Former Air Force Cadet Tries to Get Rid of Operation Christmas Child

Former Air Force cadet and founder of Military Religious Freedom Foundation Michael Weinstein doesn’t want Air Force Academy cadets to participate in Operation Christmas Child to help needy children. He says academy officials crossed a line by promoting the charity because it pushes Christian ideas.

Weinstein’s accusation is the result of an email sent out last week to all Air Force cadets regarding Operation Christmas Child. The email, sent by a cadet after approval from a cadet leader, told fellow cadets about the opportunity to participate in the Christmas charity.

Maj. Darren Duncan, a Protestant chaplain from the Air Force, told The Christian Post Monday that different email lists at the academy serve different functions. The email about OCC should have been sent to the Christian distribution list instead of to all cadets.

This was “an administrative oversight at worst,” said Duncan. Once the oversight was realized, Brig. Gen. Richard Clark, the Commandant of Cadets, immediately asked the Cadet Chaplain Corps to work with the cadets who sent out the email. They then retracted the email and worked with the Cadet Chaplain Corps on the toy drive.

OCC is now being promoted as a chaplain’s program, as it was meant to be in the first place, and cadets still have the opportunity to participate. Duncan said the academy is “religiously pluralistic” and it has many different faith groups represented.

Gen. Clark did speak with Weinstein about the matter but did not apologize to him as other newspapers reported. "This was an oversight by me that has been addressed and forwarded through the proper channels," Gen. Clark said. "The cadets had nothing but good intentions, but this was something that should have started with the Chaplains, not the Cadet Wing. That doesn't mean the cadets can't volunteer for the Christmas toy drive. They can participate through the Cadet Chaplain Corps.” To read more, click here.