The Air Force Academy has determined a football assistant coach tweeting out Bible verses from his personal account is not in violation of any law or rule, despite howling from an anti-religious military group.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), run by Mikey Weinstein, loudly complained after Steed Lobotzke shared Bible verses on Twitter, The Gazette reports.
Lobotzke’s Twitter bio states that he’s a “Follower of Christ,” but it also explicitly states that his tweets from the account @CoachLobotzke are his own views.
In one example, Lobotzke tweeted out a Bible verse from John 3:3.
In another example on his timeline, Lobotzke tweeted out an excerpt from John 1:32.
A few Bible verses on an explicitly labeled private account were apparently enough to send Weinstein into hysterics, accusing Lobotzke of “Christian evangelizing via twitter, blatantly defying Air Force regulations.”
“Today, the Air Force Academy senior leadership clearly shows that unchecked Christian extremism is worse than ever at the Academy, especially on its football team, with the shocking discovery of what the football team’s Tight Ends Coach, Steed Lobotzke, a 1992 USAFA grad, has been doing with his official USAFA football twitter account,” MRFF told The Gazette in a statement. “Lobotzke’s official twitter feed is filled with illicit proselytizing in the name of Jesus Christ and even includes such biblical citations juxtaposed with pictures of official football team meetings.”
But the Air Force doesn’t seem to share Weinstein’s sentiment, instead noting that the Twitter accounts of coaches are personal and have no connection to the Air Force Academy Athletic Department.
“The Academy remains committed to protecting individuals’ right to practice any religion they choose, or no religion, provided their practices do not violate policy or law, or impede mission accomplishment, military readiness, unit cohesion, standards or discipline.”
That statement wasn’t even to satisfy Weinstein, who told The Gazette, “This is complete and utter (expletive), there will be a lot more to come on this.”
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