Religion wars see military academies as new battlefields

[kweerwolf]

All the Rev. Mel White, Jacob Reitan and the rest of their Soulforce team wanted to do was talk to people.

That was the good news. The bad news was that they wanted to talk about God, politics and homosexuality, although not necessarily in that order. It also didn't help that the people they wanted to talk to were midshipmen on the Naval Academy campus _ on a football-weekend Friday.

"Free speech is free speech," said White, who, before going public as a gay activist, was a ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and other evangelical leaders. White is one of the founders of Soulforce, which is based in Lynchburg, Va.

"If people don't want to talk, all they have to do is say so and walk away."

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-10-26-05