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The military's shame
By Kevin J. Hasson
Lt. Ryan Berry was a missileer officer at Minot Air Force Base
in North Dakota. That meant he and another officer would descend 90 feet into an
underground missile- control bunker and be locked in together for 24 to 48 hours at a
stretch. The bunker is like the type you see in a lot of cold-war movies--it's 12 by 20
feet, full of instruments and control panels, with a double-key launch system. There is a
cot for sleeping and a toilet separated from the room by a curtain. The tour of duty
involves not merely close quarters but the two officers working closely together.
Officers are paired for six months at a time, and their relationship is part of the very
design of the double-key launch system: you need two people working together and trusting
each other before a missile launch is possible, an important safeguard against disaster.
But Lt. Berry's Catholic faith also provides a safeguard --- a safeguard against sin. It is
called the near-occasion of sin doctrine and it forbids Catholics to place themselves in
situations when temptations could be overwhelming. Lt. Berry, who is married, believed
that working with a female officer in such close quarters on a six-month assignment
violated this tenet of his faith and asked to be paired only with male officers. His
archbishop agreed with him and sent a letter of support to the Air Force. The lieutenant
was accommodated for 18 months without incident and with little , since 240 of the 270 are
male. But suddenly a new commander insisted that he be paired with women. Lt. Berry then
asked for and received a transfer. He never disobeyed an order.
But that was not the end of it. Lt. Berry's previously stellar performance review was
changed to unsatisfactory due to his request for accommodation and thus doomed his career.
New York's Cardinal O'Connor also voiced support. Lt. Berry's position is not unique to
him. Nor is it unique to Catholicism. The Shulchan Aruch, or, Code of Jewish Law, seriously restricts men and
women who are not married to each other from being "secluded"-- the concept of Yichud.
In
traditional Sunni Islam there was a presumption that a man and woman who were left alone
in a room for a certain period of time had in fact engaged in sexual intercourse.
But ultimately it does not matter whether Lt. Berry's views are common to most religions
or not. True religious liberty means honoring sincerely held beliefs without holding them
up and comparing them to the standards of the broader society. We don't ask why Lt.
Berry can't go into the silo with a woman for the same reason we don't ask why a Mormon
can't have a cup of coffee or why an observant Jew can't mow his lawn on Saturday or why
an Amish person drives that little black buggy. They are all choices of conscience. In
America we celebrate diversity. We don't ask, "Why they can't be more like us?" We
accept each other's differences and instead ask, "How best can we accommodate them?"
Lt. Berry is being punished merely for asking for the continuation of a religious
exemption that was easily accommodated for eighteen months. It's a shame the military
can't find a way to be as accommodating of traditional faiths like
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
RECENTLY, AN AIR FORCE LIEUTENANT was punished for trying to live up to the Air Force
motto, "Integrity First".
Lt. Berry is in just such a situation where a Catholic must take it upon himself to make
the right decision for himself and for his family. He is a man of faith who is trying to
mesh two very important aspects of his life, his dedication to the military and his
adherence to his Catholic faith. There was a lot of press in recent months about the
military's accommodation of pagans and witches in the ranks. The Washington Post featured
a picture of a Wiccan priestess jumping over a fire during a ceremony at an army base.
JWR contributor Kevin Hasson is president of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Let him know what you think by clicking here.
