stationed at Ft. Bragg. In what appears to be a quiet shift, the US military since last year has allowed Sikhs to serve while retaining their turbans and beards, which are required by their faith.

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Pagans in the Military

You don't have to believe in Jesus to die for your country.

Though there are now military chaplains for many minority religions—Buddhism and Hinduism included—Pagan military chaplaincy can’t seem to get off the ground, and until recently Pagan veterans could not have the pentacle—the symbol of their faith—inscribed on their tombstones in military cemeteries.

But with increased accommodation of minority religions and a push for greater religious tolerance in the ranks, life could be changing for Pagans in uniform.

Pagans—also, Neo-Pagans or sometimes Witches—practice contemporary forms of earth-based spirituality. There are multiple forms of Paganism, including Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, Asatru and Heathenism, all of which remain fast-growing faith groups in the United States.

From 2001 to 2008, the American Wiccan population increased more than two-fold (from 134,000 to 342,000), and the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey estimated there were nearly 700,000 Pagans and Wiccans in the United States.

In 2007, the Pentagon counted more than 1,500 self-identified Wiccans in the Air Force and 350 in the Marines, but no numbers were tracked for the Navy or Army, which are much larger branches.

Retired U.S. Army Major Michelle Boshears—herself a Green Craft Wiccan—says those numbers reflect only active duty military who claim Paganism as their religion on official forms. When Boshears served 15 years ago, the only option for Pagans was to mark “No Preference” or “Other.” For that reason, she estimates that the numbers of Pagans in uniform could be closer to 20,000.

See more at Religion and Politics.org