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Army's "Spiritual Fitness" Assessment Is Criticized As Church-State Violation

By Howard M. Friedman

Over the last week or so, criticism of the U.S. Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness assessment program has been growing from supporters of church-state separation. According to an Army website:

Beginning at accession, each recruit will be confidentially assessed using the Global Assessment Tool, a survey that determines the psychological strength of the individual. Soldiers will be re-assessed throughout their career, helping them monitor and control personal growth. Based on the assessment, CSF will offer a menu of appropriate self-development opportunities to Soldiers.

The assessment includes questions on "spiritual fitness." According to a Dec. 29 letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation to the Secretary of the Army questioning the constitutionality of the evaluation, soldiers are asked to indicate how they identify with statements such as "I am a spiritual person." FFRF says that soldiers scoring low on spiritual fitness are furnished training modules that contain explicit and implicit religious references. On Dec. 30, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation also sent a letter to the Pentagon arguing that the program violates the Establishment Clause and demanding that it be ended. Yesterday, Truthout ran a long article by reporter Jason Leopold critical of the program. A Jan. 3 post at God and Country blog defends the program, saying in part:

The "scandal" over the Army?s SFT would be a tempest in a teapot ? if it was a tempest at all. Instead, its an imagined (or contrived) offense..... The Army is fighting an uphill battle in stemming suicides, and helping Soldiers understand the value of their own lives ? their meaning, purpose, and connection ? is a reasonable, noble, and secular effort to that end.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on January 06, 2011 (boomark / email).