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Panel saw no overt bias at A.F. Academy

NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) -- A panel looking into the religious environment at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., found that intolerance is not a pervasive problem there.

However, the Air Force panel said professors, coaches and cadets from across the school have done and said things that caused that "perception." The review found the school did not do enough to accommodate the religious practices of non-Christians.

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"I don't know if it's intolerance," said Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, Air Force deputy chief of staff for personnel. "It is certainly insensitivity."

In one incident, the commandant of cadets sent an e-mail to all 4,000 students at the tax-payer funded military academy encouraging observance of the "National Day of Prayer." In another, 250 school officials and cadets paid for an ad in the school paper at Christmas stating Jesus Christ is the "only real hope for the world."

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper said some personnel at the Air Force Academy have been spoken to about the problem.

"The thing we corrected people on is standing in front of cadets expressing their beliefs in a position of authority is inappropriate in an institutional context," said Jumper.

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